Kutubna Cultural Center
Opening Lines: A Creative Writing Workshop
Opening Lines: A Creative Writing Workshop
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Date: Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm
Duration: 90 minutes
Location: Kutubna Cultural Center, Madina Avenues, Nadd Al Hamar, Dubai
Lions, tigers and bears? A piece of cake. A hoarde of wildebeests stampeding towards an unsuspecting lion cub in a gorge? A walk in the park. Voldemort emerging from his band of Death Eaters to launch an attack on Hogwarts? Child's play. How about a blank white page and a blinking cursor? Almost every writer's worst nightmare.
Your opening line is your chance to grab your readers' attention and pull them into the world you built. It's the difference between your reader thinking, "Ooh, what happens next?" Or "Nah, I'll put this back. Which shelf did I get this from, again?" It's what makes your reader want to flip through the pages and slide down the slippery slope of "just one more chapter" as the clock strikes 3 AM.
Your opening line sets the tone for your story. It sets up the expectations for your reader on your style, your voice, your lore, your characters, your world-building, and everything else in between.
So, how do you write an opening line that makes a lasting impression? Join us at Kutubna to find out, where we'll explore crafting opening lines with Sara Galadari and one of her favorite novels, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, and take on that grievous blinking cursor together.
Sara Galadari is an Emirati best-selling author, having written numerous books for children and young adults. Bitten by a bookworm as a young child, she developed an unquenchable thirst for consuming every book she could get her hands on. Born and raised in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, she spent her youth visiting libraries and checking out dozens of books at a time (taking advantage of her brothers’ library cards to check out even more books for the week). After taking an interest in how language can shape meaning across culture, society, media, and cognitive processes, she went on to get her BA and MSc in Communication. Sara draws from her education to write stories that touch on pivotal topics, with the hopes of shaping bright minds to build a better tomorrow.
