McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
The first line
Dusty Black:
I'm a little late to this party, but here's something I started off with.
“Prepare to accept my seed, pitiful Earth female!” The foam rubber monster bellowed with his tentacles flailing wildly, “You will be the mother of an invincible race of super soldiers!”
“Uhm… Okay!” the vacuous blonde giggled and chirped. Her overly ample breasts bounced ridiculously as the monster chased her around a laboratory set so old that it probably predated film. As they practiced their alien foreplay, both the blonde and the monster were blissfully unaware that the boom mic dropped down into the scene from time to time as if to say “hi”.
LizW65:
--- Quote from: Shecky on March 19, 2008, 01:30:35 PM ---With good reason - I think Good Omens may be the funniest novel I've ever read. Combine that with Jim-style snark and it's just what I want to grow up to be. ;)
--- End quote ---
I'll second that! ;D
Cyclone Jack:
I'm much more a last line guy. A lot of times, overtly elaborate hooks can feel artificial -- especially since, as first lines, they have to work before the reader knows anything about the fictional world. IMO, a good first line is three things: Informative about the story or character, promises conflict, and reads smoothly.
Shecky:
--- Quote from: Cyclone Jack on March 28, 2008, 12:15:29 AM ---I'm much more a last line guy. A lot of times, overtly elaborate hooks can feel artificial -- especially since, as first lines, they have to work before the reader knows anything about the fictional world. IMO, a good first line is three things: Informative about the story or character, promises conflict, and reads smoothly.
--- End quote ---
It really depends on whether the writer/editor/agent/publisher/etc. is hanging the whole shebang on one thing. Want to get 'em to buy and read the book? You need a good first line/paragraph. But if you want 'em to pick up the NEXT book by the same author, that opener needs to be followed by an equally good body AND finisher.
So unless the writer wants to be a one-shot, the whole damn thing has to be good... rendering all of this moot. Still, there are plenty of people out there who do not depend on reviews, synopses, blurbs and the like, who just pick the book up and look at the first page; they're a large-enough segment of the population to make a good opener a strong strategy.
... that being said, I also think the final bit determines the lasting impression the reader retains, so it needs to be a step above the rest of the book, just like the opener. Closing the circle, raising new interest, answering the question, etc. - all valid as long as they hit that satisfaction button in the reader's mind. F'r'instance, that opener I whipped out should be bookended by the character finally getting to have a nice, quiet sit-down... in the same bathroom (if the story is intended to be "hero wins it all and ties everything up nicely à la Hollywood"), in another roughly the same (if it's "hero wins but at a cost that's tough yet acceptable") or in an outhouse (if it's "hero just barely escapes in the end and reprioritizes to appreciate simply being alive"). ;)
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Shecky on March 28, 2008, 03:27:10 PM ---It really depends on whether the writer/editor/agent/publisher/etc. is hanging the whole shebang on one thing. Want to get 'em to buy and read the book? You need a good first line/paragraph.
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This is really not necessarily true; or at least, of the agents and editors I've talked to about this, the consensus is, if it's worth picking up in the first place, it's worth reading the first chapter/thirty-to-forty pages of, specifically because not every shape of story starts with a hook or wants to.
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