What Makes a Good Opening?

Alex Gigliotti · December 19, 2023

Act 1   Survival Information

What should you include in an opening? How do openings work? Why might one work better than another? Let’s dive in and explore some answers.

I’ve observed that the most engaging openings are usually visceral conflicts related to survival information. Ideally, the opening conflict relates directly to what the armature will resolve.

Let’s break this down. I want to go through each key term: “survival information,” “visceral conflict,” and “armature.”

Before the terms, let’s start with Brian McDonald’s view on the purpose of storytelling. Then, we will build on that fundamental foundation. The purpose of stories is to pass on survival information. The thing we are learning to survive is conflict. If this idea is new to you, I highly recommend watching You Are A Storyteller’s Land of the Dead video linked below [1, 2].

“Survival information” is another term from Brian [1]. Survival information can be physical, emotional, social/cultural, or spiritual. Each type informs the audience about surviving or living better within that category.

Survival information is conveyed through the story’s armature. The armature is the point of the story [3, 4]. For example, a seminar on surviving in the woods would give you physical survival information, and the seminar’s title might be the armature. Perhaps it could be something like, Survival is Your Own Responsibility [5]. A story featuring a mother-daughter relationship or a romance would likely have emotional or social survival information in the armature [6].

Finally, visceral conflict. By visceral conflict, I mean a conflict that does not require much, if any, setup to be meaningful. Visceral conflicts are these universal, deeply felt human conflicts or problems that link to survival information (examples coming up). To remind ourselves of the definition of visceral: felt in or as if in the internal organs of the body : deep … not intellectual : instinctive, unreasoning … dealing with crude or elemental emotions : earthy … of, relating to, or located on or among the viscera : splanchnic [7].

With knowledge of the armature, we can craft a specific and visceral opening conflict that ultimately relates to the survival information contained in the armature. Further, this visceral opening gives us time to fully set up what is necessary for a more meaningful story — all with an engaged audience.

We can look to the openings of great stories for examples. I chose five songs for quick analysis on your end. Below, I included the opening conflict type and the armature. I encourage you to look up the lyrics and listen to each song. Focus your awareness on how engaging you feel the openings are. After listening, ask yourself these questions:

Did you want to keep listening after the first verse?

Does the opening conflict build and get resolved by the end?

What would you say the armature is [8]?

In the notes below this post, there’s a list of books and movies that may help with understanding openings. I recommend the same exercise with those or any other great stories.

(1) Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) — Green Day

  • Links to lyrics and song
  • The first line raises a physical survival conflict: Which path to take?
  • Armature: Make the best of your life with the limited time you have.
  • Note how the first line — alone and without context — is a physical survival conflict. As we get more context, the line builds and becomes a metaphor for something more philosophical and spiritual.

(2) Fire and Rain — James Taylor

  • Links to lyrics and song
  • The first line raises an emotional survival conflict: The sudden loss of a relationship.
  • Armature: We often have less time with those we care for than we think.

(3) You’ve Got a Friend — Carole King

  • Links to lyrics and song
  • The first three lines raise an emotional and social survival conflict: Where do you turn when life is rough?
  • Armature: When life is rough, call on a trusted friend.

(4) Big Sky, MT — The Arcadian Wild

  • Links to lyrics and song (and a really neat live music video, if interested!)
  • The first verse raises an emotional and social survival conflict: What’s hidden in our future together?
  • Armature: Life’s ups and downs are best faced together.

(5) Doubting Thomas — Nickel Creek

  • Links to lyrics and song
  • The first verse raises a spiritual survival conflict: How do we face the uncertainty of our own death?
  • Armature: We must accept that nothing in life is safe from death’s uncertainty.

Now that you thoroughly know I have a taste for folk music, here’s a quick review of the key observations on openings:

  • The most engaging openings are usually visceral conflicts related to survival information. Ideally, the opening conflict should relate directly to what the armature will resolve.
  • Visceral Conflict — universal, deeply felt human conflicts that relate directly to survival information. Not much, if any, setup is necessary to be engaging.
  • Survival Information — physical, emotional, social/cultural, or spiritual concepts that inform the audience about surviving or living better.
  • Armature — The point of the story. The survival information written in the form of a sentence. A statement that is key to resolving the conflict of the story.

Sources and Notes

Any link with * before it is an affiliate link.

List of other openings to look at. This list is incomplete, but these come to mind first:


  1. You Are A Storyteller, The Land of the Dead and Its Use in Stories ↩ ↩2

  2. *Land of the Dead by Brian McDonald ↩

  3. You Are A Storyteller, The Armature ↩

  4. *Invisible Ink by Brian McDonald ↩

  5. Survival is Your Own Responsibility by Daryl R. Miller, also note the first paragraph includes spiritual, social, and physical survival conflicts! Thanks to Jonathan from my film and writing group for sharing this article! ↩

  6. Note: Early episodes of Gilmore Girls come to mind. ↩

  7. Merriam-Webster, “Visceral” ↩

  8. Note: Your armature can be different from mine. In fact, it likely will be different, or you will at least word it in a different way. This is perfectly fine. I will explain in a post eventually. ↩

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