Openings That Compel
How to open strong, plus Estelle's Edge and writing advice from the rockstar authors who have appeared on the Freelance Writing Direct podcast.
Hi there. Welcome to all my new subscribers. I’ve spent three decades in publishing on both sides of the publishing wall — as a national woman’s magazine editor, and as a widely published journalist, plus a writing teacher — and that’s how you get Estelle’s Edge which I share below.
I love demystifying publishing terms, tropes, and sharing my craft, writing and publishing tips and tricks plus writing opportunities, which is the focus of this substack, since that is also what I do in my book Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published. Why not pick up a copy and find out what everyone is talking about?
Don’t forget to sign up for my other newsletter and get my free pitching guide. There you can also see all the episodes of Freelance Writing Direct, which not only offers bestselling authors, but practical advice on every aspect of writing, selling reprints, building characters, pitching and writing essays. I’m actually celebrating one year of the podcast, which is so hard to believe, and I’m thrilled that so many of you love it.
Ok. Let’s talk craft, specifically, let’s talk about openings of essays and books that make you want to know more.
The author Amy Tan in a series on Masterclass says that every opening sentence of a piece needs to make you want to read the next one and the next. Case in point, her opening sentence from her book The Joy Luck Club:
“My father has asked me to be the fourth corner of the Joy Luck Club. I am to replace my mother, whose seat at the mah jong table has been empty since she passed away two months ago. My father says she killed herself by her own thoughts.”
After reading this, most readers are totally hooked.
I tell my students to go through each beginning sentence carefully. If each subsequent sentence doesn’t add to the story, then it must be scrapped. When you look at your first draft, often you can get rid of those first few sentences, because they don't take you into the action.
Great opening sentences of essays get your attention, make you want to read on and often pose a question that you feel needs to be answered.
Such as:
My Year of Heroin and Acne by Chloe Caldwell for Salon
“I got a pedicure each time I promised myself I’d stop doing heroin — which is to say, I got pedicures all summer.”
Estelle’s Edge: This is a provocative opening that connects two disparate ideas/objects: pedicures and heroin — the mundane and the horrifying. And both together make it a thought provoking and scary opening.
Here are some compelling openings from bestselling authors who have appeared on the Freelance Writing Direct podcast and spoken to me about their work.
The Love Of My Life by Cheryl Strayed for The Sun
“The first time I cheated on my husband, my mother had been dead for exactly one week. I was in a cafe in Minneapolis, watching a man. He watched me back. He was slightly pudgy with jet black hair and skin so white it looked as if he’d powdered it. He stood and walked to my table and sat down without asking. He wanted to know if I had a cat. I folded my hands on the table, steadying myself.; I was shaking, nervous at what I would do. I was raw, fragile, vicious with grief. I would do anything.”
Estelle’s Edge: She is writing about cheating, but we later understand she is driven by grief for her mother’s loss.
Cheryl Strayed’s podcast episode on Freelance Writing Direct
Writing Advice from Cheryl Strayed:
Read good writing and use it to help yourself write better. Study the sentences your favorite writers wrote.
Be brave. Write about what you are passionate about and what scares you.
Estelle’s Edge: Make a list of books and authors you want to read. Go for authors that are breaking barriers in some way, whether style, format or subject matter.
Forbidden City by Vanessa Hua
“The Chairman is dead.
September 9, 1976. Outside, the people of Chinatown are cheering. They light firecrackers and beat pots and pans, chanting as they march three floors below the window of my apartment in San Francisco. Their signs say, SMASH THE EMPEROR! and SMASH THE PARTY! Drips of paint spoil the sweep and curve of the characters, bleeding as if shot.”
Estelle’s Edge: The inciting incident is the Chairman (Mao) is dead. That starts the action of the novel. Hua then gives specific visceral details and description of the violence of the celebration, which sets the tone and shows that such a strong reaction is warranted. Her last words of the opening “bleeding as if shot,” echo the aura of violence throughout this paragraph, a portent of the rest of the novel.
Vanessa Hua’s podcast episode on Freelance Writing Direct
Writing Advice from Vanessa Hua:
Use journalism tools and tactics to research your historical novel
Read stories and study their dialogue, their structure, and everything you can mine that resonates with your work. Type out the sentences you love, and play around with the details until it becomes your own.
Estelle’s Edge: For resources, use databases (I have tons of lists and urls in my book, Writing That Gets Noticed). Librarians can be a great way to get access. Also, try newsletters.com.
