Writing Catchy Introductions
As a writer, your top objective in the introduction to a personal narrative should
be to catch the reader’s attention. After all, if the introduction DOESN’T get the reader
interested, he or she is unlikely to continue reading.
These techniques are especially helpful when writing an introductory paragraph. You
might
1. begin with a funny story to set a humorous tone
2. begin with an anecdote that reveals some key trait of your character
3. start with a simple fact that will be important later
4. set the mood with vivid, specific details; in other words, add a snapshot
5. draw your readers into your writing with a question or two
6. gain your reader’s attention with a startling fact, a confession, quotation, or hint of
what’s to come
7. start out with dialogue
These introductory paragraphs grab the reader’s attention. What strategies do they use?
“Two cups of coffee, a bagel with cream cheese, and a hot pretzel.” It was a typical order
at the snack bar at the citywide garage sale my parents helped run every April. The event was
supposed to raise enough money to make some improvement. This was my first year at the snack
bar, though, and I was worried that instead of raising money, I would end up owing it.
I was only eight, but I remember it like yesterday. I was sitting in doctor’s office when
they gave my parents and me the shocking news. “I am sorry to tell you this, but your daughter’s
condition is getting worse. The only way to fix it is by surgery.”
No one expected such a tiny girl to have a first birthday. In Clarksville, Tennessee,
in 1940, life for a baby who weighed just over four pounds at birth was sure to be limited.
But most babies didn’t have nineteen older brothers and sisters to watch over them.
Most babies didn’t have a mother who knew home remedies and a father who worked
several jobs.
Most babies weren’t Wilma Rudolph.
Have you ever imagined what it would be like to play in the NBA? To glide down the
Court, matching strides with the greatest basketball players in the world? To hear the roar of the
Crowd as you throw down a dunk, or swat an opponent’s shot into the bleachers?
It’s every kid’s dream.
And for the fortunate few who make it to the NBA, it’s a dream come true. —NBA Game
Day by Joseph Layden and James Preller
His mother was ugly. His father was ugly. But Shrek was uglier than the two of them
put together. – Shrek! by Willliam Steig
They murdered him. – The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
“Your father has met an accident.” – The Barn by Avi
A thin crescent moon, high in the sky, shed faint white light over DimwoodForest.
Stars glowed. Breezes full of ripe summer fragrance floated over nearby meadow and hill.
Dimwood itself, veiled in darkness, lay utterly still. – Poppy by Avi
Try to imagine a star so big that it would fill all of the solar system within the orbit
of Earth, which is 93 million miles from the Sun. A star so turbulent that its eruptions
would Spread a cloud of gases spanning four light-years, the distance from the Sun to the
nearest star. A star so powerful that it glows with the energy of 10 million suns, making the
brightest ever observed in our galaxy, the Milky Way. – “At the Core of the Milky Way, the
Brightest Star Ever Seen” by John Noble Wildord
My grandmother lives on the other side of the earth. – Sitti’s Secrets by Naomi Shihab
Nye
Willy wouldn’t hurt a fly. – Willy the Wimp by Anthony Brown
Have you even eaten a pine tree? —1970’s commercial
Adapted from Craft Lessons by Ralph Fletcher and Joann Portalupi, Reviser’s Toolbox by Barry
Lane, and After THE END by Barry Lane.
Writing Creative Introductions
The following introductory paragraphs come from various works, by writers with many diverse
styles. While reading through the examples, think about what is effective in the introductions
based on the following criteria:
• Who is the likely audience? Young people? General readers? Sports enthusiasts? The
academic community? Do you think the introduction will appeal to the audience?
• What personality does the writer project? Does the author sound intelligent, bland,
humorous, superior, knowledgeable, sarcastic? Is the author's tone suitable for the subject
and audience?
• Is the introduction interesting? Informative? Does it lead smoothly into the paper?
1. Start with a dramatic incident
It was all very hush-hush. In the winter of 1973 a top official of the National Cancer Institute
flew from Washington, D.C., to Oakland, California, carrying in his briefcase five plastic flasks.
