Welcome to the first workshop to be given by Nowhere Land's Beatle Fan Fiction Club! This workshop is going to discuss how to make your introductions work!
When you write an intro to your story, you want whatever you write to grab the attention of your target reader. Almost everyone will read it because it's Beatle Fan Fiction and it's what we're here for, but you want to sell your story to the audience. So, your introduction (the first thing the public reads of your story) is the most important.
Okay, first of all, we propose this question:
So now you have the six points of the classic introduction. Let's explain them.
1. Who you are.
Here's where you audience gets to know you. Tell them a bit about yourself, but don't write a novel. Give a bit about how you came to like the Beatles and how it lead to you writing the fan fiction.
2. Why you wrote this fan fiction on the Beatles
Let us know why you decided to write the fan fiction. Point 1 leads right into #2. You may not think the reader will care about this, but sometimes telling us why you wrote the story may spark the fire in us to write our own!
3. A Summary of the story.
This, without a doubt, is *THE* most important part of the introduction!! More important than the copyright notice! This is what will keep the reader interested enough to actually read the story. Tell us the main character(s) other than the Beatles (it's a given that they're already part of the story!) and describe her/him/them a little. Let us know what's going to go on in the story, but you need to be careful here. Give us enough to want to read it ourselves. Don't tell us the whole story here!
4. Information on how to contact you
Want some feedback about your story? Can't do that without an e-mail address. If you wish to skip this area, at least leave a guestbook. Otherwise, if you get nominated for the 2nd Annual Beatle Fan Fiction Awards, how will you know you won?
5. A disclaimer/copyright notice.
This is the second most important point in the whole schematic of your introduction. The disclaimer tells people you don't own the copyrights for things you quote in your story. Sometimes this is irrelevant to your story, but it doesn't hurt.
However, if anything, DO NOT FORGET A COPYRIGHT!! If you don't and another person decides to copy you, you have no foothold saying you were first to think up this story! Be sure to leave a date (at the least, you should have the year). Some writers have had to deal with this situation and it is definetly NOT pleasant.
So now you know the main parts of the introduction and how to use them. Use tips given! If you do, readers are sure to be pulled into your story!
Copyright, February 1999; Nowhere Land Beatle Fan Fiction Club.