Make Your Beginnings and Endings Count

📕 Want to engage your reader? Make your beginnings and endings count.

First impressions matter. You could pack your piece with clever lines and sharp arguments, but if the first sentence flops, so does the reader's interest.

Your lead is the trailer. If it's boring, no one buys a ticket. Make it firm. It can shout with a punchy line or whisper with intrigue. Either way, it must answer one question: why should the reader care?

What's the hook? Maybe it's your killer argument. Maybe a fresh perspective. Maybe it's just that you write so well people would read your grocery list. Humor works. Mystery works. Beauty works. But give the reader a taste up front.

William Zinsser nailed it in "Block that Chickenfurter":

"I've often wondered what goes into a hot dog. Now I know and I wish I didn't."

Two lines. Funny. Gross. Impossible not to keep reading.

Don't lose them in the middle

From your lead, each following paragraph should add more to the essay. More detail. More flavor. More reason to keep going.

The final sentence of a paragraph should act as a little springboard to the next, so craft this sentence with extra care. Try to end each paragraph in a way that keeps the reader interested – with something unexpected, funny, or enticing.

Do this, and you'll draw your reader through your piece with ease.

Bill Bryson made it In A Walk in the Woods. He ends paragraphs with cliffhangers like:

"What I didn't know was that we were about to meet the most dangerous creature in the Appalachian wilderness."

Then starts the next paragraph talking about... a squirrel.

When it comes to endings, don't overthink it! Stop when you're ready to stop. Resist the urge to waffle or over-summarize. Once you've laid out all the facts, events, or arguments, it's time to look for the nearest exit! Leave them satisfied, curious, or laughing—but never bored.

Orwell ends "Shooting an Elephant" with these lines:

"I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool."