It’s funny. Not ha ha, guffaw kind of funny. But funny in a strange how these things come about kind of way. My wife mentioned to me, towards the end of last week, that Roy Williams has a book coming out. Roy, in case you don’t follow college basketball (What the hell’s wrong with you?!!), is the coach at the University of North Carolina. He of the two National Championships in the last few years. Can you tell this post is coming from “If God is not a Tar Heel why is the sky Carolina blue?” Chapel Hill? 
Anyway, she suggested that we might want to think about getting our youngest son an autographed copy for Christmas. He is a huge UNC basketball fan. Hard not to be when you grow up in Chapel Hill I suppose. As it turns out, Roy will be signing books at the Barnes and Noble she works at part time. (Buddy, if you’re reading this, act surprised on Christmas morning, okay?) I told her that I thought that was a great idea. Once they get through high school, good Christmas present ideas are hard to come by and this sure seemed like a good one.
Here comes the “funny” part. Saturday morning the News and Observer ran a story about the forthcoming book. Add ‘author’ to Roy Williams’ titles.
Good enough, I thought, as my wife read the headline to me. Then she continued on.
“When UNC-Chapel Hill basketball coach Roy Williams was 14, he pulled his drunk and angry father off his mother, shoved a bottle under his chin, and threatened to kill him if he didn’t leave.”
“My dad never, ever came back to our house again,” Williams says in his autobiography “Hard Work: A Life on and Off the Court,” which will be on sale Nov. 3. His sister Frances, he wrote, “was more forgiving. I was not. I was mad that he’d torn our family apart.”
Well now, that’s just one helluva’ lead isn’t it? Gets your attention sort of right away quick. All of a sudden, this usually smiling, joking, basketball coach, has shown us a dimension we never knew existed. And that’s the point I’d like for you to think about. Not the “threaten to kill if they don’t leave” part. The “helluva’ lead” part.
The better the start of your story the more likely people are to read it or watch it or listen to it. I was browsing through Les Edgerton’s Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go when I was in Barnes and Noble the other day and the advice his title gives and that he has for fiction writers, holds just as true for non fiction stories as well. Once you’ve got your story strategy sorted out and you begin to start telling them, think about your headlines or titles, and, think about those opening sentences, whether they’re written or spoken. The more effort you and/or your writers put into making them as compelling as they can be, the better your chance that people will want to read them.
You might also want to think about those in terms of Google love. Not just keywords and SEO, but in terms of the little blurb Google sometimes picks up and shows with your search listing. A well crafted opening can often times make the difference between someone clicking through to your story or moving on to another one.
The Roy Williams story opening is sure an attention grabber. Have you seen any others recently? Have you written or told any recently that you’d share with us?
{ 1 trackback }
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Gregg Morris,
Just wanted to thank you for the nice things you had to say about my book, “Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers on Page One and Never Lets Them Go.” It’s just a terrific feeling to find out that something you wrote has helped a fellow writer.
And, I was interested in the Roy Williams story. A really nice guy by all accounts and deserving of all he’s won. However, I’m afraid UNC is doomed to second-place in the next few years… as Indiana University is about to begin a new dynasty!
My son Mike also worked in a B&N store while in high school (as does your wife) and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. He made sure to keep my books prominently displayed… or no supper!
Again, thank you! And best of luck with your own writing.
Blue skies,
Les Edgerton
Hi Les,
Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to share this. “Hooked…” had me just that as I was browsing through it. And, it sure helped to illustrate the point I was trying to make to the business folks out there. I went through your web site after I got back that day, as I was familiar with a writer who shares your last name, Clyde, but not with your work. I was quite taken with your background and your work. I am likely going to use your statement from “Hooked…” about trouble being the only reason to write fiction (or something to that effect) as a lens when I put up another post on non-fiction stories.
Now, about Indiana. I’ll have to check with my basketball expert when he gets home from school for Thanksgiving. I can’t pull for them of course, but it would be nice to see the program get back to the lofty heights that they used to. I grew up in Ohio and have many memories of the Ohio State – Indiana rivalry. I wonder if Carolina and Indiana face off in the Big 10 Challenge this year?
B&N’s a lot of fun to poke around in. You son must have inherited some of those reading and writing genes. While ours never worked at B&N growing up, they love to read and both seem to have a talent for writing. My wife and I have long said that the best thing we did for them growing up was to teach them to enjoy reading and the companionship of a good book.
Thanks for your words of encouragement. I can’t begin to tell you how much fun it is to discover writers who I wasn’t familiar with, read some of their work, and then get a chance to meet them online.
Best wishes,
Gregg