(Sometimes, I end up feeling as if I've wasted an hour, don't you?)
Here's where I ended up today:
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/07/why-stephen-king-spends-months-and-even-years-writing-opening-sentences/278043/
And this quote from Stephen King is perfect:
"An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this."
Dorian Cirrone wrote an entire series of posts about First Lines.
(CLICK THAT LINK. Get lost down that rabbit hole! You'll learn a lot.)
I LOVE a good first line.
Dorian shares so many, it's hard to borrow just a couple. So click on over and read them all.
What Remains by Helene Dunbar
No one ever calls in the middle of the night to tell you that you’ve won the lottery.
And this:
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Of all the kids in the seventh grade at Camillo Junior High, there was one kid that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun.
Me.
Go ahead. Begin! Or revise if you've already written a draft.
Hook your reader from very the first line.
Thanks, Augusta. Great links and great first lines.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking to this post, Augusta. I'm glad to hear that Stephen King works hard on those opening lines because they are AMAZING. As I begin a new draft of HT I have a new first line I get to play with. Maybe I'll try thinking about it at night before I go to sleep....
ReplyDeleteAren't first lines fascinating (and so important). Worth the struggle!
ReplyDelete