Dec
Going, Going… eh… Guano?
I’m very particular.
I’m sure that every writer has their own particularity. Something they need to feel right about their writing. Maybe they need to listen to a special kind of music, maybe they need to have lit candles around them. Perhaps they always write in bed. There’s probably something for every writer if you just think about it.
My particularity? First sentences. Or first sentences and/or paragraph. I have a thing for those. If I don’t have a good first sentence/paragraph I simply cannot continue writing, the rest of it turns into crap. It’s weird, I know. But that’s me.
With my current WIP, book number three, I’m having a problem. I’ve tried writing, but because the beginning never felt like it was working it all turned to muck. I have a dozen beginnings by now, and none of them feel like they’re working. I started out with…
Nicola Howerty was going to hell. During the years she’d done many things that her family would probably not approve of - had they known about them - but this time she’d really outdone herself.
But… No… It just didn’t work out, because the scene it placed her in simply didn’t flow, and in fact made her appear very very stupid. And Nick is definitely not stupid. I even tried a different approach, to the same scene, but it was just another version of the same sentence, so obviously was no improvement.
So… I moved the start forwards in time by about half an hour, but it didn’t help much. So I scratched it and started in an entirely different setting, and then I changed the setting again. And I’ve tried about four diffrerent openings for that scene, and FINALLY I think I have it. After all this trouble I think, I HOPE that I can now continue to write the actual story.
It was him. Nicola Howerty closed the door to the library behind her even while her eyes were fastened on the man leaning lazily against her brother-in-law’s desk. It was him. She could scarcely believe it.
This didn’t make it either. I’m actually starting from the hero’s point of view in the end. And that… I will not share with you yet…
Does anyone else have any particularities? Something you simply have to do before you can start writing? Or perhaps even before you can start reading? I prefer to read either comfortably in bed or in my favourite spot on the couch. If I have something sweet to eat and a cup of tea, so much the better…
oooo I really like the “It was him” opening… I bet you could use that for another book. It grabbed my attention…
and I just love books that open with the hero’s perspective! I like Tea or Hot Cocao while I am writing, too
December 21st, 2006 at 10:18 amI open nearly every chapter (with very, very rare exception) with a line of dialogue. That dialogue has to be answered, and then the first person has to answer back, and so on….so the chapter takes off on its own and I can sit back and type! And I liked the “It was him” line, too, although I’m with Laura in that I always open with my hero’s POV. I’m accepting that I write heroes more easily than heroines and not fighting it, but working with it and working on it.
December 21st, 2006 at 10:26 amI’m with you about the right opening. In fact, I usually write between four and eight “first” chapters before I find the right one (you want a good laugh? The opening scene of LORD SIN used to be one of the final chapters!).
I’m going through this right now with the proposals for my third book . . . last night I sat in front of the TV and all night I just wrote down first lines/paragraphs. Just little hooky/catchy bits. I’m still stuck in scene-setting mode (as I always am when I write a first first chapter). Eventually I’ll find the hot spot where the scene actually opens.
I like to open with dialogue or with a direct thought, but that doesn’t always work. LORD SIN’s first line is: She’d haunted his dreams for years. My second book (which I think is going to be called LORD SCANDAL) opens with: He had her.
December 21st, 2006 at 11:41 amI like to open a chapter with dialogue, just as I love to read them as well. I love a catchy or funny phrase, too…one that will hook me in.
Emily, I also like the “It was him” line. It makes me want to read more and find out why she could scarcely believe it was him!
For me, when reading I need to be comfortable. When writing, my nest needs to be clean.
December 21st, 2006 at 11:45 amKalen, what a great first line for Lord Sin! I can’t wait to get this one in May.
December 21st, 2006 at 11:49 amI actually really liked the first opening. It was catchy! I’m now wondering what sort of muck she got herself into. And it doesn’t make her sound stupid…to me it makes her sound adventurous or at the very least curious.
And I agree, I think the first line or paragraph sets the entire book.
Like Andrea, I like jumping right into the chit-chat. That’s always been my favorite parts of the book. I could actually skip all the “wall was covered with a blue satin” yadda yadda stuff. But that’s also just my opinion, everyone is different.
I wish you luck on finding the right beginning! They can be a pain sometimes.
December 21st, 2006 at 12:42 pmEmmie, what a great topic! I’d like to comment too, but I’m running like crazy today. I’ll stop by later on this evening
Big hugs!
December 21st, 2006 at 1:24 pmHmm. . . never thought about what I do when I read. I think I just start. LOL If it’s in the evening, there I do get comfy in bed with the covers and all. But if it’s before that, I just head on into it.
Lois
December 21st, 2006 at 1:36 pmActually, the It Was Him bit will still make it into the story, just not on the first page
I really liked the first opening too, it’s just that the place where she is when she thinks that didn’t work out. I think (hope!) my new way is working out much better.
Kalen, I love those openings
When I was younger, I almost always started with a line of dialogue as well. But for whatever I’ve moved away from that into the catchy sentence realm. I couldn’t possibly tell you why. I still like to open a chapter with the occasional dialogue though
December 21st, 2006 at 4:18 pmI labor over openings. Most of my scenes start with dialogue. My books start with whatever feels right. I try to find a hook that would make me want to keep reading. And since we’re discussing them, the hook for my November 2007 book is:
December 21st, 2006 at 6:06 pm“In more than one hundred years, Saint’s opinion hadn’t changed; the pretty red-brick house on Sloane Street in Chelsea was the poorest excuse for a whore house that he’d ever laid eyes on.”
Kathryn! Classic!
December 21st, 2006 at 8:20 pmI agonize over my first opening line - paragraph, too. For me in my writing the most important thing - whether I open with dialogue, a thought, or description - is that I should open in the middle of the action. There are some very good examples here already, like yours Emmie, and Kate’s and Kalen’s. All them have the most important thing in common: those books should be available now because I just have to find out what happens next. These opening lines draw the reader in and promise not to let you go until you reach The End. Gosh, I want to come up with opening line like that!
I always have a bottle of water when I write and music playing the background. Oh, and a screaming parrot and a demanding feline who believes she belongs in front of my screen when I’m in the middle of writing.
As for reading, I can read anywhere give me a book with a fantastic opening line and I can even read standing up in crowded BART train.
December 21st, 2006 at 8:26 pmEmily, I hope we get to read that book one day.
Kathryn! I’m hooked already!
Isabel…LOL! Sounds like HRH needs her own screen.
December 22nd, 2006 at 8:49 amCool topic!
I’m with the rest of you. I sooooooooo labor over first lines … ok, first chapters.
Here’s the first line for TOO WICKED TO TAME; it happens to be dialogue:
“I’m going to carve out his lying tongue.”
I better not stare at it too long or I’ll want to revise and it’s too late for that! lol
Emily, I like your opening! I would definitely read on.
Best,
December 23rd, 2006 at 10:24 pmSophie
http://www.sophiejordan.net