From: BrendaWriter@yahoo.com   
      
   On 11/23/2014 4:44 PM, J.Pascal wrote:   
   > On Sunday, November 23, 2014 10:45:02 AM UTC-7, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:   
   >> 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   
   >   
   > Which goes to show the folly of trying for an opening that will compel   
   everyone to read the rest.   
   >   
   > The obsolete penis one would have had me putting the book down immediately,   
   barring some pretty good cover art and an interesting text on the back cover.    
   But then I'd keep reading in spite of the opening instead of because of it.   
   >   
   > -Julie   
      
      
      
   I agree. Different sentences hook different people. It is worth looking   
   at a large number of them (the Look Inside feature on Amazon is useful   
   for this). Ideally, your first sentence fully expresses the tone and   
   subject of the work to come -- the cover should indicate the genre, so   
   you already know if you are picking up a hard-boiled detective novel or   
   a Regency romance. A very deceptive first sentence would be disaster,   
   repelling people who would otherwise enjoy your book and annoying and   
   disappointing people who were attracted by it.   
      
   Brenda   
      
      
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