IMPROVE YOUR WRITING

11) THE START

THE FIRST LINE OF YOUR BOOK IS IMPORTANT

I am pretty sure I have mentioned this already but this is so vital that it can never be mentioned enough. Now, a lot of times people would usually read the first few lines, maybe a few pages before they actually decide to read it or leave it. But let's face it, 99% of the time people only read like the first three lines, and if those lines aren't interesting enough then you can say goodbye to making a living by writing. (Lol, that was a little bit too harsh, I'm just trying to push you guys hard enough so that you will really give your best effort)

I'll give you a few examples of some good starting lines.

MISS PEREGRINES HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN by RANSOM RIGGS
"I had just come to accept my life would be ordinary when extraordinary things began to happen. The first of these came as a terrible shock and, like anything that changes you forever, split my life into halves: Before and After."

Now, I don't know about you, but that line makes me want to read more of that page, and maybe a couple of more pages, and boom, I am totally hooked. For it really makes you think, you know straight away that in this book something incredible is bound to happen, that Jacob (the main character of that book) is about to embark on some sort of journey, and you want read about it. And getting people wanting to read is the most important thing.

OUTLANDER by DIANA GABALDON
"People disappear all the time. Ask any policeman. Better yet, ask a journalist. Disappearances are bread-and-butter to journalists. Young girls run away from home. Young children stray from their parents and are never seen again. Housewives reach the end of their tether and take the grocery money and a taxi to the station. International financiers change their names and vanish into the smoke of imported cigars. Many of the lost will be found, eventually, dead or alive. Disappearances, after all, have explanations. Usually."

Now this one was a little bit long but I decided to write down the whole thing because you sort of need to read the whole paragraph to get the whole jist of it. But even if I left only the first three sentences, I think it would still be gripping. The minute you read the first line you think "someone is bound to disappear in this book" and the fact that you thought that will make you want to read the next line. And the next, and the next, and the next.

A GAME OF THRONES by GEORGE R.R MARTIN
" 'We should start back,' Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. 'The wildlings are dead' "

Okay, if that isn't gripping enough, I don't know what is. For one, it gives you the setting of the story; they're in a dark wood, and you can probably guess that it's cold there, too. And then when Gared adds to his speech "the wildlings are dead", I mean, does that not make you go "What are the widlings?!" "Why are they dead!?" "Are they humans?!" "Are they monsters?!" etc, etc.

Anyhow, I hope this gave you some advice in any shape of form. Lol whenever I write these I always end up stacking all these books beside my bed on this storage-box thing whenever I get the quotes and stuff, and I currently have 6 books stacked there. I don't even read that much, but I'm such a book hoarder.  A bibliotaph, I'm pretty sure I gave you the definition of that before! ;)

Stay safe and Goodnight xoxo
Natalie