Writing for competitions – you have to make something new and interesting happen immediately.
Not difficult with this one crazy trick.
Make sameness WORK FOR YOU. Take that opening scene that’s so common and obvious and overused and MAKE IT END IN A COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED WAY.
Instead of killing that pretty young woman, chase her through the woods with a handheld camera until we’re seething, then have her turn around and blow a motherfucker away by opening her mouth and disgorging a swarm of weaponized nano-wasps.
Flip the same over. You will get the reader’s attention.