Opening line?
The elusive opening line of a book. It's the first, necessary step to getting your readers reading, or maybe getting your fingers typing, perhaps brushing off the rust of inactivity or the shiver of doubt.
Those first words can grab the reader by the throat and not let go. That's what I wanted when I wrote my first pulp, to reach out with a stomp and let the reader know what he or she was in for.
The pulp is is a short form, 40-45 thousand words, so there's no need to ease the reader in. You hit the ground running, and you don't let up. That kind of frenetic energy is what I like about pulps and why I want to write them.
Speaking of pulps, here's the opening line to my first pulp, a grim and violent western, Gauge Black: Hell's Revenge:
“You’re going to Hell!”
What's your favorite opening line?
Those first words can grab the reader by the throat and not let go. That's what I wanted when I wrote my first pulp, to reach out with a stomp and let the reader know what he or she was in for.
The pulp is is a short form, 40-45 thousand words, so there's no need to ease the reader in. You hit the ground running, and you don't let up. That kind of frenetic energy is what I like about pulps and why I want to write them.
Speaking of pulps, here's the opening line to my first pulp, a grim and violent western, Gauge Black: Hell's Revenge:
“You’re going to Hell!”
What's your favorite opening line?
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Precisely, Jeff. You know that something is off from the get-go.I taught 1984 in my English classes. Seeing my students' reaction to Orwell's nightmare made me happy, especially when they started seeing how true so much of his fiction plays out today.
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."
We start with a pretty spring day, and then get a hint that something is just a bit off, since we don't expect clocks to strike thirteen. It does a great job of unbalancing the reader right at the beginning of the book.