People lead such frenetic lives in 2019 that writers are especially challenged to hook their readers, often in minutes or even seconds.
That can happen in a bookstore, or more commonly, on Amazon with a “Look Inside” the book offer.
I reflected on one opening sentence that I keep coming back to as a “best-practices” example. Here it is, from James Jones From Here to Eternity:
“When he finished packing, he walked out onto the third-floor porch of the barracks brushing the dust from his hands, a very neat and deceptively slim young man in the summer khakis that were still early morning fresh.”
And here’s how Ed McBain breaks it down in Killer’s Payoff:
“Jones packs a hell of a lot into that first line. He tells you it’s summer, he tells you it’s morning, he tells you you’re on an Army post with a soldier who’s obviously leaving for someplace, and he gives you a thumbnail description of his hero. That’s a good opening line.”
Keep writing…and go find that killer-good opening sentence….
