So…first post! Welcome to Scriptum Scribbles, my everything about writing blog. Sorry if the name is a bit of a mouthful, I wanted something creative and couldn’t come up with much else. Scriptum is Latin for writing.
I’m kind of new at blogging, but I’m really looking forward to having fun with this. I’ll try to make my posts interesting, fun, and helpful. And why should I be able to help anyone with writing? I’m not published (yet, hope hope). The answer? I write. A lot. I have no life. I offer what small writing wisdom I’ve managed to gather through fruitless hours in front of a computer screen.
Opening lines
I thought for my first post I’d start out with a similar writing topic: the first line of a novel. Mainly, how to write one so that it doesn’t make you cringe. And believe you me, I’ve had many of those over the years.
The first line of a new project is one of the most important parts as far as the overall book is concerned, since it will determine whether or not a prospective reader (or publisher, editor, or anyone really) keeps reading or puts your work back down without another glance. You want to catch their attention, pique their interest, and give them a reason to keep their eyes moving down to the next line. Unfortunately, opening lines also tend to be a place that’s quite easy to get stuck at. Often people struggle and sweat over trying to get that opening line just right, and as a result never move past it.
Opening lines need to point out something about the story that makes the reader want to pay closer attention. Your line needs to scream out, “Hey, you! You need to keep reading because of this!”
But what if you can’t get it just right?
First is this: don’t cry over the first line if you can’t seem to get it right. Let it be bad if it needs to be, move on, and come back when you know more about the spirit of your story.
Second is this: if you’re having a hard time writing an interesting opening line, it might be because you don’t have an interesting first scene, which is very important. A reader might give a shaky opening line a chance if the next line, or the first paragraph, are interesting. But if you don’t have an interesting opening scene, you’re probably not going to get many people to get past the first page. If your opening scene is a character sitting underneath a tree, thinking about the weather and how bored they are with nothing happening…well, you could probably help your chances by choosing a more engaging first scene.
Action in a first line, paragraph, and scene is often a good idea. If not action, then point out something strange or odd. Something needs to be happening, have happened, or there need to be strong and interesting indicators that something will happen soon. The opening line either needs to raise a question that people will have to keep reading to find the answer to, or it needs to smack you so hard with action or with being so wacky that it fascinates. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an explosion or murder to get the story started. Another character showing up to begin the plot moving along could easily suffice, so long as something happens. Remember that the opening line doesn't just grab attention, it also starts the story out on its path. Starting at a place where nothing is happening doesn't do that.
I’ve made this mistake all too often with many of my stories. I start out by describing the boring, ordinary, everyday life of the character so that I can show how it changes when the action starts, but what ends up happening is that the beginning is dull, and I’ll never get anyone to read far enough in to discover the action. What happens if you can’t make your story work with an exciting starting scene? Well, that’s where prologues come in. Write something exciting there to get the reader interested, and then go on to describe your innocently ordinary character in the first chapter.
Finally, the writing needs to be compelling. Nobody is going to keep reading a book if the opening line or paragraph is comprised of unvaried, boring, badly put together prose. Don't prattle on about it. Say what you want to say shortly, boldly, and fearlessly. Then jump right in and get on with it.
So, here are some examples from my own writing to point out some of what I mean. First, a bad one (yes, I’ll be showing bad examples of my writing. At least somebody will learn at my expense, hopefully.).
The hands on the clock ticked by, and I sighed.
Now, that wouldn’t be so bad if it were followed by an interesting first paragraph. However, the story then proceeds with an opening scene in which the character describes how bored she is at school, and nothing of interest happens until at least the second page. Yawn. If I picked it up in a bookstore, I probably wouldn’t keep reading.
Here’s a better one that I recently wrote, which I’m actually quite proud of.
It was on a bright and relatively cheerful seeming Sunday afternoon that the world ended.
See the difference? The first sentence is drab and boring. The second one smacks you across the face and screams at you (in a good way, of course). It makes you want to know why the world ended, and what people are going to do about it now. It shocks you. The first doesn't.
If you’re having trouble writing a good first line, try this: pick one or a few of your favorite books, and read the first paragraph. Try to think about what it is in that paragraph that interests you in the story. You might even try it with a book you haven’t read before, just to get the perspective of a new reader. If it’s a book you know well, think of a different scene it could have started with and try to write a new opening line for it.
And, remember, if you can’t get it, then let it be bad and come back later. That’s what editing is for, after all.
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