Nonfiction Ink

In the last post we explored how to select which opening works best for your book or specific chapters. In this post, we will look at three effective leads: the Anecdote / Case Study, the Quotation opening, and the Descriptive or Narrative lead.

1. ANECDOTE OR CASE STUDY
Anecdotes and case histories create an immediate connection with the reader and engage him or her in the human experience. Effective stories reflect the demographic of the reader and may be based on real or fictionalized people.

Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in six words. Papa came back swinging with, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” some say he called it his best work. Others dismiss the anecdote as folktale. Either way, the six-word story was born, and it’s been popping around the writing world for years. (“Six-Word Memoirs” edited by Smith Magazine)

2. QUOTATION
If you begin the first chapter with a quotation, it should speak directly to the topic and style of your book.

Andy Warhol, the successful American painter, said “In the future, everyone will get their 15 minutes of fame.” In truth, we Americans love our celebrities, and we are always creating new ones. This is becoming even more prevalent in our rapidly increasing ‘reality’ culture of blockbuster television shows like ‘American Idol’ and ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ If you can become a celebrity, the world is yours, albeit hopefully for more than 15 minutes. (“Celebrity Branding You” by J.W. Dicks and Nick Nanton)

3. DESCRIPTIVE OR NARRATIVE LEAD
These openings tell a narrative or descriptive story. Unlike an anecdote or case history, a descriptive or narrative lead does not focus on a case study or personal problem. They may highlight description, places, people, events or an inciting incident. They are most often used for narrative nonfiction: memoir, historical, current events, travelogues, true crime and biography.

In a tourist town on the white-sun Spanish coast, an old man was passing his last years an American grandfather with a snowy white crewcut and a glint in his turquoise eyes. At seventy he was still lean and alert, with high, slanting cheekbones, a sharp chin, and those clear-frame eyeglasses that made him look like a minor-league academic. He spent much of his time holed up in his cluttered garage apartment, watching the BBC on a flickering black-and-white television, surrpunded by bottles of Jack Daniel’s and pills and his memories. If you met him down on the beach, he came across as a gentle soul with a soft laugh. Almost certainly he was the most pleasant murderer you’d ever want to meet. (“Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-1934” by Bryan Burrough)

STAY-TUNED: the next post will explore 5 more effective opening techniques.

Related posts:

1. 12 Techniques For Beginning Your Nonfiction Book (Part 1)
2. 12 Techniques For Beginning Your Nonfiction Book (Part 4)
3. 12 Techniques for Beginning Your Nonfiction Book (Part 3)
4. Get Started: Write Your Book
5. Narrative Nonfiction: 7 Research Techniques To Capture A Sense Of Place

Tags: leads, openings, Writing your nonfiction book

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