Growing in a milky film at the bottom of each flask were live tumor cells. The cells came from
cancer patients in five different medical centers in the Soviet Union. In the spirit of détente
Russia had given the cells to American scientists, who hoped they might contain new clues to the
cause of cancer.
--Michael Gold, "The Cells That Would Not Die"
2. Start by telling a story
I have long looked for an opportunity to pay a certain debt which I have owed since I was seven
years old. Debts are usually burdens, but this is no ordinary debt, and it is no burden, except as
the feeling of warm gratitude may ache in one until it is expressed. My debt is to an Englishman,
who long ago in China rendered an inestimable service to a small American child. That child was
myself and that Englishman was Charles Dickens. I know no better way to meet my obligation
than to write down what Charles Dickens did in China for an American Child.
--Pearl Buck, "A Debt To Dickens"
3. Start with a contrast
City people are more supple than country people, and the sanest city people, being more tested
and more broadly based in the world of men, are the sanest people on earth. As to honesty,
though, or good sense, no clear-cut distinction exists either way.
--Edward Hoagland, "Thoughts on Returning to the City After Five
Months on a Mountain Where Wolves Howled"
4. Start by setting the scene
The last inch of space was filled, yet people continued to wedge themselves along the walls of
the store. Uncle Willie had turned the radio up to its last notch so that youngsters on the porch
wouldn't miss a word. Women sat on kitchen chairs, dining-room chairs, stools, and upturned
wooden boxes. Small children and babies perched in every lap available and men leaned on the
shelves or on each other.
--Maya Angelou, "Hope"
5. Start with a question
UniversityWritingCenter (407) 823-2197
How many of you have ever wondered where certain slang expressions come from? Like "She's
the cat's pajamas," or to "Take it on the lam." Neither have I. And yet for those who are
interested in this sort of thing I have provided a brief guide to a few of the more interesting
origins.
--Woody Allen, "Slang Origins"
6. Start with a description
Niagara Falls is a city of unmatched natural beauty; it is also a tired industrial workhorse, beaten
often and with a hard hand. A magnificent river--a strait really--connecting Lake Erie to Lake
Ontario flows hurriedly north, at a pace of a half-million tons a minute, widening into a smooth
expanse near the city before breaking into whitecaps and taking its famous 186-foot plunge.
Then it cascades through a gorge of overhung shale and limestone to rapids higher and swifter
than anywhere else on the continent.
--Michael Brown, "LoveCanal and the Poisoning of America"
7. Start with unusual facts and figures
There are 435 members of the House of Representatives and 417 are white males. Ten of the
others are women, and nine are black. I belong to both of these minorities, which makes it add up
right. That makes me a celebrity, a kind of side show attraction. I was the first American citizen
to be elected to Congress in spite of the double drawbacks of being female and having skin
darkened by melanin.
--Shirley Chisholm, "Unbought and Unbossed"
8. Start with a definition
I regard gifted children as those who possess some quality or innate ability which has been
recognized and identified by any number of testing and observation devices and who manifest
interest and success in either physical, intellectual, or artistic pursuits.
--Kenneth Mott, "Group the Gifted"
These examples are by no means the only ways to create an interesting and creative introduction
to your writing. Other examples can include starting with a brief historical background, saying
something startling or unexpected, using a quotation, or by explaining your thesis. Remember to
gear your writing toward your intended audience, avoid clichés, and make sure you're getting
your point across clearly.
It always helps, too, to have someone else read over your work, so that you can get an outside
perspective on what you have written. The entire purpose of the introduction is to grab the
reader's attention, and set the tone of the paper. If it's interesting to you and whoever is reading
your drafts, there's a good chance it will be interesting to others. If it comes across as boring or
uninteresting to both of you, odds are that's how it will seem to others.
______
Source: O'Hare, Frank, and Dean Memering. The Writer's Work - A Guide To Effective
Composition 3rd ed. New Jersey: Pretence Hall, 1990.