Beginnings - Hooking Your Reader

Some awesome first lines:
"The gunman is useless." - I am the Messenger
"When I think of my wife, I always think of her head." -Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
"What about a tea kettle?" - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
            It's not as much a catchy line, but it makes you go what? And you want to get to know the narrator, this kid, because his musings on the teakettle are so different.
"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit." - The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien
"It's the first of November, so today someone will die." - The Scorpio Races
See 100 Fabulous First lines here.

Some good ideas / Tips:
1. Keep it simple. Don't overwhelm your reader, but don't be vague. "Something stirred in the night." - simple but too vague. Don't do a long run-on sentence.
2. Introduce character. You will have a problem if you don't have a character - again, our first line "Something stirred in the night." You should not open with setting - you should open with the character. Either description of the character, or the character's voice.
3. Be different or shocking. You have to be interesting. Show your reader that this book isn't like all the other books. *In the example of the teakettle line, the boy has a very unique voice and an unusual interest/thoughts about the tea kettle.
4. Set the tone - see our recent post on Tone.
5. Speak to your reader as if they are a confidant. Most of the time you want a reliable narrator, and you want your readers to feel a connection with the narrator or character. You, as the writer, narrator, speaker, or character are speaking to the reader in some way.
See 100 Fabulous Opening Lines here.

Things to Avoid:
Don't try to hard to write well - often times people write overly-well-written opening paragraphs. They try to make it impressive and poetic, etc.
Don't start the first sentence with setting.
Don't be vague.

*The Rule of Exceptions*
"There is an exception to every rule, except the Rule of Exceptions."

Circle of Honor Essay Contest (Jan 25th!)

Share your feelings about the Honor Code b submitting an essay to the 2013 Circle of Honor Essay Contest.
"I have been asked what I mean by 'word of honor.' I will tell you. Place me behind prison walls--walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into the ground--there is a possibility that in some way or another I may escape; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of the circle? No. Never! I'd die first!" - Karl G. Maeser

Submit essays to circleofhonor@byu.edu by midnight Jan. 25, 2013 Prizes include $300 for 1st place, $150 for 2nd, $50 for 3rd. Please keep essay submissions to 4 pages or less.

For questions, contact (801) 422-3758 or email circleofhonor@byu.edu

January Contests!

So...it's almost break...what are we going to do with all the time on our hands? Hey, maybe we can all do some writing! Here are some great contests coming up in January to prepare for :D

Writer's Market has a lot of contests on their webpage, just so you know. Here are a couple they told us about:

John Ciardi Prize for Poetry - $1000 and publication (January 15, 2012 postmark)

Iowa Award in Poetry, Fiction & Essay - $1500 and publication (January 31, 2012)

Good luck with your writing!