Storytelling and Doctor Who, (careful there are Spoilers Sweetie).

When I was about ten I read a book on writing for kids that said every story should have a great first sentence. Being ten, I took that completely the wrong way. I thought "great first sentence" meant I had to make something worthy of Dickens or Shakespeare. But here's the thing: Dickens and Shakespeare didn't know they were great until someone said that they were.Hard work and determination can get you far but as to whether or not your work is something people will be putting on bookmarks (that is if we even have bookmarks in the future) isn't something anyone can ever guess.
It took me years to figure out that writing a great first sentence just meant writing something that made people want to read on. For instance: Jane saw the dead body floating in the river on a Tuesday. Automatically, the reader is asking these important questions: Who is Jane? Why is there a body in a river? Where is Jane? What is she doing looking at a body? It gets the reader curious and makes them want to read on.
Television is actually a great way to learn about great beginnings. If a show doesn't catch your interest in the first five minutes you're likely to change the channel or stop watching altogether.
Doctor Who is particularly excellent at this. For those of you not in the know Doctor Who is a British sci-fi series that's been on in various forms since 1963 and the "new series" which started in 2005. It tells the story of a mysterious man called The Doctor who is descended from an ancient alien race of time travellers known as The Time Lords. The Doctor travels with companions through time and space saving people from all sorts of things.
If you haven't watched the series but are going to and don't want to be spoiled I suggest you don't read on. If you are one of those people who don't mind spoilers (like me) then go ahead.
In the first episode of Doctor Who we meet a nineteen year-old named Rose Tyler who is a perfectly ordinary London girl living with her Mom and working in a shop. This is Rose:

Yes, she is holding a gun. Yes, she will kick your arse if you hurt her Doctor. Or upset her Mum. Or anyone she cares about actually. She saves the world. A lot. 

Roses first episode starts with her living a completely normal life but then---then something happens. While closing up her work one night she gets attacked by plastic store dummies and is saved by a mysterious man (yes, that'd be The Doctor).
Yes. A girl getting attacked by plastic store dummies. You are intrigued aren't you? Why would store dummies attack? How are the store dummies "alive"? What is The Doctor doing there in the first place? And that is what every great opening should do. It should make you ask questions and keep you interested.
So my point is basically don't be afraid to have a girl getting chased by plastic dummies as your opening no matter how strange it might seem. Its better then: Jane woke up from a terrible dream.
Or worse still: Jane was a girl with brown hair, brown eyes, who stood at exactly five foot six. Make your first sentence-or your opening-jump. More likely the weirder it is the better chance you've got of someone reading on.
Love n' Stars,
Cambria Covell