From: djheydt@kithrup.com   
      
   In article ,   
   William Vetter   wrote:   
   >It happens that J.Pascal formulated :   
   >> On Saturday, November 22, 2014 1:44:48 PM UTC-7, William Vetter wrote:   
   >>> Some time ago, I read one of those books...this one was about openings.   
   >>> It's thesis was the belief that it is possible to write an opening so   
   >>> strong, that editors, literary agents, readers, publishing executives   
   >>> are compelled to read on.  One of the examples mentioned the   
   >>> assassination of JFK in the first sentence.  Author claimed that this   
   >>> made it so interesting that people MUST read it.   
   >>>   
   >>> What I thought was that, "There are a lot of books about JFK.  Why   
   >>> should I read this one?"   
   >>>   
   >>> Of course, we want to be interesting, the get the quality of being   
   >>> interesting.  What do you think makes a fragment or piece of writing   
   >>> interesting?   
   >>   
   >> I think it's different for different people.   
   >>   
   >> Your example is a good one.  Lots of people would think, Oh, JFK again?   
   Yawn.   
   >>   
   >> "The first time I died I..."  might get an, Oh! More!, or else it might get,   
   >> Ew, gimmick much?  Or else, yawn, vampire, right?   
   >>   
   >> I don't think that the question itself, of how to craft that one beginning   
   >> that is so strong that no one can put it down, is particularly valid.   
   >> Obviously the creature does not exist.  I think that it might be more useful   
   >> to think in terms of who am I writing for and how do I get my audience not   
   to   
   >> set the book down.  If my audience begins and ends at "agent, publisher's   
   >> slush reader and Editor" that's a particular challenge, and frankly the only   
   >> one that doesn't have cover art to help you out.   
   >>   
   >Once I read a short story in one of the 4 magazines.  I only remember   
   >the opening.  It was one of those flash forward openings.  A character   
   >shot another character's Roman nose off with a pistol because the nose   
   >annoyed him.  I remember it because it was obvious as a hook.   
   >   
   >Was it interesting?  Maybe.  It was violent action.   
      
   I think I would've closed the book, or paged through the   
   magazine, at that point, and my reaction would've been not Yawn   
   but Yucch.   
      
   --   
   Dorothy J. Heydt   
   Vallejo, California   
   djheydt at gmail dot com   
   Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the gmail edress.   
   Kithrup's all spammy and hotmail's been hacked.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)