First Lines interview with author Rashelle Workman

Do you consider the first line to be an important part of a story? If so, why?
The first line is important. It should be leading, perhaps even foreshadow what’s to come, interesting, catchy, but not over the top.

Do you find first lines easy to come up with, or challenging? Do you have a technique, or a ritual, that you go by to make it easy?
It’s like anything else, I think. Sometimes they are easy, and just come to me, other times I struggle and rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. In “Beguiled,” I changed it more than once and ended up with: The dream was venom to my sleeping soul.

What consequences, if any, do you think there are in having a badly written first line?
I’ve heard some readers won’t go past the first line in a book if they don’t like it. I’ve read books with fantastic first lines, and those with deceptively casual lines. I think it boils down to taste.

What’s your favourite first line that you’ve ever read? And can you recall a worst?
One of my favorite first lines is from Andrew Davidson’s novel, “The Gargoyle.”

Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love.

What is one of your own best first lines?
I don’t know about favorite, but I do like this line from “Prey and Magic”:

When you lose everything, there’s only one option.

 

We’re all sharing here! What’s one of your worst first lines?
Here it is:

Dad.

LOL. Yep, I had a moment. =)

What are some things a first line *shouldn’t* be? What are some things that you’ve read in first lines that really rubs you the wrong way?
I don’t think there’s a “shouldn’t be” kind of first line. As for a line that rubs me wrong? It isn’t about that for me, it’s about the line doing nothing to gain my interest.

Do you have any suggestions for other authors on how to write a great first line? Have you heard any great advice yourself?
Here’s my first sentence advice: Write it, and move on. You’ll be rewriting, editing, and rewriting the story again anyway, so don’t stress too much. Once you’re in final edits, really think about that line. Change as necessary.

 

Venus has become immortal, just as she always wanted. In the process she hurt Zaren, lost Michael, and destroyed her family.

At least that’s what she believed.

Turns out Ramien, the god of her planets’ underworld, has her parents, and Michael.

To save them, Venus makes a deal. She must complete three trials. They seem impossible. They certainly won’t be easy. Worst of all, someone she loves won’t make it out alive.

More praise for the Immortal Essence series:

• “I… felt like I was literally out of this world for a while.” Melissa Lemon, author of Cinder and Ella
• “I love a book where the details fit together like pieces in a puzzle…” Rachel Morgan
• “It’s superb!!! I loved the multiple points of view. I loved Venus. Michael was tough to like at first, but by the end – man, oh man, did I fall hard for him. Zaren is yummy! I want a guardian like him. Heck, I want a man like him! AND THOSE BOOTS. PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE CAN I HAVE A PAIR?” Jenna Heartsong

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Genre – YA / SciFi / Romance

Rating – PG13

More details about the author

Connect with RaShelle Workman on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.rashelleworkman.com/

First Lines interview with author Laura Lee

Do you consider the first line to be an important part of a story? If so, why?
Every line is an important part of the story. Generally you want the first line and paragraph to set the tone. The best opening line may be one that blends in not one that stands out.

Do you find first lines easy to come up with, or challenging? Do you have a technique, or a ritual, that you go by to make it easy?
I don’t write in order. So I write the beginning when it comes to me, which could be well into the process.

What consequences, if any, do you think there are in having a badly written first line?
Someone might not read further.

What’s your favourite first line that you’ve ever read? And can you recall a worst?
Darin Strauss’ “Half a Life” begins

Half my life ago, I killed a girl.

That was an intriguing start.

What is one of your own best first lines?
The first line of Angel is

The mountain is nothing but itself.

It is a reference to the mythology we project onto the mountain. This is a metaphor in its own way for the roles we project onto people who are also nothing but themselves and defy neat narratives.
We’re all sharing here! What’s one of your worst first lines?
Mine? If I thought it was bad I wouldn’t use it.

What are some things a first line *shouldn’t* be? What are some things that you’ve read in first lines that really rubs you the wrong way?
It doesn’t need to be showy. You just need to start. I often cut original opening paragraphs from drafts as unnecessary.

Do you have any suggestions for other authors on how to write a great first line? Have you heard any great advice yourself?
When I was working as a reporter for the Times Union newspaper in Albany, NY my editor used to have reporters just tell him what happened. Where you start talking is your opening line.

 

Since the loss of his lively, charming wife to cancer six years ago, minister Paul Tobit has been operating on autopilot, performing his religious duties by rote. Everything changes the day he enters the church lobby and encounters a radiant, luminous being lit from behind, breathtakingly beautiful and glowing with life. An angel. For a moment Paul is so moved by his vision that he is tempted to fall on his knees and pray. Even after he regains his focus and realizes he simply met a flesh-and-blood young man, Paul cannot shake his sense of awe and wonder. He feels an instant and overwhelming attraction for the young man, which puzzles him even as it fills his thoughts and fires his feelings. Paul has no doubt that God has spoken to him through this vision, and Paul must determine what God is calling him to do.Thus begins a journey that will inspire Paul’s ministry but put him at odds with his church as he is forced to examine his deeply held beliefs and assumptions about himself, his community, and the nature of love.

