The first sentence of your story, essay, or paper is always the most important. This sentence will make your essay, or break your essay. In Notebook Know-How, Aimee Buckner calls this sentence a grabberlead. A grabberlead is the sentence that grabs the readers attention at the beginning of the writing piece. Authors use grabberleads to get readers worried, excited, surprised, or even scared. Here is an example from Becuase of Winn Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo. " My name is India Opal Buloni and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni and cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog." The first thing a reader might think is "Why would she come home with a dog?" This lead is meant to question or surprise the reader. By reading this lead, the reader will be more excited to read what happens next. Another great example comes from E.B White's, Charlotte's Web. "Where’s Papa going with that ax? Said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast. “Out to the hoghouse,” replied Mrs. Arable. “Some pigs were born last night.” “I don’t see why he needs an ax,” continued Fern, who was only eight." This lead may scare,surpise, or question the reader. Why would Papa be going to the hoghouse with an Ax? Was he going to perhaps kill one of the hogs?
The general purpose of a grabberlead, is to make the reader want to read more. Here are some suggestions for creating better grabberleads in your writing:
- Try using the five senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell to paint a vivid picture in the readers mind.
- Use active rather than passive verbs to strengthen the images.
- Think about how your lead might question, scare, surprise, or excite the reader.
- Write powerful, simple sentences. A good lead doesn't have to be long and complex. It should be short and powerful.
