The first line is what pulls us into an article.
Yet we end up writing a really boring first line. What's worse is that you could use the power of story to create an intensely powerful first line in minutes.
Don't believe me? Well, do you have 10 minutes? Here are two methods to write the first line of your article.
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Rerelease: How To Create An Intensely Curious First Line For Your Article
Original: How To Create An Intensely Curious First Line For Your Article
My friend Deepak and I were at a college festival when a pretty girl walked by.
Deepak was extremely shy, and it was clear that girl had caught his attention. However, being rather timid, he couldn't think of how he'd approach the girl. I told him I'd have no problem walking up to her and striking up a conversation.
Deepak thought my idea was utterly hilarious. He knew I'd spent the entire first year in college talking to no girls at all—and that I was as shy as he was.
“There's no way you can speak to her,” he said to me. What Deepak didn't know was that I already knew the girl. She lived on the floor below my grandmother and I'd known her since we were toddlers. To walk up to Karen and say hello was going to be the easiest thing in the world.
I took up the challenge. I walked up to her and said “Hi Karen”. She turned around and gave me a big smile and we chatted away. Deepak standing quite a distance away, couldn't figure out what I'd said that would cause a pretty girl to be so chatty in seconds.
He desperately wanted to know what line I'd used to create such an impact. He was convinced my power lay in what I'd said in the first line. Of course, I'd pulled a fast one on my friend, but he was right in his assumption that first lines matter.
Whether you're making a presentation, a Zoom call, or writing an article, you can instantly get your reader to smile with a single line. As you'd expect, you're about to find out how to create a first line—and in a manner that's incredibly doable.
The first line of an article needs to be a magnet.
The role of the first line is to pull you in with a certain level of curiosity. And while the “first line” in an article can be daunting, you can do a little toe-dip whenever you feel comfortable.
Here are two methods:
1- Ask a question.
2-Make a statement that seems curious: e.g. “Oh, what’s next?” or “Wait a second, why?”
Let me give you a few examples—but first, here’s some background.
I was watching the British actress Emily Blunt talking about her stutter.
Stutter? What stutter?
In all the movies, she delivers her lines flawlessly, and in this interview on YouTube, she was talking as “normally” as all of us. She went on to say that she not only stuttered, but it got worse over time.
While growing up in a posh suburb of London, Blunt developed a debilitating stutter and could barely hold a conversation, let alone elbow her way into the limelight.”
Blunt said in the article, “I was a smart kid and had a lot to say, but I just couldn’t say it. It would just haunt me. I never thought I’d be able to sit and talk to someone like I’m talking to you right now.”
Emily Blunt goes on.
“School was interesting because there were certain things I couldn’t do and wanted to, like read out my poem in class. I would never want to do that. I would hate it if the teacher called on me to answer something. I don’t know what it’s like for you, but I think when stutterers are put on the spot, that’s hard. I didn’t love calling my friends.
I could never say my own name if someone said, “What’s your name?” Because you can’t substitute a word out, which is what we tend to do to find a better flow. You substitute another word that’s easier, and you can’t substitute your name. So I realised quickly as a kid, any pressurised situations were quite hard for me.
What caused her to get rid of the stutter?
“When I was 12, my class teacher was this really cool guy called Mr. McHale. He was this enormous man with a massive moustache. He asked me if I wanted to do the class play, and I said no.
And he said, “But I think you can do it. I’ve heard you doing silly voices and mimicking people. So, if you did it in a silly voice, would you consider doing it? Why don’t you do it in an accent?” And that was a very liberating thing for me as a kid. Suddenly, I had a fluency.
The removal of yourself from yourself, in some ways, was freeing. I agreed to it, and I did speak completely fluently. I did a really bad northern English accent, which I won’t even try and do for you now. That was the beginning of realising that I had a handle on it, and maybe it could be temporary, and maybe I could grow past this.
Later, she learned that actors such as Bruce Willis were stutterers. And even the very famous James Earl Jones!
Ok, so that was the story, but how do we formulate the first line?
There are two ways that we considered, and the first method is asking a question. Here we go with three separate questions based on the article.
If you picked three people who stutter, would it be Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt and James Earl Jones?
Do you think you could become a famous actress if you couldn’t even say your name without stuttering?
How does a teacher who knows nothing about stuttering help you overcome the problem?
2-Make a statement that seems to suggest curiosity: “Oh, what’s next?” or “Wait a second, why?”
Actress Emily Blunt didn’t phone her friends at all while growing up.
Imagine sitting in front of someone you like a lot, but you can’t say a thing.
James Earl Jones has a voice most people would kill for. As a child, he stuttered.
So, is it easy to pull out that first line?
Who knows? But try the question, pick something that creates curiosity—and you should be well on your way. Or, to put it another way, you’ll no longer be stuttering with your first line.
Fluency awaits!
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