Jeff VanderMeer, Nebula Award winning author of Annihilation, explains how to suck readers in with your opening, and set up the story that follows

Figuring out the best starting point for your story should be followed up by making sure you’ve included the right material in your beginning, in the right amounts, and with the right emphasis for the story you want to tell. Most stories require some or all of the following basic elements to be present at the beginning:

• A main character or characters, presented from a consistent point of view

• A conflict or problem

• An antagonist (The source of conflict or the problem – a person or, depending on the theme, nature or society, to name just two possibilities; whomever or whatever the main characters are pushing up against, which, put crassly, could be called the ‘villain’ of the piece.)

• A hint or suggestion of a secondary conflict or problem that may form a subplot or additional complication (This is optional, since it may come into focus later in the narrative.)

• A sense of action or motion, no matter how static the opening scene

• A general or specific idea of the setting

• A consistent tone and mood to the language

The economy and sophistication with which you provide these elements, and the style in which you present them, may depend on whether you are writing a short story or a novel. It’s also important to note that an invisible or an ornate style can convey economy and sophistication, while a lush style can be concise. The issue of the number of words required to convey an idea, a character sketch, or other element is less important in fiction than that sentences do more than one thing. For example, you should be able to write a sentence that advances not just characterisation but also setting and conflict, everything in motion at once. Being able to accomplish this is especially important at the beginning of your story, where you often have to convey more information – more context – than in most other places in the narrative.