Whatever you do, it should leave the reader asking questions that will keep them reading: Who is this guy? Why is he doing X? What's going on here? (That's the one ''in media res'' should prompt.) The thing is to hook the reader in such a way that he wants to keep going. You don't want to have them get to the end of the first paragraph and ask, "why am i bothering with this?"
The number one amateur story opening to avoid is anything that looks like this:
-- Bob
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...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...
The number one amateur story opening to avoid is anything that looks like this:
Quote:That's about as silly and facetious as I could write it, but I'm sure you've seen intensely serious versions of this. It tries to set up the hero and his environment in one paragraph, thrown at the reader at the start. It never works. To even a halfway sophisticated reader it says, "I've just learned how to spell, and I think I can write a story. I'm wrong."
Joe Hero was an ordinary high school student before his life changed. He was five foot twelve, 17 stone, and wore a purple waistcoat on alternate Fridays. His girlfriend was Ann Image, who made her living as a screen saver on his computer. ...
-- Bob
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...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...