tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31911817.post4268787516861026217..comments2024-03-10T14:07:40.468-04:00Comments on Blue Rose Girls: What makes a great first page?Blue Rose Girlshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05224076615462128422noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31911817.post-10025862947526079612010-12-13T22:34:46.027-05:002010-12-13T22:34:46.027-05:00This is informative, Alvina. Thanks! Your focus on...This is informative, Alvina. Thanks! Your focus on a great first line or "gem" of a line somewhere on that first page is interesting. <br /><br />I also think Libby and Sheila make a good point about the beginning not being contrived. There's a fine line between intriguing and contrived. I hope I manage to be on the right side of that line!<br /><br />I love the first line that Sheila posted from Words of Stone. Makes me wonder to myself. I also love the first page/line of WRINGER. <br /><br />Interesting conversation! Thanks again!Nikki Shannon Smithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31911817.post-39466664020236089772010-12-13T16:22:59.750-05:002010-12-13T16:22:59.750-05:00I agree with Libby. Sometimes a first sentence can...I agree with Libby. Sometimes a first sentence can be great, but the rest of the book is overwritten or "contrived," in my opinion. I won't give examples because I don't have the books in front of me, and some respected reviewers love these books. While I feel I appreciate good writing and can identify it, obviously, individual taste plays a major part. I love quiet novels with well drawn characters. Here are a few beginings that kept me reading. "My sister, Lynn, taught me my first word: kira kira." (KIRA KIRA); "She wished something would happen." (CRISS CROSS); "Blaze Werla buried Ortman before breakfast." (WORDS OF STONE); "Angela's great-grandmother stares at her with faded, puzzled eyes that make the girl long for home." (JERRICO)<br /><br />Each of these first sentences introduces the main character in a way that's low-key yet compelling.<br /><br />Thanks for an interesting topic!<br />SheilaSheilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02891797060944709216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31911817.post-68165546859795395412010-12-13T12:12:45.331-05:002010-12-13T12:12:45.331-05:00"People do not give it credence that a fourte..."People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day."First line of TRUE GRIT, by Charles Portisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31911817.post-52126955213425093982010-12-13T09:53:15.151-05:002010-12-13T09:53:15.151-05:00This was fascinating....I have a slightly differen...This was fascinating....I have a slightly different take. If the first page feels forced to me, I stop reading. Sometimes I stop after the first line or first paragraph, because the author is so obviously trying to find something startling/sensational/be different. <br /><br />With all the examples I quoted in my post on great first lines, I was immediately drawn into a world: with one sentence! The beginning felt almost inevitable it was so natural.... I knew what the world felt like and even had a sense of what it's boundaries would be....how the authors did it, I don't know: voice? an intriguing story set in a distinct world?<br /><br />I'm attracted to good writing, characters who feel real, an intriguing situation--and repelled by anything that feels sensationalistic (is that a word?), forced, trying too hard -- CONTRIVED.Libby Koponenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01508041827996196293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31911817.post-41115880111810493382010-12-13T08:57:53.231-05:002010-12-13T08:57:53.231-05:00Thanks for the tips Alvina! Great reminders befor...Thanks for the tips Alvina! Great reminders before the SCBWI Miami conference coming up in January!::Sylvia::https://www.blogger.com/profile/10315724269855201923noreply@blogger.com