The Golden First Sentence

If there’s one thing I’ve learned this week, it’s that first sentences can make or break a piece of writing. They determine whether a reader stays engaged or quickly switches to another tab. In fact, most people don’t read past the first sentence. The article The Fold Manifesto: Why The Page Fold Still Matters includes a heat map showing eye-tracking fixations across a page. I found this truly fascinating; it’s one thing to read about our lack of attention online, but visually seeing how little people actually read before moving on was eye-opening. The image highlights how, by the end of an article, almost no one is looking at the page anymore. In fact, most of the time we only are viewing the first couple of words, not even the whole first sentence! For this reason alone, in order to capture a reader’s long-term attention, the beginning must hook them almost instantly. This isn’t easy—the first sentence has to be so powerful that readers feel a need to continue.

So, what can we do as writers to make our work more engaging right from the start? After reading Chapter 9 of William Zinsser’s On Writing Well, I think I better understand what needs to follow after the title. Zinsser lists numerous tactics to help us create a sentence starter that will leave readers wanting more. More specifically, I found that curiosity, surprise, and humor were the most prominent tactics used when leading into writing. Readers want to feel like they are instantly taking something away from what they are reading, and this begins with promoting some sort of offering within the first few words of writing. Whether it’s a laugh or a question that leaves readers guessing, the writing needs to make readers feel like there will be benefits from reading further. Moving forward with my own writing, it will be important that I further consider how to make my leading sentences as strong as possible- especially as someone who is looking to be an industry that heavily involves interactive media!