(Bell Bridge Books welcomes romantic comedy author – Trish Jensen,
who knows the value of a good first impression.)
If not for long-dead Civil War Generals Ulysses S. Grant, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and a pot of chicken and dumplings, Bitty Hollandale would never have been charged with murder. —Dixie Divas, Virginia Brown
Okay, I dare any avid reader anywhere in the known universe to read the first sentence of that book and not want to keep on reading. How could you possibly not? The line is just begging you to go ahead, I dare ya, keep reading and find out how any and all of those things tied together lead to a woman being charged with murder.
This is a topic I’m passionate about. Opening hooks. Books that suck you in from that first sentence, maybe the first couple of sentences. Maybe the first paragraph. Books that dare, entice, lure, whatever you want to call it, the reader to keep on going.
The king’s manroot took a right turn.
—The Bewitched Viking, Sandra Hill
Has this author instantly caught your attention? She did mine. Well, after I got up off the floor where I was laughing. Did I want to know why? Of course. Not to mention how far right, and did it hurt? Was it a medieval GPS navigator? Was there a cure, or would he always be turning right? How exactly would he manage…well, never mind. But my curiosity on the matter needed to be appeased.
TJ MacGregor tried to leave Seascape Inn, but every time he crossed the property’s boundary line, he blacked out.
—Beyond The Misty Shore, Vicki Hinze
Okay, between the title and the name of the inn, I was definitely interested. But that first line sealed the deal. I was in for a goose bump ride of my life. And I love books with that promise. And when they deliver. (This one, and all of my examples do, or I wouldn’t have included them.)
The point here is, though, that first lines, introductions, hooks, whatever you want to call them mean the world to me, and mean plenty to readers as well. My unofficial market survey says so.
I tend to read reviews of other authors’ books. Not necessarily for the truth of the matter or whether they’re good (since there are some whacky reviewers out there, but that’s for another time), but to see what stuck with them, what caught their attention.
I wasn’t shocked, but found it very interesting that so many of those reviews quoted first lines of books as the reason they decided to invest their time and dollars in what they hoped would be a good read. Those first lines held a promise the author needed to live up to (my 8th grade English teacher would smack my hand for that last sentence). Take these for example:
Along Elena’s smooth white back is an ancient scar that cuts downward in a grotesque beauty like a long, graceful snake.
—The Lost Recipe For Happiness, Barbara O’Neal
On a dark spring night twenty five years after I helped bury my Great Aunt Clara Hardigree, I found myself digging her up.
—Stone Flower Garden, Deborah Smith
I watched from under the trees at the edge of the graveyard, too cowardly to face the people who grieved for the woman I murdered
—Try Me, Parker Blue
These are all books from wide varieties of genres, and yet they have something in common. Once I read that first line, I had to read that book. I had to see what that first sentence meant. Where it led.
I’ve spent my entire writer life thinking up great hooks, but knowing all along that wow, I might need to write a book that lives up to it. But you know what I’ve found? Writers do. They live up to that promise. If they didn’t, the editors reading their work might have kept reading, but would have found out soon enough that the author did a bang up job on that first line, but didn’t follow through. Editors are picky like that. And a blog on those picky editors is another for another time. J
A couple more, just because they’re fun:
Panty hose are a tool of the devil.
—The Rock and Roll Queen of Bedlam, Marilee Brothers
The first time I encountered Death, I hurled my mother’s medical chart at him.
—The Grave Witch, Kalayana Price
The physical recovery from the loss of my legs in Vietnam was uncomplicated and relatively painless.
—As The Crow Dies, Ken Casper
They are so different, but so the same in one aspect. They’re powerful. They suck a reader, and I’m a reader, too, in. I want to read those books.
It matters to me to be sucked in, to feel an instant need to keep reading. Authors who begin their books with hooks, with lines that make you want to keep reading, are masters of their craft. As long as they follow through.
As I’m a comedy writer, I definitely appreciate great comedy openings. The, “I wish I’d thought of that” syndrome. But I love all genres, all adventures into the worlds the authors create. But you must, must suck me in with that first line.
Here’s one I’ll leave you with, on a book that Bell Bridge won’t be putting out until January. But it’s such a hook, I already have it on my wish list.
She took one look at him and gagged.
—Summer Rose, Elizabeth Sinclair
A USA Today Bestselling author, Trish Jensen lives in the mountains of central PA, smack-dab in the middle of Amish Country, with a rather large dog. And in the spirit of full disclosure should reveal that STUCK WITH YOU will be published by Bell Bridge Books this January. Visit Trish at: http://www.trishjensen.com/
cramping my walking program. I enjoy that exercise more than any other, but since that routine has reduced me to limping, I’ve decided to take my friend Kathy’s advice. Kathy suggests I join her in water aerobics until I recoup. Water aerobics, she assures me will take the pressure off my joints, and according to Kathy, “anyone” can do it.
