cj
Sez: I was
privileged to participate in a Young Authors Conference on Saturday at the Mobile Regional
Library and had some wonderful conversations with young readers and authors-waiting-to-be-published.
The thing I emphasized is the thing I work hardest on: Opening lines, opening
paragraphs, opening pages.
Stephen King is quoted as saying when he
works on a first draft, he doesn’t “get scientific about it,” he just writes.
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.” He sometimes works months on his opening.
The need for an inviting opening is true for all authors and all
genres. My handout for these aspiring authors included the following examples:
Middle
School, the Worst Years of My Life - James
Patterson and Chris Tebbetts
Chapter One: I’m Rafe Khatchadorian, Tragic Hero It feels as honest as the day is crummy that I
begin this tale of total desperation and woe with me, my pukey sister, Georgia,
and Leonardo the Silent sitting like rotting sardines in the back of a Hills
Village Police Department cruiser.
Secret
Agent 6th Grader - Marcus Emerson My head
was spinning, and I had no idea where I was. All I knew for sure was that I was
sitting on a chair in a dark room. It was cold, and I could hear water dripping
from somewhere behind me. Plus my socks were wet.
Wonderstruck - Brian Selznick Something hit Ben Wilson and he opened his
eyes. The wolves had been chasing him again and his heart was pounding. He sat
up in the dark room and rubbed his arm. He picked up the shoe his cousin had
thrown at him and dropped it on the floor.
Dolbin
School for the Extraordinary - Martin Tiller It was a Tuesday in late March, and it was
the last day Jake Cooper was considered a normal person. He was skinny, had jet
black hair and was a little tall for a fourth-grader.
The idea is to start your story where the
action begins. Hook your reader with an action-oriented opening that invites
the reader to wonder what’s next. It doesn’t have to be a murder. Sassy
dialogue, an intriguing scene description, even a phone call can work, but it
must be something that gets your story off and running.
In her award-winning novel, A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor
puts her story into motion with eight innocuous words: “The grandmother didn’t want
to go to Florida.” If you’ve read the story, you know how meaningful that line
turns out to be.
The first line of a story tells the reader
what kind of book it is and what your author voice sounds like. It may or may
not get you an agent or publisher, but you can be pretty sure your submission won’t
instantly end up in the slush pile.
**
Mark your calendars to stop by the ebook launch of The Posse on Facebook, Wednesday, March 15, from 6 p.m.
to 11 p.m. CST.
Follow this link to come by: https://www.facebook.com/events/218447238560116/
I’m scheduled to be on tap from 9 to 10
p.m., but I’ll be popping in and out during the whole session.
Drop in, and leave a comment to be eligible
for a prize. There will be wonderful prizes.
And if you sign up for my newsletter during
my scheduled time on Facebook, I’ll gift you one of my ebooks.
If you have an urge to "like"
something right now, like our FB page at http://www.facebook.com/thepossebook.1
The WEB page is: http://thepossebook.com
And, and . . . The Posse ebook is available now for an introductory price of 99
cents at http://amzn.to/2lQRvcD
Is tax season giving you the shivers?
Author Kaye George has once again posted tax
info to inform all you writers that you CAN deduct expenses—and for many, many years. Below is a link to her post which also includes
a link to changes for this year.
Okay, that’s it for today. You-all guys
keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.
cj
California Kisses 10-book
publishers bundle on Amazon 99 cents
“Bad Day at Round Rock” a short
story in The
Posse, a Western anthology of tales of action, romance, myth and truth.
I was excited that one of my students won a recent young authors contest and two state awards for poetry. These functions are very important for our children.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to your student! Wonderful affirmation of author talent.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to my blog, cj!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Kaye. Your insights are much appreciated, and thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDelete