Last week on The Debutante Ball we talked about the importance of a novel’s first sentence. The hook factor, in other words. By the end of the week, I was annoyed with the whole thing. First sentence, shmirst sentence–what about the first paragraph? Or first page?
It was fun little rant, hehe.
A Contrarian’s Rant About First Line Hooks
I know we’re supposed to hook the reader in the first sentence, but the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it seems. Isn’t that a lot to ask of one measly sentence?
Over a decade ago I attended the Maui Writers Retreat, my first-ever workshop. I had some fledgling pages, an idea, and a boatload of nerves. When it came to hooking readers, the instructors talked about hooking them in the first page.
FIRST PAGE, my friends. At the time, that seemed daunting enough. I remember an evening session in which we PLEASE READ ON
Lisa Alber's Words at Play 