What's important about a beginning, particularly the first line of a book? Everything. That first line has to pull the reader in and make them read the next line and the next. Writers anguish over that first line, hoping to make it compelling.
It needs to raise questions that the reader wants answered. Dean Koontz is one of my all time favorite authors. His word usage is often stunning. In his book "The Darkest Evening of the Year" the opening line is: Behind the wheel of the Ford Expedition, Amy Redwing drove as if she were immortal and therefore safe at any speed.
From that one line we know that the heroine is driving fast and maybe a bit recklessly. But why is she in such a hurry? Is she being chased or is she chasing someone?
In Kresley Cole's "A Hunger Like No Other" the first line is: Sometimes the fire that licks the skin from his bones dies down.
The visual from that one line is powerful. Who is he? What has happened to him?
That first line is so important but before you spend hours or days anguishing over that one line don't forget that the rest of the book has to come after it. And every page must keep pulling the reader forward until the end.
I find those first lines to be really hard to write. I'll write something and think that it's good and after a few days I read that line again and decide it's crap. So I have to write it again. Sometimes the first line comes after all the others then you find the perfect first line.
How do you come up with the perfect first line?
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can we wear one of these at conference? 'Cause that would be AWESOME!
For Christie!
hahahahahaha
7 comments:
Another good opening: "Jacob Marley was dead to begin with..." :)
That is good! What's it from?
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. :)
Great blog! I picture the scene in my mind and then just write. Later I puzzle about the first sentence.
he slipped off his tassled loafers as she worked on removing his elastic gym shorts.
I usually just start writing my scene, then come up with a hook when I revise.
i try not to think about it. if i think about it all that will happen is a blank screen. if i just start typing it usually turns out to be something that works. at least IMO. however, i am still unpublished...hmmm...
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