Writing Co-Lab

Brilliant Openings: How to Get the Reader in the Car

Writing’s all fun and games until the rejections start piling up. In this intensive (though informal) workshop, we’ll aim to make sure your stories or essays draw the reader in, rather than leaving them in the dark. We’ll take a second look at your opening pages, as well as the opening pages of works by Cheryl Strayed, Natasha Trethewey, Meg Wolitzer and others, in an effort to understand how they hook readers from word one.

Steve Almond is the author of twelve books of fiction and non-fiction including the New York Times bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. His first novel, Which Brings Me to You (co-written with Julianna Baggott) was made into way-better-than-he-expected movie starring Lucy Hale and Nat Wolff. His last novel, All the Secrets of the World, is in development for television by 20th Century Fox. His work has appeared in the Best American Short Stories, the Pushcart Prize, Best American Mysteries, and the NYT Magazine. His most recent book, Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow, is about craft, inspiration, and how to keep going at the keyboard. Almond teaches at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism and lives outside Boston with his family and his anxiety.