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Once there was a little girl called Sophie.
She was having tea with her mummy in the kitchen.
Suddenly there was a ring at the door.
Sophie’s mummy said, “I wonder who that could be?”
The Tiger Who Came To Tea by Judith Kerr

I love opening lines in books, especially children’s books.  There can be so much anticipation in the opening sentence or paragraph.  Here we have a little girl having tea with her mum and the door rings.  Who can that be, indeed?  Why nothing but a tiger in this story.

Suddenly there was a ring at the door on UnfoldAndBegin.com

But who will it be in your story?

At this moment in time, we don’t know whether it will be a fun and happy story or a sad and scary story.  Anticipation.

Is it the mailman?  Is a package being delivered?  What about her dad coming home?  Or her other mum?  Can it be the neighbor asking for sugar?  Or something more horrible?  What if this is the moment in time when Sophie finds out her dad has died?  Or that they are being sent to a concentration camp?

The opening of a story is also the opening into your imagination.  What’s next in this story for you?