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How to Get the Reader Onboard is an in-depth audio course from DeepDive featuring acclaimed author and teacher Steve Almond.
Through candid conversations, close readings, and practical instruction, Steve breaks down the hidden mechanics of narrative engagement — helping you understand not just how to start a story, but how to make that start irresistible.
You'll learn:
- How to hook readers from the very first line — and keep them invested as your story unfolds
- The psychology of reader engagement — what makes a reader care, and how to earn their trust
- The key elements of great openings — tension, voice, desire, conflict, and emotional promise
- How to establish story authority — the subtle ways great writers signal confidence, control, and authenticity on the page
- Concrete examples and guided exercises — Steve walks you through real openings and gives you practical tools to strengthen your own
Why Most Openings Fail
- They chase cleverness instead of clarity, trying to impress rather than invite the reader in.
- They lack story authority — the voice doesn’t convince the reader they’re in good hands.
- They lack emotional stakes and a distinctive voice, so nothing feels urgent, specific, or alive.
- They mistake mystery for confusion, leaving the reader disoriented instead of intrigued.
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They fail to establish tension, leaving the reader with no reason to keep turning the page.
Command the reader’s attention from page one…
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Create immediate intrigue and emotional momentum from your very first line
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Infuse your first pages with tension, desire, and narrative promise
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Develop a powerful narrative voice that’s confident, authentic, and irresistible
- Build tension and promise, making readers desperate to know what happens next
- Build tension and promise, making readers desperate to know what happens next
- Establish story authority and tonal confidence — the quiet power that makes a reader surrender
Ready to hook your reader from the very first line?
In How to Get the Reader Onboard, acclaimed author and teacher Steve Almond will show you how to:
- Write opening pages that instantly capture attention and emotional investment
- Establish story authority and voice so readers know they’re in expert hands
- Build tension, curiosity, and trust without overexplaining or rushing
- Identify why your openings fall flat—and how to fix them
- Apply concrete exercises and real examples to strengthen your own work
This course offers a clear, practical roadmap to writing openings that engage, persuade, and move readers. It's perfect for writers who are serious about improving their craft and want expert guidance, structure, and inspiration from one of today’s most dynamic and generous writing teachers.
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Meet Your Instructor
STEVE ALMOND is the author of a dozen books of fiction and nonfiction, including All The Secrets of The World and the New York Times bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. His essays and reviews have been published in venues ranging from the New York Times Magazine to Ploughshares to Poets & Writers, and his short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Mysteries, and Best American Erotica. Almond is the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and co-hosted the Dear Sugars podcast with Cheryl Strayed for four years. He teaches at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism, and lives outside Boston with his family, his debt, and his anxiety.
What's Included in
How to Get The Reader Onboard...
MODULE 1
Why Opening Pages Matter
Every great story begins with an unspoken promise between writer and reader. In this opening module, Steve explains why beginnings carry such high stakes — and how to relieve the pressure by focusing on emotional truth rather than performance.
- Understand why first pages matter to readers, agents, and editors
- Learn how to replace anxiety with urgency and purpose
- Study what your favorite openings actually do to win belief
MODULE 2
The Reader’s Contract
Your first paragraphs set the terms of engagement. Steve shows how tone, voice, and subject matter create the reader’s expectations — and how clarity, mystery, and authority must coexist to keep them onboard.
- Discover how openings signal the kind of story you’re telling
- Balance mystery and clarity to build trust, not confusion
- Analyze powerful openings across genres to see how contracts are made and kept
MODULE 3
Character in Motion
Whether it's fiction, memoir, or narrative nonfiction, readers crave character — not scenery, not summary. This module explores how to introduce characters quickly and vividly through desire, contradiction, and vulnerability.
- Reveal character through action, not exposition
- Make desire legible from the first page
- Use vulnerability and intimacy to create instant connection
MODULE 4
The Engine of Trouble
From the very first sentence, something has to be wrong. Steve breaks down how conflict fuels engagement — whether it’s internal, relational, or situational — and how to launch your story in motion.
- Identify different forms of trouble and how to dramatize them
- Study classic openings charged with tension and danger
- Practice writing openings that create instant intrigue, with clarity and precision
MODULE 5
The Music of the Sentence
The first sentence is a microcosm of your book’s rhythm, tone, and control. Learn to hear prose the way musicians hear notes — as patterns of sound, movement, and authority.
- Explore sentence rhythm and propulsion in great literary openings.
- Revise your own first line for music and momentum.
