Okay, so the title is catchy. It's not exactly true, although I won't lie and say that I haven't had a few sips of the lovely Balvenie Doublewood 12 yr that's sitting beside me.... It's been waaay too long since I posted anything and so I thought I ought to write something, anything, just to prove that I still could, even though my mind is on hungry cats, braying donkeys and the YA that I just finished and now have to write a query for. The title of my post does get me thinking though....
How important to you is the first sentence of a book? I mean the VERY first sentence? Can you buy a book off that one line? Or throw it in the corner and never look at it again? I must say that I've done both at different times. But I've also read on even when the first sentence made me want to tear-ass in the opposite direction. And it's both paid off and resulted in book catastrophe.
I don't normally post WIPs because I'm a paranoid who suffers from 'Throw Momma From the Train' syndrome but in honor of Balvenie...
Here's the first sentence of my YA: Life is so much easier without underwear.
Now, would you keep reading? Buy the book? Label it as 'freakazoid weird? Or roll your eyes and wonder how it reached the stage of 'published'?
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
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It's a great first line! I think it will make readers keep reading.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I hardly ever pay attention to a first line when reading. Since I know there's more ahead I try to give a story some time before I judge.
However, when I'm writing, I obsess about the first line. Rarely, do I ever think it's good enough.
Holy crap. LOVE your first line. I'm so jealous! We actually just changed our first line in our latest revision here it is:
ReplyDeleteThe good news about being invisible was that it took a while for people to notice you were gone.
Oooooh I LOVE YOUR first line! :D That's a book I'd snatch right off the shelf and haul to the checkout line!
ReplyDeleteYou had me at Balvenie Doublewood 12 year.
ReplyDelete