--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > No one ever gets a second chance to write a first > sentence, so you should probably do it right. > > This is especially good advice for those who tend > to write posts to FFL that no one reads *except* for > the first sentence, glimpsed in Message View. :-) > > http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/07/why-stephen-king-spends-months-and-even-years-writing-opening-sentences/278043/ > > But it's also good advice for anyone who cares about > writing, period, as was King's book "On Writing," by far > the most practical "How to be a writer" manual I've ever > read. > > Reading this article I had to chuckle, because I once > started a book with the sentence: "If I had better > bladder control, I probably wouldn't be writing this." > > It was true, it set up the first story (which set up > the rest of the book), and above all it captured that > sense of "voice" that King talks about. I hear all the > time from readers who picked up the book, having heard > that it was about what it was like to study with an odd > spiritual teacher. Having heard that, they kinda expected > it to be just another one of those "clone" books about > spiritual teachers -- humorless, devotional, and above > all SERIOUS. But my first line made them laugh, which > clued them in to the fact that mine was NOT exactly > going to be like that. > > So good luck creating your first sentences from now on. > If you make them "inviting" enough, and infuse them with > enough "voice," some people may even read the rest of > the post. :-)
When I was a student at MIU I often stripped during the flying portion of my Dome program while at the same time the women around me... Did that get anyone's attention? Maybe I should have started this post: "Back when I was having an affair with this man, that you all know here, I discovered something very strange about..." Or: "I have had always wanted to be able to tell someone my deepest, darkest sexual secret and it involves..." >