For a brand new podcast episode focused on historical writing, check out this one Writing About Historical Subjects With Audrey Clare Farley
Fly Girl by Ann Hood
Prologue
A friend of mine recently said to me, “I love when you start a story with ‘When I was a flight attendant …’ because I know it’s going to be a good story.” At dinner or cocktail parties, when someone asks what I do, they often look at me blankly when I say that I’m a writer. “Have I read anything by you?” they ask, often accompanied with a narrowing of the eyes. Or: “Have you published anything?” Sometimes even people I know ask me if I’m still writing, as if it’s a hobby and not a career. But once I say those magic words, “When I was a flight attendant . . .” everyone is interested.
Estelle’s Edge: I love a good prologue. This one is so clear. It sets a mood by showing how Ann Hood usually identifies herself as a writer, but that self-describing moniker leads to confusion in most people. But announcing a past as a flight attendant engages most people, probably because it was perceived as a more innocent time in our country’s history, and everyone wants to hear a good flying the friendly sky’s story.
Ann Hood’s podcast episode on Freelance Writing Direct
Writing Advice from Ann Hood:
Take your reader on a journey
If writing memoir, pick a time container to set your story in
Find a writing process that works for you. You don’t need to write every day
Estelle’s Edge: Figure out the main dates of your story and most of the writing should fit within that bucket.
The Leaving Season by Kelly McMasters
“What should we save, Mama?
Every year, my children come home asking the same question after the annual fire safety assembly at their elementary school: What should we save if the house is on fire? We make plans, the three of us, for what to grab, how to get out, where to meet.
We’d come together at the fire hydrant in front of our apartment, they decide, its glossy red head a beacon of safety to them. I don’t explain that we likely wouldn’t be able to get close to the hydrant because the fire truck would need that space, thinking that if the kids made it to the hydrant and I did not, someone would collect them and keep them safe. We won’t have a fire anyway, I reassure them. This is all just precaution.”
Estelle’s Edge: Kelly’s book is about loss and transformation, and is grounded in nature. She begins with the worries of her children, and she reassures them is just precaution, but which turns out to have a basis in reality, when we learn a paragraph later that there are two house fires on their street, both at night, both in the kitchen, and both with children in them, even though no one is hurt. The idea of safety is an illusion, and this is a theme that is explored throughout the book.
Kelly McMasters podcast episode on Freelance Writing Direct
Writing Advice from Kelly McMasters
Braid different elements together. You don’t have to add every detail. Just the ones that suit the story you are telling
Look at nature and imbue that into your story to add breadth and depth to a memoir or memoir in essays
Estelle’s Edge: Look at your words and see where you can make comparisons to add in interesting metaphor or simile. Something is something (i.e. power is passion, pumping through the heart, or racism is a vine, weaving around his heart). Or, something is like something else. Case in point, from Kelly’s book: “He smokes and paints or draws in the corner, raising his easel up or down with a metal crank like the old machines in beach towns that flatten out pennies.”
Event
Don’t miss signing up for the latest in my free NYU Editor-on-call series on November 15th — a conversation with Derrik Lang, the lifestyle editor from Shondaland. Sign up here.
Interviews
I was interviewed by Viney Kirpal for Freedom with Writing, and loved her in depth questions. Find the interview here called Interview with Editor & Author Estelle Erasmus
I spoke with Minda Zetlin (Career Self-Care) for Inc. Magazine and out of our interview she wrote two pieces featuring my advice:
17 Small Changes That Will Make Your Writing Irresistible, According to an NYU Writing Professor
Here’s How Smart People Use the Empathy Rule to Make Sure Their Emails Get Read
I was interviewed on a radio program CapeTalk for my piece on postpartum rage in Parent’sMagazine. Here is the link to the radio program.
I was also interviewed for the podcast Writers’ Voices: Estelle Erasmus Gives Great Advice in Writing That Gets Noticed
Writing
This is my first non-publishing-related piece I’ve written since writing my book. I wrote about a past life regression experience with a surprising result — and connection to my current life — for The Digital Party.
Special Notice
I’m going to offer a pitching analysis opportunity and a special high-paying writing opportunity for paid subscribers in a separate newsletter just for them.
You can send me your query letter, or a pitch, and if I select them, I will share here for subscribers, and possibly for a subscriber-only version of Freelance Writing Direct. This is your chance to upgrade to a paid subscription and avail yourself of this opportunity, and also view the results.
More soon. I can’t wait to see what you will be writing.
Estelle