Opening a Personal/Reflective

1. Opening a Personal/Reflective Miss Wood

2. Successful Openings … • Begin with a dramatic or unusual first line; • Immediately grab the attention of the reader; • Set the tone of the piece of writing; • Begin at an interesting moment in your personal experience; • Make the reader want to carry on reading!

3. Types of Opening 1. Make your reader imagine… 2. Set the Scene… 3. Describe How You Felt… 4. Writing a Reflective Opening….

4. 1. Make your reader imagine… Imagine that you’re supposed to be enjoying a nice lunch with your mum. You haven’t seen her for a while and she’s chattering away, telling you the latest gossip from home. Meeting up with her is like finally reaching a water-hole in the desert. You drink up the little snippets about the neighbours’ dog Max, who barks all morning and scares the little girl down the road. However, you can’t escape the feeling that there’s something more going on behind her animated tales. Her fingers are locked together tightly, as if she’s holding herself together. She’s been in bits since he left, it really hasn’t been very long and the initial wound is still raw. She looks so small and vulnerable. Imagine that this fragile little woman finally let it all out. Imagine that she told you the truth about what happened. That’s the situation I found myself in at the end of my first year at university.

5. 2. Set the Scene The ham sandwiches had just arrived and the waitress was placing them on our table, when my world changed forever. We thanked the girl and watched as she zig-zagged through the bustling café. Mum had been giving me a run down of the latest gossip from back home. I’d been doing my best ‘wow, I’m-so- glad- you- told- me- about- the- old- lady- from- down- the- street- who- used- to- pat- me- on- the- head- when- we- passed look. I’d simply been trying to change to subject when I mentioned that I’d seen dad the day before. I shouldn't’t have mentioned his name. I should’ve seen it coming. I heard mum’s quick intake of breath and then was caught by her doleful look.

6. 3. Describe How You Felt The punch to my gut seemed to come from nowhere and caught me completely off guard. I stared at my assailant; my mum’s face was frozen. I knew that I should be saying something, thinking something, but I was unable to produce any reaction to the news. A thick blanket seemed to have wrapped itself around me, it’s protective warmth was close against my skin. My fingers clung to the edge of the table, holding on for dear life. I gave up on searching for a suitable, or even honest response to my mother’s previous statement. Instead I observed the strange thrum of blood through my temples and the trembling that had begun in my fingertips.

7. 4. Writing a Reflective Opening A lot of people would probably say ‘success’ is measured in pounds. Big houses, shiny cars, jumbo-sized TVs. Open any magazine and you will see it: plastic celebrities showing off their latest bling and living it up. For a while, I thought that achieving something meant having lots to show for it. Then I had an opportunity to do something which made me realise ‘success’ is much harder to measure, but means so much more.

8. In other words… • Refer to what you think ‘most’ people would consider the meaning success/fear/failure etc. • Begin to introduce what it means to you. LOOK AT THE BIGGER PICTURE – THEN MAKE IT PERSONAL.