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From Teri Cross Chetwood ( https://www.facebook.com/teri.crosschetwood )

"I just said this on a writer website forum, and wanted to share it because I think it's pithy. It's LOADED with pith.

I've always found the argument about hooking the reader with the first sentence to be a bit specious. Granted, you want it to be a great start and interest them, but saying it's all-important (as I've heard it called) is to ignore the importance of the book as a whole.

Any reader who's going to give up because you don't have a killer first paragraph isn't going to stick around for the ending, anyway. The second the story hits a slow spot (as all stories do), he's gone.

If I was that kind of reader, I would have never read A Tale of Two Cities, which has a horrible beginning, stretched out interminably because Dickens was paid by the word."

--------------

I find Teri's words very interesting and to be true, and she does know I've snagged this. I find her insights on writing to be stimulating and refreshing. She doesn't bandy words in my conversations and interactions with her on Scribo and facebook.

Now, she uses a classic by Dickens as her example, and yet I can think of my own examples as well that fit what she's saying. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien come to mind. I remember in either the seventh or eighth grade - I'm leaning towards the latter due to different teachers - reading an excerpt from The Hobbit in my literature book. This excerpt was the most boring one I'd ever read - it described Bilbo's hobbit hole. It didn't start out with Gandalf appearing suddenly at his door with thirteen Dwarves in tow or the mess said Dwarves made of Bilbo's tidy and comfortable home.

All of this, of course, was before my mom's (now ex) boyfriend introduced my younger brother (and inadvertently, me) to the Ralph Bakshi film titled The Lord of the Rings and thus beginning my painful and torrid love affair with the fantasy genre, both reading and writing it. Yes, Tolkien wove some intrigue about the eccentricities of Bilbo Baggins when he started out with announcing the celebration of his 111th birthday. But it took a while to find out that the ring Master Baggins passed on to his heir was a ring great importance and great danger. The same could be said about his description of Bilbo's abode in The Hobbit

Some could argue, "Well, that's fantasy", but even that genre is facing intense scrutiny for being too slow paced. There's something about writers critiquing other writers and asking them to hurry up the pace, get to the action quicker because that's what the reader wants . . .

And the reality is the reader wants a well-crafted story, one with high notes and low notes because that's how life is. Life isn't about hurrying up to get to the end. It's about enjoying the journey along the way, and if we can't stop for one moment to breathe, one moment to smell the roses or enjoy a cup of tea or coffee, then there's something seriously wrong with our lives and with our story-telling. I agree with the sentiment there should be something in the first chapter to snag the reader, some hint of intrigue to tease and tantalize the mind of the person picking up the work, something to beg the question, "Okay, this is nice. Now what the fuck is going to happen next". It doesn't necessarily have to be the first sentence, the first paragraph, or even the first page. It just needs to be there.

Some words of wisdom from Chuck Wendig:
http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/04/16/ten-things-id-like-to-say-to-young-writers/

I've read the entire article. I recommend that everyone who wants to write, who is writing, to read it because it isn't a "this how you will succeed" type blog entry of his. It's truth. Plain and simple. Just be warned - his language is a little salty and not necessarily work-safe. Read at your own discretion.

Now to listen to that bit of wisdom. Write!!

 

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