How to Grab Readers with a Brilliant First Paragraph

“James Boddie rose from a leather chair in the living room of his townhouse, minutes from downtown Baltimore, and walked upstairs to retrieve something. ‘I want to show you this,’ he said.

He’d been telling stories about his grandson, Michael Vick, stories about how a poor kid from a rough neighborhood in Newport News, VA could use football to build a fancy hours for his mother and life of fame and riches for himself. Stories of taking a train to New York to be with his grandson when the Atlanta Falcons made Vick, a quarterback from VA Tech with a powerful left arm and magical legs, the top pick in the NFL draft in 2001.

Boddie returned with a frame containing . . .”

So begins the attention-grabbing first paragraph written by Mark Maske in an article entitled Playing to Wrong Crowd for the 8-21-07 Washington Post.

What’s the point?

There have probably been hundreds of articles written about Michael Vick in newspapers around the country in the past few weeks.

I bet that is the ONLY ONE that starts out that way. The reporter was not content to be common. I imagine he thought, “How can I start this article in an unexpected way? How can I grab my audience from the get-go? How can I paint a word picture so readers see what I’m saying? How can I quote someone talking so people feel like they’re a fly-on-the-wall?”

From now on, don’t start your article, blog, or book with what you think.

Don’t start off with what you believe.

Don’t start off by explaining something or by telling us what you’re going to tell us.

Put us in a real-life scene. Describe it with visual detail so it comes alive. Feature back-and-forth dialogue in quote marks.

Do that and we’ll keep reading.

What are your tips for grabbing readers? Have you written an article that starts with an intriguing first paragraph? Send us a sample (100 words max) that POP!s . . . and I'll send the first three submissions my Write Here - Write Now calendar with 365 inspiring quotes to help you jump-start your creativity.