David Sedaris’s Guide to Writing Brilliant First Sentences

In previous episodes of Rough Draft, we’ve established that beyond headlines the first sentence dominates.

In fact, it’s responsible for hurling the reader into the story. The headline captures the reader’s attention. The first sentence keeps it.

Great writers like David Sedaris know this. Just study some of his first sentences and you’ll see he takes this seriously. Very seriously.

Which is what we will do in today’s show.

In this 10-minute episode about first sentences on Rough Draft with Demian Farnworth, you’ll discover:

• How to create suspense in your first sentence
• The trick to introducing an interesting character (miss this and people could care less about your character)
• The very best first sentence David Sedaris ever wrote
• When first sentences go horribly wrong

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