Did you see that yesterday's "cell phone" video was a hoax? I looked it up on Snopes.com, and yes, it is. LOL! I got suckered by that one!
As anyone who's ever sat in one of my classes knows, I place a lot of emphasis on first lines. I've always worked super hard on mine, and I urge other writers to do the same. In fact, in my classes I usually collect everyone's first line, then read them aloud, anonymously, and ask everyone else about how effective the line was at "hooking" a reader's attention.
Kay let me know about this web site, where apparently you can enter your first line in a contest and perhaps win some money. I have no idea how legit this is, but why not check it out?
And the next time you're in a bookstore, go to the fiction section and open several random novels. Read the first line . . . and see which ones make you want to keep reading.
My favorite first line of all time is from a Jodi Picoult novel: "Ross Wakeman succeeded the first time he tried to kill himself, but not the second or the third." LOL! Isn't that great?
~~Angie
4 comments:
So cell phones aren't the threat - video editing programs are! LOL
That is indeed a masterful first line! Definitely made me go "huh?"
Here's one of my favorite first lines:
“My mother didn’t try to stab my father until I was six, but she must have shown signs of oddness before that.” from Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, and Other Things I've Learned by Alan Alda
Last year at Christmas, Barnes and Noble had a desk calendar that had first lines on each page. I wonder if they do that every year?
I was fooled by that video too! I showed it to my husband who seems to always be on the phone; now, I'm wondering whether or not to tell him it's fake. LOL
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