Say Goodbye to Cliché Introductions in Composition Writing – Part 1

Hi, everyone! It’s me, Teacher Wen Hee from Lil’ but Mighty. Through this 3-part video series, we will shy away from stereotypical introductions that make your teachers shake their heads in disapproval. I am here to share with you 3 interesting ways you can introduce your story that will help you draw your readers’ attention or make your story stand out right from the get-go! These tips for writing introductions will revolutionise how you approach your composition beginnings.

In this first part of the series, I will be focusing on using feelings as a great way to begin your narrative writing. Let’s hop to it!

Method 1: Begin with a Bang through the use of Feelings/Emotions

I’m sure your teachers in school always remind you to Show Not Tell in your composition stories. What better way is there than to begin straight through the use of feelings/ emotions? Doing so helps to create suspense in the story and possibly even arouses the readers’ curiosity to make them wonder why the writer or character in your story may be experiencing those feelings/emotions right from the start. If you have been a student at Lil’ but Mighty, I am sure you are not new to the concept of using PIOA, which stands for Power-Up, Inside, Outside and Action, to express your character’s emotions. Mastering these tips for writing introductions can significantly elevate your writing.

Let me explain what each part entails. A Power-up is a more vivid synonym for the emotion that you are trying to describe. For example, instead of using ‘shocked’, you can replace it with a power-up word like ‘astonished’ to show that your character is experiencing something unexpected.

Inside refers to the how the Feeling/Emotion is being expressed by the character that is felt internally while Outside shows how the Feeling/Emotion is expressed externally, such as through facial expressions and body movements. Using the same example for shock, you can describe your character’s mind racing (which is Inside because he feels it internally) and that his jaw hung agape (which is Outside because it is his facial expression). Lastly, Action describes what the character does when he/she is feeling that particular emotion. As such, a character who is in shock may release an incredulous gasp and stagger backwards – actions that are associated with that emotion.

However, to effectively utilise PIOA, do remember to provide a statement to show the Reason for feeling the particular emotion. Combining the words and phrases used in my example above, the paragraph describing my character’s shock would look something like this: