The opening of a story is an extremely crucial part of the text overall. It is supposed to set the tone of the story, maybe introduce the main protagonist, perhaps also establish the setting, and immerse the reader within the pages all at the same time. This is no basic task. In light of these facts, this is why many seasoned writers advise up and coming writers to finish their stories first and add the opening last.
T.C. Boyle's opening to his short story Caviar is very good. In the opening to this story you already get a feel for how the tone of the rest of the story will feel, you learn a lot about our narrator who is also the protagonist, and Boyle presents you with the setting on the Hudson. I was sucked into it immediately from the very first sentence when the first thing the narrator tells us is that he never went to college.
The first sentence of your story is just as crucial as the opening itself. If you manage to draw your reader in at the very first sentence, that in itself is an admirable accomplishment. The introduction is about providing your readers with just the right amount of information about the story without giving too much of it away. You want to lay it out for them and show them just what they're about to get themselves into, but at the same time you don't want to weigh them down with too much information that might bore them or spoil the story. You want to give them a small taste that's going to wow them and keep them reading.
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