Welcome to the Writer's Forum! I hope this is not your last visit. Personally I don't think that the techniques used on television are necessarily the best techniques used for other writing. The snappy end line to a scene is in vogue now, but it will eventually go out of style. Each story should have the best beginning for that story...not for some other tale. I do think it is important to make your opening as interesting to the reader as possible. This is your first impression and you want to make it a good one. I wouldn't obsess about it in a first draft, but I would get it as compelling as possible before I finished my last. You only have a few moments to grab your reader...that is the job of the opening. I do think that stories should start with suspeense of some sort (and it doesn't have to be criminal...all stories need suspense), and scenes and/or chapters should end with a bit of suspense...a little cliff hanger to keep the reader wondering what is going to happen next. Otherwise, why should the reader continue? Often times I see people spend a lot of time giving historical detail about characters before they get to the action. Action always tells what is important about a character. When it doubt, have the character do something. Not talk. Not think back on a lifetime of experience. But do something that reveals character. I don't want to know what color the character's underwear is...I want to know how the character reacts to the situation. But that's my personal bias. I hope you join in our writer's contest on The RIM and the writer's challenge in this forum. These things are good practice for writers...and, I hope, fun too.