As his gripping new thriller The Fortune Teller of Berlin hits the shelves, author JC Maetis looks at those all important opening pages

Irecall reading years ago that when Margaret Mitchell wrote her classic Gone with the Wind, she wrote the ending first, then worked her way back to the beginning. When I researched deeper, I discovered this wasn’t quite true. She had in fact written the ending first, but then did a rough sketch of all the middle scenes before then writing the opening scene. Then she progressed forward to her already written closing scene.

This followed the premise that the beginning and ending of a book are the most important cornerstones for writers. While Margaret Mitchell might be unusual in writing her closing scene completely, I think most writers, including myself, would have a clear idea of that ending in outline form, but then the first scene written completely would in fact be the opening. Reason being, nearly everything that follows is set in motion by that opening: main characters, key events and intriguing situations that spark vital ‘need to know’ questions in readers’ minds. The main essence that gets readers turning the pages.

I knew from the outset that I wanted to start the book with a bang. A dramatic, nail-biting event that would immediately engage readers. The problem with writing a book set in World War Two is that nearly all the main, dramatic events are well known and set in stone, with very little wriggle room afforded. So, the choice would be either to set them as part of those well-known events or explore the grey areas in-between. In the end, I chose to make use of both.