Is the importance of the first line in a story overrated? After posting it yesterday, I wondered about the first line for my picture book Tatty and Tremble. Okay its a picture book - a completely different beast to novels, short stories etc...but where word economy is key and each word must work extra hard to do its job (or the job of many in other genre) is the first line any less or more important? What should a first line do? What is its job? What are our expectations? So here for your edification is the first paragraph/page that follows that spare enigmatic first line:-
Old Tatty. That’s what Mr. Edgar called her. She didn’t seem to mind. There was fresh fish on her plate everyday. He could have called her Smelly Pants as long as there was fish.
When I first included it in yesterday's post I suddenly thought there wasn't enough in those two short words but I've changed my mind. What did they make you think?
This whole exercise has been very thought provoking for me and I am still musing on the topic. But perhaps this is the antidote to my current 'first line' obsession - check out the results of the 2009 Bullwer-Lytton Contest - it certainly puts a whole different spin on the concept (heh).
Showing posts with label first lines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label first lines. Show all posts
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
First lines and dangling carrots...
Saw an interesting meme on Lili Wilkinson's (young australian author) blog t'other day and thought I'd give it a go. Its all about first lines from your own writing. So here goes:
Published
Clever Moo (PB) - Margaret was not like her best friends, Daisy and Bossy
The Were-Nana (PB) - For Stella Rosa's older brother Simon, there was no better fun than scaring his sister
Jack the Viking (novel) - "Ready Jack?" asks a blond boy my age, carrying a sword and shield.
The Gift (ss) - Everyone says I talk too much.
Unpub'd but completed Work
Pirate Eye (junior chapter book) - "What's wrong with you?" the big boy at the school gate asked.
The House That Went to Sea (PB) - Granny Gale's house smelt of fish, and rocked with the booming of the waves.
Jack the Viking: Magnetic North (novel) - I don't dream so much anymore.
The story I'm working on now begins with the first line of an essay the main character is writing for school which I quite like - Apparently my older sister Michelle was perfect.
I found it a fascinating exercise with slightly surprising results. What do you think? The new picture book I just finished has my shortest first line ever - Old Tatty. I guess if it gets picked up an editor might have something to say about the punctuation of my first few lines and that first sentence will get longer. I have a bunch of short stories pub'd and unpub'd I haven't included in this exercise. Maybe I'll do them another day. I'm now up to ten short stories either pub'd or signed up for publication. If I can increase that number just a wee bit more I might start dreaming about assembling a collection one day.
I have other dreams for my writing including: to be published overseas (especially in a different language) and to (be paid to) travel overseas for my books. One of the blogs i check out regularly had a very interesting snippet of information in it the other day. Moon Rat (who hangs out at Editorial Ass) talked of a children's novel that took 5 years to find a publisher and the first print run was a miniscule 1,000 copies. I would love to have me a copy from that first print run today - it would be worth a wee bit. Go check out the book she's talking about. It shows that you have to hang in there and believe in your work even when things seem to be going badly, although things don't always turn out as well as this has :) I need to hear this kind of stuff as I have been grumpy about recent events and feasting on far too many crabby patties lately. Sorry to the two workmen working next door who got a terse comment or two from me yesterday when i asked them to move their van from my driveway so I could go out. I am finishing up (at LONG last) the rocket-science-like university assignment I have been working on since Adam was a boy and trying to finish up my current WIP which is going okay but which I am now having enormous doubts over. Too late I guess, to wonder if its saleable - less then 10,000 words to go (although thats to the end of the first draft only). But these two things are not filling me with joy - they are filling me with huffing and puffing, sweating brow grumpiness. I need a carrot dangling. The overseas trip we are planning is too far away to perform this function so I will have to find something else.
Published
Clever Moo (PB) - Margaret was not like her best friends, Daisy and Bossy
The Were-Nana (PB) - For Stella Rosa's older brother Simon, there was no better fun than scaring his sister
Jack the Viking (novel) - "Ready Jack?" asks a blond boy my age, carrying a sword and shield.
The Gift (ss) - Everyone says I talk too much.
Unpub'd but completed Work
Pirate Eye (junior chapter book) - "What's wrong with you?" the big boy at the school gate asked.
The House That Went to Sea (PB) - Granny Gale's house smelt of fish, and rocked with the booming of the waves.
Jack the Viking: Magnetic North (novel) - I don't dream so much anymore.
The story I'm working on now begins with the first line of an essay the main character is writing for school which I quite like - Apparently my older sister Michelle was perfect.
I found it a fascinating exercise with slightly surprising results. What do you think? The new picture book I just finished has my shortest first line ever - Old Tatty. I guess if it gets picked up an editor might have something to say about the punctuation of my first few lines and that first sentence will get longer. I have a bunch of short stories pub'd and unpub'd I haven't included in this exercise. Maybe I'll do them another day. I'm now up to ten short stories either pub'd or signed up for publication. If I can increase that number just a wee bit more I might start dreaming about assembling a collection one day.
I have other dreams for my writing including: to be published overseas (especially in a different language) and to (be paid to) travel overseas for my books. One of the blogs i check out regularly had a very interesting snippet of information in it the other day. Moon Rat (who hangs out at Editorial Ass) talked of a children's novel that took 5 years to find a publisher and the first print run was a miniscule 1,000 copies. I would love to have me a copy from that first print run today - it would be worth a wee bit. Go check out the book she's talking about. It shows that you have to hang in there and believe in your work even when things seem to be going badly, although things don't always turn out as well as this has :) I need to hear this kind of stuff as I have been grumpy about recent events and feasting on far too many crabby patties lately. Sorry to the two workmen working next door who got a terse comment or two from me yesterday when i asked them to move their van from my driveway so I could go out. I am finishing up (at LONG last) the rocket-science-like university assignment I have been working on since Adam was a boy and trying to finish up my current WIP which is going okay but which I am now having enormous doubts over. Too late I guess, to wonder if its saleable - less then 10,000 words to go (although thats to the end of the first draft only). But these two things are not filling me with joy - they are filling me with huffing and puffing, sweating brow grumpiness. I need a carrot dangling. The overseas trip we are planning is too far away to perform this function so I will have to find something else.
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