- Develop an ear for language that feels inevitable and alive.
MODULE 6
The Eureka Moment: Finding Your Opening
Great openings are discovered, not engineered. This module helps you reverse-engineer how master storytellers find the moment where a narrative truly begins.
- Closely read iconic openings across genres and eras
- Extract reusable principles you can apply to your own work
- Learn to recognize when you’ve finally found your real beginning
MODULE 7
Setting, Atmosphere, and the World of the Story
Every story lives in a world. Steve examines how to ground readers without overwhelming them, using sensory detail, tone, and economy to evoke atmosphere.
- Learn how setting shapes mood, theme, and character.
- Balance orientation and mystery through selective detail.
- Write openings that feel immersive, not overloaded.
MODULE 8
Common Mistakes and the Art of Revision
Most openings fail not for lack of talent, but for lack of clarity. This module teaches how to diagnose weak beginnings and rewrite with precision and confidence.
- Spot common pitfalls: clichés, false starts, lack of desire
- Use revision to cut, tighten, and discover the true start of your story
- Practice Steve’s method for “writing toward” your real beginning
MODULE 9
Review
In the final module, Steve ties the course together, reviewing what we’ve learned and reminding us how all elements — voice, character, setting, tension, rhythm — converge to create openings that demand to be read.
- Review the essential principles of reader engagement.
- Learn strategies for auditing your opening and testing its strength
- Leave with renewed confidence in your story’s invitation to the world.
FOUNDER & HOST
Brad Listi
Welcome! I'm the founder of DeepDive and the host of How to Write a Novel. I'm also the author of the novels Be Brief and Tell Them Everything and Attention. Deficit. Disorder., an LA Times bestseller.
Since 2011, I've hosted and produced the Otherppl podcast, which features in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Past guests include luminaries like Karl Ove Knausgaard, Lorrie Moore, George Saunders, Min Jin Lee, Elizabeth Strout, Roxane Gay, Jonathan Franzen, Louise Erdrich, Dave Eggers, and many more.
Through these conversations—and through my own years of experience as a working writer, editor, and publisher—I’ve come to understand the writing process intimately: the struggles it involves, the doubts it stirs up, and the mindset and tools it takes to persevere and publish.
Why this course different...
- Taught by a working writer who tells the truth. Steve Almond doesn’t romanticize the process — he shows you how great openings actually work, sentence by sentence, choice by choice
- Built for real progress, not theory. Each module includes concrete examples, guided exercises, and clear takeaways you can apply to your own work immediately
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Focused on psychology as much as craft. You’ll learn not only what to write, but why readers respond — the emotional mechanics behind their investment
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Designed for all genres and levels. Whether you’re writing literary fiction, nonfiction, memoir, or genre work, the principles of engagement remain the same — and this course teaches them all
- The DeepDive method. You’ll learn in an immersive, conversational format that feels personal, alive, and inspiring — not like sitting through a lecture
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How to Get The Reader Onboard
Bundle & Save: Get Both Courses Together
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How to Get the Reader Onboard: $147 (regular price)
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How to Write a Novel: $397
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Both Courses Together: $447 — Save $97
Upgrade your order and get How to Get the Reader Onboard and our flagship course, How to Write a Novel.
That’s more than 60 hours of expert, in-depth instruction on every stage of the writing process — from crafting irresistible openings with Steve Almond to building, drafting, and finishing your novel with guidance from 40+ acclaimed authors.
Two courses. One unbeatable value.
The DeepDive Mega-Bundle:
All Courses, One Price
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How to Write a Novel: $397
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How to Write Autobiographical Fiction: $197
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How to Get the Reader Onboard: $147
- All Three Courses Together: $549 — Save $192
Unlock the complete DeepDive collection and gain access to over 70 hours of expert-led instruction featuring more than 40 acclaimed authors and teachers.
You’ll learn everything from crafting irresistible openings with Steve Almond, to transforming lived experience into art with Hannah Pittard, to building, drafting, and finishing your novel with dozens of today’s most celebrated writers.
Three courses. One transformative learning experience.
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Successful writers take action.
Every writer dreams of pulling readers into their world — but the ones who succeed don’t wait for inspiration. They learn the craft, study the masters, and do the work. How to Get the Reader Onboard gives you the insight, structure, and tools to finally start your stories with confidence and authority. Don’t let another draft stall at the starting line. Invest in your growth, learn from one of today’s most respected teachers, and take the next step toward becoming the writer you’re meant to be. Enroll today — and start writing openings that no reader can put down.
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