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Post by Butterscotch on Mar 11, 2010 12:22:18 GMT -5
The first sentence is arguably the most important sentence you'll write in your story. It has to be entertaining and interesting and grab the audience.
I don't know about you guys, but that makes me feel some pressure. Any advice for that first sentence?
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Post by Snake on Mar 11, 2010 16:24:57 GMT -5
I don't have it yet, but I've heard that Hooked by Les Edgerton is really good. I have some trouble with the first sentence, too, and usually write something just so I can start. The book How Not to Write a Novel by Howard Mittlemark and Sandra Newman has some good advice about beginnings. It's not specific for a first sentence, but definitely does help. This is a short summary: 1. Make sure you start with the plot. Don't make the opening pages contain backstory about the main character or something not relevant to the plot. Begin the story as soon as you can since the reader won't want to wait for the story to begin. 2. The location should be secondary to the plot. Don't start out by writing about the setting when nothing is even happening. 3. Make sure you describe what's happening in detail, enough to allow the reader to imagine what's going on. The actual book has a lot more and gives examples as well. There's also Thanks, But This Isn't For Us, which is written by an editor has a whole section on beginnings. The author also has some information on her website, specifically in "Tips for Writing Fiction." The others are really helpful, too. And for what I think? It really depends on the story. This thread on the NaNoWriMo forums might be helpful to you to just browse them and see what works and what doesn't. As for me, I'd rather see a dull first sentence that is at the beginning of an interesting paragraph than a sentence that seems to try too hard to be catchy.
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Post by Butterscotch on Mar 11, 2010 21:36:54 GMT -5
That's probably true.
The story I'm working on is a re-write of my old Island of Mystery story. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and I want to redo it.
The opening scene is of Chelsea watering turnips; she's utterly worn out since she hasn't had enough to eat or gotten enough sleep since she came to live on the island. My original version has a Little House on the Prairie reference, but I want to avoid too many pop-culture references in Harvest moon.
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