cj Sez: My second thriller/suspense, DEATH
ON THE YAMPA, LAUNCHED!
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Another thriller/suspense story with a touch of romance, THE DAWGSTAR, launched April 15, 2021.
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Excerpts from one of my archived posts:
The importance of a good, inviting opening line, opening
paragraph, or opening chapter probably can’t be stressed enough.
There’s a lot of advice that says writers should start a story in the
middle of a drama, some captivating situation. This is the hook with which a
writer can snag the reader’s or agent’s interest.
Ken Follet, in The Pillars of the Earth, starts off
with “The small boys came early to the hanging.” Wouldn’t you want to find out
more?
This one from Toni Morrison’s Paradise speaks
volumes: “They shoot the white girl
first.”
One of my personal favorites is from Prison Letters,
Corrie ten Boom’s memoir of her time in a WWII concentration camp: “From time
to time, I wrote short sketches on scraps of paper.”
Stephen King is quoted as saying: “An opening line should
invite the reader to begin the story.” He goes on to say, “For me a good
opening sentence really begins with voice.” He believes readers are drawn into a
story because the voice of the writer appeals to them.
In each of the opening-line examples above, I believe you get
a good sense of the author’s voice and how the rest of the story is going to be
told.
Here’s my first line from The Dawgstar, my thriller/suspense: “I am not going to die; I am not going to die.”
And from Death on the
Yampa: "Bryn McKay’s body ricocheted off the passenger door as the
pickup, engine roaring, veered from one side of the Colorado mountain road to
the other."
Do you start your stories in an active scene? Or are you in
narrative voice? Whichever it is, please make sure the opening is not in
backstory.
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Writerly quotes:
The Six Golden Rules
of Writing: Read, read, read, and write, write, write.” — Ernest Gaines
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On the home front:
Son Jeff D. Johnston’s photo that he titled “The Chase,” because
one of those eagles has the fish the other one wants.
And this is not a Photoshopped
image. It’s a live-action shot he was lucky enough to catch in Homer, Alaska.
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That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on,
and I’ll try to do the same.
cj
The store has re-opened to limited hours (and they have an
awesome bookstore kitty, Mr. Bingley), so if you’re in the Mobile area, you can
stop and shop, too.
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➜ on Goodreads: under re-construction