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Genre – Contemporary Fiction / LGBT

Rating – PG13

Connect with Laura Lee on GoodReads & Twitter

Website http://angelthenovel.carbonmade.com/

First Lines interview with author Christine Nolfi

Do you consider the first line to be an important part of a story? If so, why?

The first line is of critical importance. I can spend weeks—no, months—creating then revising a novel’s first line. Like all of us, readers lead busy lives. If a story’s opening doesn’t usher her into a world promising adventures far better than real world enjoyments, why should she continue?

Treasure Me begins with the dialogue

“Where are you? Give me back my wallet!”

for a variety of reasons. For starters, dialogue is the true action in a work of fiction, a kick-start of adrenaline to draw your eyes down the page. Then there’s the dialogue’s content. In this case, I wanted to clue the reader in to the protagonist’s chosen career, but I wanted to do so in a light and humorous way. Birdie Kaminsky is no reprobate. She’s sassy and rude and damn amusing at times. But her impudent behavior hides the battered heart of a young woman hungry for meaning in her life, and for family.

Do you find first lines easy to come up with, or challenging? Do you have a technique, or a ritual, that you employ to make it easy?

I spent years writing ad copy in my PR firm, and nearly as many years writing fiction. Long ago I learned not to second-guess choices in art or direction; far better to let ideas germinate. I rarely settle on the final version of a novel’s first line until the book has been written, revised, torn apart and revised again. Treasure Me was a rarity in that much of the first scene—including the opening line—arrived one morning in a mad flurry of typing. When I read the scene to my critique group, my voice was barely audible above the wild cackles and bursts of laughter.

What consequences, if any, do you think there are in having a badly written first line?

The reader will think, “Why should I bother?” If we possess the temerity to assume anyone should read our words, we’d damn well better make the story enjoyable from the get-go.

What’s the favorite first line you’ve read? Can you recall the worst?

Please don’t ask me to choose a favorite among the literary greats. Here are a few:

Call me Ishmael.

—Moby Dick

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.

—David Copperfield

In the middle of my marriage, when I was above all Hugh’s wife and Dee’s mother, one of those unambiguous women with no desire to disturb the universe, I fell in love with a Benedictine monk.

—The Mermaid Chair

The worst first lines? I can’t recall. Those novels are dismissed from my consciousness like stale news.

What is one of your own best first lines?

I’m particularly fond of this opening, from a novel I’ll release in 2013:

It pains me to admit that my self-imposed exile was broken by the lure of Istanbul.

We’re all sharing here! What’s one of your worst first lines?

I haven’t a clue. Prior to moving to Charleston, South Carolina last year, I tossed all the detritus from a failed marriage, years of childrearing, countless tries at novels attempted in my youth—I cleared a 5,000 square foot house of all but the essentials needed to begin a new phase of life. It was a freeing experience, like a signal to the Universe that I’d matured as a career novelist and would now travel lightly but with much more impact.

What are some things a first line shouldn’t be? What are some things you’ve read in first lines that really rubs you the wrong way?

Passive voice. Needless backstory. Awkward phrasing. Here’s a good rule for beginning novelists: Write the entire first draft with your internal editor turned off. After, read through and make a first pass at editing. Then print out the second draft and study the first paragraphs of Chapter Three.

That’s right—skip Chapters One and Two, and study Three. Ask yourself, “Is this the true beginning of my novel? Is the perfect opening line hidden in the text like a gem waiting to be unearthed?” On a surprisingly number of occasions, our faithful scribe will answer with a resounding, “Yes!”

Some writers are gifted with an unusual life and I’m certainly one of those. I’ve lived in Ohio, Virginia, California, Utah and now South Carolina. In college I was featured on the front page of the Houston Post for a lark that erased all my debt. I met my four adopted children for the first time in the sweltering heat of the tropics. I helped build several companies and was lucky enough to earn a living doing what I love best—writing—in a PR firm I owned.

If you’re wondering about beginnings, here they are: I’m the middle child in a litter of six kids raised in Cleveland, Ohio during the psychedelic 60s. My late mother swore I taught myself to read at the age of two. While this claim stands unsubstantiated, I can tell you that rare were the times during childhood when I didn’t tote a book in one hand, and pen and paper in the other. I’ve been writing ever since.

In 2004, I made the wisest and most irrational decision of my life—I began writing fiction full-time. All those years of hard work pay off daily in sweet notes and comments by readers. Please continue the mail, tweets and comments on FaceBook, GoodReads and other sites. I cherish your support and love chatting with readers.

www.christinenolfi.com

@christinenolfi on Twitter

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