. . . bestselling
author Kathy Aarons (welcome, Kathy). Kathy is writing about one of my favorite
writing concerns—opening lines—and tells us how opening lines lead the reader
into the story. Check it out . . . .
One of my favorite parts of writing cozy mysteries is crafting
the opening line. In Behind Chocolate
Bars, the first line is, “We need more zombies.”
It’s spoken by the main character, chocolatier Michelle
Serrano, to Erica Russell, her business partner and the manager of the
bookstore half of their shop, Chocolates and Chapters. They are discussing the
upcoming West Riverdale Halloween Festival which they are organizing.
First lines have to do a lot of work! They must interest the
reader in the book and let them know what to expect—it also helps if they can
add an element of surprise as well.
With this line, we know that the book will be humorous, and
that (along with the beautiful cover art) it will most like center around Halloween.
The humor comes from the unexpected idea of zombies in a cozy mystery.
In my unpublished mystery, PTA Meetings Are Murder, the opening lines are, “My name is
Tiffany. For that alone, I could kill my parents.” It was used by Chris Roerden
in her book Don’t Sabotage Your Submission as an example of how to open your
book and effectively introduce your main character.
I spend a lot of time considering opening lines and once I come
up with one I love, it usually doesn’t change, even through many edits.
In The Trouble With
Murder, the working title of my upcoming series with Kensington Books, I
open with, “A chicken rang my doorbell.” For me, it does what I’d like it to do—intrigue
and surprise the reader, and let them know a bit about what the book will be.
With a line like, “We need more zombies,” you know you’re in
for some spooky fun!
DOUBLE, DOUBLE-BOIL, AND TROUBLE…
Best friends and business partners Michelle and Erica have a monstrous to-do list as they prepare for the annual West Riverdale Halloween Festival. Their shop, Chocolates and Chapters, will have a booth at the event, where Michelle will serve spooky delights while Erica displays an assortment of spine-chilling books. Thank goodness the teenagers from Erica’s comic-book club are chipping in to help. But one of their volunteers winds up in trouble after a woman’s body is found in an abandoned house—with the teen’s superhero key ring close by.
The teen swears he didn’t do it, but he’s obviously hiding something—leaving Michelle and Erica with a witch’s cauldron of questions. Soon they discover that the dead woman was tricking a whole bunch of people out of more than just treats. Now these two friends must go door-to-door if they hope to unmask a killer…
Best friends and business partners Michelle and Erica have a monstrous to-do list as they prepare for the annual West Riverdale Halloween Festival. Their shop, Chocolates and Chapters, will have a booth at the event, where Michelle will serve spooky delights while Erica displays an assortment of spine-chilling books. Thank goodness the teenagers from Erica’s comic-book club are chipping in to help. But one of their volunteers winds up in trouble after a woman’s body is found in an abandoned house—with the teen’s superhero key ring close by.
The teen swears he didn’t do it, but he’s obviously hiding something—leaving Michelle and Erica with a witch’s cauldron of questions. Soon they discover that the dead woman was tricking a whole bunch of people out of more than just treats. Now these two friends must go door-to-door if they hope to unmask a killer…
KATHY AARONS is the author of the nationally bestselling
CHOCOLATE COVERED MYSTERY series by Berkley Prime Crime. Research for the
series was such a hardship: sampling chocolate, making chocolate, sampling
more chocolate, and hanging out in bookstores.
She began writing when her youngest daughter attended school
five days a week and pursued publishing more seriously when her oldest daughter
went off to college. Now an empty-nester, she continues to advocate for arts
education for youth, serving as president of the board of directors for
Playwrights Project (http://playwrightsproject.org/),
advising and teaching for the Middle School Writing Series, and volunteering
for the CCA Writers’ Conference (http://ccawritersconference2016.weebly.com/),
the only free writing conference for high school students in the country.
She’s also president of Partners in Crime – the San Diego
chapter of Sisters in Crime, a national mystery writers’ organization (http://www.sistersincrimesd.org/ ).
You can follow Kathy on Facebook or Twitter or visit her at:
www.kathyaarons.com.
cj Sez: Thank you so much, Kathy. I’m with you on the
importance of first lines, and you are absolutely in sync with Stephen King,
who spends months on his opening lines and once said:
“There are all sorts of theories and ideas about what
constitutes a good opening line. It's tricky thing, and tough to talk about
because I don't think conceptually while I work on a first draft -- I just write.
To get scientific about it is a little like trying to catch moonbeams in a jar.
But there's one thing I'm sure about. An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.”
But there's one thing I'm sure about. An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.”
Best wishes, Kathy, for great sales and marvelous reviews
for Behind Chocolate Bars . . a
perfect story for Halloween and beyond.
Okay, you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do
the same. And do drop us a comment and let us know how you struggle with creating that
perfect opening line.
https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor
Choosing Carter -- Kindle / Nook / Kobo / iTunes/iBook
Deadly Star -- Kindle / Nook / Kobo
Amazon Central Author Page: http://amzn.to/1NIDKC0
PS: Lest you think I
forgot, “More Than Friends” is a bundle
of SIX romance novels available on Amazon for 99 cents…a great idea for a
Holiday gift that gives hours and hours of entertainment for less than a buck!
I loved to see this line: " my upcoming series with Kensington Books." Not an opening line, but a good one! I'm impressed with all your openers you mentioned here--great stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kaye! I really enjoy writing them!
ReplyDelete