CONTEST DAY

Thank you to EVERYONE who entered.  The winner will be announced on Monday.   You can only vote once but tell your friends about the contest.

Quizzes by Quibblo.com




Don't forget to scroll through and see ALL the submissions before voting! 

Thanks everyone and good luck. 

Here's my entry but I'm not in the contest:  "My g-string was so far up my ass it felt like an organ." 
 

First Line- how to start.

So after skimming this wacky thing called the internet I've learned a few things about first lines.

1) Don't be boring- I guess this means a really long sentence that doesn't say much expect describing Tupperware or trees or dirt or something.

2) Make your writing accessible-- I shouldn't have to look up five out of the twelve words in the sentence. If you're a smarty pants that's fine but ween me into it.

3) Action-- keep it interesting, put the reader in the center of the action.

4) No extra words--- don't use two words when one will do.  Cut all your useless empty words, like, pretty, that, just, --- by cutting those words your book is already a lot stronger.

5) Pick only the best word- you want to sucker punch your reader not gently nuzzle them.


So those are my tips for how to write a stellar first line.  Time to show off.
You can either e-mail me your first line or leave it in the comments below.  I will set up a cool looking contest page, and you can vote on the one you like the best- the winner gets an i-tunes gift card.  WOOT.

Fricking Awesome First Lines.
RULES:

• You will need to e-mail or post your first line in the comments on Thursday's post. 
• You need to be a follower of the blog. 
• Vote for your favorite on Friday.
• Winner will get a $10 gift card and a 10 page critique from me.

My e-mail is fussymonkey2 at gmail dot com in the subject line say "first line"

All entries must be posted by 11:59 pm Thursday.

The Friday blog will go up sometime on Friday.
Voting ends Sunday 11:59 pm.
You need to be a follower to post a first line but you don't need to a follower to vote-- so tell your friends.

Road Trip Wednesday- write a blurb

This blog will come to you in three parts.

Part 1:  Page 99 BLOGFEST-  Alica, Holly, Pam, Quinta and I will hosting a page 99 Blogfest-  you post page 99 of one of your WIPs and see if other people would read more based solely on that page.  Awesome, right?  The idea is page 1-50 are normally SUPER polished and perfect, but let's pick a page at random (page 99) and see if the writing is interesting enough to keep the reader's attention. It's based on the website http://page99test.com/

It will be on January 28th!  A week and a half away. Go here to sign up

Part 2- Road Trip Wednesday- blurb all about it.

The word blurb is funny.  It's one of those words that sounds like it shouldn't even be a word. 
Say it a low, blurb blurb blurb blurb blurb blurb blurb blurb, see how it lost all meaning?

Anyway writing a blurb is tough, it's like a query letter but even shorter.  It's like a one paragraph pitch.

So I'm going to mash up my query letter and see if it works as a blurb.

Colin descends upon the bullies in town and unleashes punishments so swift and fitting, the bullies either changed their ways or moved.  Now in his senior year, Colin is trying to keep a low profile.   Because one of his “victims”  wants to crush Colin’s spinal cord into powder.  But his popularity-obsessed girlfriend, and the garage band he formed with his brother, are making that impossible.  
Much to Colin’s surprise, the band is good and gaining a following.   As he reluctanly steps into the spotlight he has to face public scrutiny when he doesn’t get into Julliard and discovers the people he trusts are keeping secrets from him. 

Yeah it's not great but neither is the word blurb.  

Part three: Fricking Awesome First Lines.

Tomorrow I will open my blog up for a contest. All week I've been talking about the importance of a first line.  Thursday you can post your first line of any work (short story, novel or non fiction).  It's open to all genres.  All comments will be closed to the public so no one can see who posted what.   On Friday I will post ALL the first lines.  Voting will last through the weekend.
RULES:

• You will need to e-mail or post your first line in the comments on Thursday's post. 
• You need to be a follower of the blog. 
• Vote for your favorite on Friday.
• Winner will get a $10 iTunes gift card and a 10 page critique from me.

First Line- where to start

Most stories don't start at the beginning.  Because, damn, that would be boring. The beginning... seriously? The beginning of time? The big bang? When the main character's great great great grandmother came to America and was attacked by a sheep?  Nope.

Most novels start in the middle.

It's the events that just happened and that are GOING to happen, that's what's interesting.

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
"Frankie Perino and I were lucky that day.  Lucky to be alive-that's what everyone said."
WOW! Oh what happened?  Lucky to be alive, really!


City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
" 'You've got to be kidding me,' the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest."
What's so weird that surprises a bouncer? What is the bouncer looking at? Who is he looking at?  How did they get there?


The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
"There thing I know this second: I have morning breath, I'm naked, and I'm waking up next to a boy I don't know."  
Yeah do I even need to say anything?  What happened the night before? How is the narrator going to react?  What's next is just as interesting as what happened.

This week I'm focusing on the first few pages of your book.  This week there will be a Contest on Friday--  Fricking Awesome First Lines.
RULES:

• You will need to e-mail or post your first line in the comments on Thursday's post. 
• You need to be a follower of the blog. 
• Vote for your favorite on Friday.
• Winner will get a $10 gift card and a 10 page critique from me.

First Lines- welcome to my world

Twenty six letters mixed together in a seemingly random order creates words.  Words create sentences.  All sentences need two things a subject and a verb.  Of course you can get fancy and throw in a prepositional phrase, or an absolute phrase.

After lots of sentences, lots of words eventually a novel is born.

So why is the first line so important?

Well reading a book is a big commitment and  you as the reader have to be willing to make that commitment.  The author's job is to make you care and the sooner the better.

 Here's a few of the first sentences of a few books I've either read or want to read

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
"Frankie Perino and I were lucky that day.  Lucky to be alive-that's what everyone said."

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
"First the colors.  Then the colors. That's usually how I see things. Or at least, how I try."

Paper Town by John Green
The way I see it, everyone gets a miracle.

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
There were dragons when I was a boy.

Here are the opening lines of books on my To Read List

What I saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
"The match snapped, then sizzled, and I woke up fast."


Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
"Miri woke to the sleepy bleating of a goat."

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
" 'You've got to be kidding me,' the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest."

Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler
"' Claire? It's Rachel. I'm afraid I have some bad news.'"


The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
"There thing I know this second: I have morning breath, I'm naked, and I'm waking up next to a boy I don't know."

What do they have in common?  They're awesome.

What's your favorite first line to a book?
Do any of those first lines make you want to read the book?  Why?

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

This week I'm focusing on the first few pages of your book.  This week there will be a Contest on Friday--  Fricking Awesome First Lines.
RULES:

• You will need to e-mail or post your first line in the comments on Thursday's post. 
• You need to be a follower of the blog. 
• Vote for your favorite on Friday.
• Winner will get a $10 gift card and a 10 page critique from me.