From: mdhangton@gmail.com   
      
   on 11/23/2014, J.Pascal supposed :   
   > 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.   
   >   
   Still, these editors take the concept of hook very seriously.  I have   
   seen checklist rejection letters where one of the boxes is "No Hook."   
      
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