Without a problem to solve or a conflict to overcome in the story, the reader quickly becomes bored. Therefore, you need to introduce the problem as close to the beginning of the story as possible.
Set a mood that matches the nature of the situation. The reader wants to feel a part of the events as they unfold. Never hold out on your reader; he will feel cheated. He should know as much as the main character does during the development of the story.
The example below, taken from the opening of Chapter 9 of my book, Eyes Beyond the Horizon, (Thomas Nelson) sets an ominous mood by using such phrases as “inky pools of tree shade,” “torch darting in the blackness,” and “stabs of summer lightning.” The reader knows something dangerous is about to happen.
A bright moon, sweeping across the starry midnight sky, washed over the transmitter buildings of Christian Radio City Manila with a dim white light. It picked out the figure of a guard as he passed between inky pools of tree shade, his torch darting in the blackness like stabs of summer lightning…
In the stillness, night sounds carried across the heavy atmosphere with astounding clarity. The footsteps of an announcer crackled on the gravel as he walked along the roadway between the quieted compound houses…
Behind the night-hushed scene stood a tall antenna tower, pinnacled by red warning lights. At the top, a man held by his head dangled helplessly three hundred feet from the ground!