Thursday

Rocket stares at the first line of his lost dog story. He has stared at it for most of a minute, which for Rocket is a long time.

"It is fine," he says. "It is just fine."

"Fine is a flat word," Raven says. "Try it another way. Three ways."

"Three?" Rocket says. "I already wrote it once."

Nova hovers by the lamp. "A writer who tries a new approach is not starting over," she says. "They are choosing."

Rocket writes a question. Then a scene. Then he reads all three to Raven.

"What do you notice about the scene one?" he asks, before she can ask him.

"It makes me want to know why the lamp is on," Raven says. "One compliment. One question: how did you know to look under the tent?"

Sometimes a sentence or a whole opening will not come right by revising. Then try a new approach: write it a different way and compare.

Three ways to open a story or an explainer: a plain statement, a question, or a scene. Write all three, read them aloud, and pick the one that makes a promise the ending keeps.

Raven thinks aloud: "The story ends with the lamp still on. The scene opening starts with the lamp. That opening promises the ending, so it wins."

A reader gives one compliment and one question. The compliment tells you what to keep. The question tells you where the reader got lost.

Write both down. Do not argue with the question. Decide later whether to answer it in the piece.

Raven thinks aloud: "Rocket's reader asked how the crew knew to look under the tent. That is a gap in the story, not a complaint. One added line on the hill fills it."

While you are at it, check the words readers mix up most. It's means it is; its shows belonging. They're means they are; their shows belonging; there is a place. Too means also or more than enough.

Three openings, one reader, a better story. Tomorrow Nova reviews the week and you proofread all three pieces for Press Day.