To write successfully within the first 10 pages of your novel or film script, you need a really good ear. You need to hear how the storytelling is unfolding. You need to listen out for repetition (boring), cliches (boring) and too much information (boring). Cut to the chase, include the good stuff, and deliver the goods.

“It was the day my grandmother exploded.” The first stellar sentence from Iain Banks, The Crow Road.