I Have to Ask...I Just Have to

[queenoftheskies]

After so many people have participated in that most marvelous of novel (and some short story) openings meme, I have to ask.

Now that you've looked through your own openings, and the openings of others, what stood out for you?

What do you think makes a good opening? What grabs your readers' attention? What makes them want to read more?

What grabbed you about other people's openings that you read? And, on the flip side, what mistakes did you see most frequently?

Did you learn anything from looking at the openings of others that you can apply to your own work? Or do you think you have openings down pat and really understand what to go for in order to hook your reader?

Comments

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

This is one of those really nebulous things. I know that for BP, I worked on that opening line, as well as the entire scene, on and off for months. I revise as I go, so every so often, I'd reread it and tweak it. I wanted that first sentence to tell readers most or all they needed to know without revealing much, if that makes sense. Grisha is the protag, the disaster site is the story's focus.

The sequel's first line does the same thing, but I couldn't think of a better way to do it other than a news item, and then, you don't have the protag yet. You meet a character right after, but I don't know yet if she's the protag. I haven't discovered that much yet.

An opening will or won't work for someone and will do the opposite for the next reader, perhaps, because we all look for different things when we read.

My favs of the entries were the quirky ones, the ones that made me go "huh?" But that doesn't mean I didn't like the others or that I wouldn't read on based on those openers.

One thing I did notice was that most of them were well-written, no awkward phrasing. A few didn't interest me, but because they didn't, my brain hasn't retained enough data for me to tell you which or why.

As for learning something from the others I can now use? Nah. I can extrapolate from everything except writing, it seems. :)

[ex-roanoke414.livejournal.com]

What stood out to me about my own was that I use what I think I remember being considered appositive phrases, or gerund phrases...one of those ...kinda like Henry James or Hemingway ...and they seem kinda passive in their action...dream like or thoughtful. I'm not sure if that's a good thing...if it's overdone it's really exhausting to read.

I definitely think the best way to open any book is with something that captures a reader's interest and usually that is some type of movement, physical or mental action ...such as dialouge ...internal dialouge or monolouge...or someone taking a ballbat to someone's head or a pumpkin ...something absurd or something humorous...disturbing or touching ...I definitely noticed ALL those elements with everyone's meme on my friend's list...I think we all do a pretty darn great job with hooks ;)

[everyonesakitty.livejournal.com]

usually that is some type of movement, physical or mental action ...such as dialouge ...internal dialouge or monolouge...or someone taking a ballbat to someone's head or a pumpkin ...something absurd or something humorous...disturbing or touching ...

That's an excellent description of what might make a first line work. I might have to print that out and think on it for a while.

[ex-roanoke414.livejournal.com]

hehe, I think pumpkins were on the mind due to everyone decorating for Holloween in my neighborhood. ;)

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

I open with setting a lot, especially in Red Water, where too many of the chapters start with the weather or the surroundings. I like to get the scene grounded in a setting as soon as possible, but that probably shouldn't be the first thing. I don't like to start with dialogue -- it reminds me too much of the kids' mystery novels I read when I was 8 or 9.

As for what openings I like when I'm reading, it depends on the genre. Fantasy and SF, I like to read (and write) the characters interacting with their setting, to establish both the characters and their world right at the start. Mainstream fiction is more flexible, I think.

I don't need a big obvious hook to keep reading, and when there is one I get suspicious of how/whether the story is going to live up to it.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I didn't learn anything new, but I noticed that once again, any hint of humor grabs me instantly.

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

I actually changed two of my opening lines after seeing them on the screen. They still don't grab me like they should, but before I changed them they just struck me as dull. I'm wondering if I should do this with every story I write!

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

I had the same reaction to my openings, once they were separated out from the rest of the story.

[darkfluidity.livejournal.com]

I didn't read the meme or openings to which you refer, but I think one of the things I like least in an opening is over-the-top melodrama, or possibly that extraneously heavy-handed this-is-supposed-to-be-foreshadowing that serves no purpose other than to try to illicit some desire to read on. Generally, it doesn't.

Example:
Lovely day, nice beach, sun shining bright, all those people surfing and swimming and lying around collecting rays, none of them aware that this would be their last ever day at the beach.

[stabeest.livejournal.com]

I'm not fond of openings that are obviously 'hooky', but I do need an image or a piece of dialogue or a sentence that just grabs me. In novels, I tend to give the book a page or so before deciding if I'll read on. Short stories might get a couple lines.

I think good openings are hard to manage. I'm still hit or miss myself on them. Some people go for over-the-top, very hooky opening lines that just don't work. Others toss in a huge lump of pretty blase description that does nothing for me either. Description is a hard one to open with and I think it should either paint very striking images or serve a dual purpose, like setting up an action or revealing character, in order to really work as an opening.

Granted, I'm not expert, but I do know what I like to read.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

Flat-out description of a scene -- like just describing the setting -- really bores me. Give me character!

Lack of voice. (Which is really only easily gauged in the first paragraphs, not the first sentence.) I need a voice in novels.

Looking at my three novel openings side by side, I noticed how misleading Girl #6 is. In fact, when I looked at that first page, the interesting part came in the paragraph following the one I'd posted. The voice is right, but it totally doesn't give any hint of the type of novel that's to follow.

The Last Rite opening took me a long time. I hadn't written that scene until I'd completed the rough draft and thrown away the beginning I'd originally had. I seem to follow that pattern -- I can't nail the beginning until I've hit the end. And it took one major rewrite to bring out the voice that I think is Last Rite's strength. It's unique; it might be off-putting but I came to grips with that a long time ago. That novel is going to be one people either like or hate, I suspect.