I asked a few authors to comment on the first sentence of their book, and I got such a great response. So good, in fact, that I’ve turned this into a little series here at Books on the Brain called Friday First Lines. Each Friday I’ll share First Line thoughts by two or three authors.
Will these first sentences be enough to entice you to add them to your TBR list? They were for me!
Author D. E. Johnson writes:
First sentence: “The first part of the body I saw was half of the left arm.” D. E. Johnson, The Detroit Electric Scheme
.
That’s why the first line of my first book was, “The first part of the body I saw was half of the left arm.” I figured people would want to know more. (At least people as warped as I am.) As I recall, I didn’t change it much from first conception, though the first scene was rewritten at least fifty times. If you can get that professional to read through your entire first scene without gagging, you’ve got a shot. If you can keep the serious clunkers out of the first half of the book, you’ve got a better shot.
You can write the most brilliant book in history, but if the first sentence is a snoozer, it’s unlikely anyone will ever know about it.
Author Peggy Hesketh writes:
.
Come back next week for First Line thoughts from authors Amy Shearn (The Mermaid of Brooklyn) and Jael McHenry (The Kitchen Daughter).
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: d.e. johnson, Friday First Lines, Peggy Hesketh, telling the bees, the detroit electric scheme | 3 Comments »