What to Write About
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What to Write About
Your opening is everything
You have 7 seconds—or less—to stop someone from scrolling past your Note. The first line does 90 percent of the work.
3 Types of opening lines that work
You have 7 seconds—or less—to stop someone from scrolling past your Note. The first line does 90 percent of the work.
3 Types of opening lines that work
- The Raw Confession
- ‘I just fired my biggest client.’
- ‘This morning, I cried in my car for an hour.’
- ‘My marriage failed. I never told anyone why.’
- Variation: The Time Hook
- ‘20
THE NEW SUBSTACK NOTES
The Art and Business of Online Writing: How to Beat the Game of Capturing and Keeping Attention
amazon.com
Every time I read a query, the opening paragraph ends with a list of big, overarching themes. And I want to convince you, nay, challenge you, to lead with intrigue instead.
The theme sentence is usually some variation of:
The theme sentence is usually some variation of:
- A memoir of the complications of love.
- A generational saga of love, loss, and life at sea. (Okay, life at sea is intriguing.)
- A lit
12 Agents Looking for Your Coming-of-Age Books
As you're writing, how do you know which thoughts are most valuable? What separates good ideas from bad ones?
My approach is to focus on ideas that are interesting or surprising. These are the ingredients of novelty. Novelty is what keeps readers reading. They tend to be:
My approach is to focus on ideas that are interesting or surprising. These are the ingredients of novelty. Novelty is what keeps readers reading. They tend to be:
- Counter-intuitive
- Counter-narrative
- Shock and awe
- Elegant articulations
Julian Shapiro • Writing Well - Part 2 - Writing First Drafts
