From: djheydt@kithrup.com   
      
   In article ,   
   William Vetter   wrote:   
   >Dorothy J Heydt brought next idea :   
   >> In article ,   
   >> William Vetter   wrote:   
   >>> Dorothy J Heydt explained on 11/23/2014 :   
   >>>> In article ,   
   >>>> William Vetter   wrote:   
   >>>>> Dorothy J Heydt was thinking very hard :   
   >>>>>> 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.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> I don't remember what or who it was, but it was in F&SF around 1980.   
   >>>>> What I was getting at is you can often see where somebody equates raw   
   >>>>> violence or action or grisly crime scene descriptions with the concept   
   >>>>> of hook.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Lawrence Block, who back in the day wrote lots of whodunits and   
   >>>> also wrote a monthly essay for one of the writers' magazines on   
   >>>> how to write fiction (generally, everything else in the book was   
   >>>> about how to write nonfiction and how to sell it to the editor   
   >>>> before you had written it).  One of his essays was titled "Let's   
   >>>> Hear It for Sex and Violence!"   
   >>>   
   >>> Are you talking about _How to Write Killer Fiction_?   
   >>> I don't think there's anything about nonfiction in that.   
   >>   
   >> No, I mean the magazine in which his essays originally appeared.   
   >> Writers' Digest, I *think*.  I haven't read _HtWKF_, but I have a   
   >> couple of his other collections.   
   >>   
   >> At least, I think I still have them; haven't looked in my shelves   
   >> lately.   
   >   
   >I have _Telling Lies for Fun and Profit_ here.  It doesn't have the one   
   >you're talking about in it.  I think you're talking about Writers'   
   >Digest.   
      
   I have that one too; and yes, I think I am talking about Writers'   
   Digest.  Which I haven't read for years either.   
      
   --   
   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)