My understanding is that the point of the cover art and jacket blurb is to get the prospective buyer to the first page.
Actually. Can anyone here remember the first sentence from any book they ever read? And if so, do you remember if you read the book regardless?
First sentence of 5 books of a trilogy I hold dear: The house stood on a slight rise just on the edge of the village. The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. The regular early morning yell of horror was the sound of Arthur Dent waking up and suddenly remembering where he was. That evening it was dark early, which was normal for the time of year. The history of the Galaxy has got a little muddled, for a number of reasons: partly because those who are trying to keep track of it have got a little muddled, but also because some very muddling things have been happening anyway
I always do. Usually the first few pages, unless it's a book that's been recommended by someone whose taste I trust.
Ah, yeah, beat me to it. Sorry, I didn't read most of the thread; I was just replying to the original poster.
I think that based on the H2G2 opening sentences that I am not going to worry my pretty little head about it, personally. If my story doesn't knock their socks off the opening sentence is going to make no difference on whether they recommend it or review it positively.
Mother died today; or was it yesterday? I'm not sure. I wish I could tell you about the South Pacific. I believe in ghosts. At dusk, they pour from the sky. You know how it is there early in the morning in Havana with the bums still asleep against the walls of the buildings; before even the ice wagons come by with ice for the bars?
Personally, I think you want as many intriguing sentences in a row as possible, starting from the first sentence, that build off of each other. This is akin to a seduction. THEN you can afford to bore the reader a bit. Lots of movies do this. They start with an intense first scene before developing other stuff. It's not the first shot that's intense, it's the entire scene, and it feels like a scene, not an intense shot that sticks out from the remainder of the scene. something like "that was the day my grandmother exploded," sounds to me like an utterly shameless opener. It's not even part of the story(in terms of narrative flow). It's a sales pitch. I'd rather seduce the reader with a full chapter of strong sentences that flow into one another.
Thanks, Aaron. I can also recite song lyrics and baseball statistics. Just don't ask me where I left my keys.
I put a container on the kitchen bench and taught myself to drop wallet and keys there. Occasionally I forget, but for the most part, it works. Thankfully. I memorised pi to 75 decimal places at high school -- the Maths A teacher was uninspirational at best -- but have not managed to do much since. I claim the Henry Ford defense
You aren't selling your book to a reader, you're selling it to an agent. And you'll have no cover, and no blurb, and if they aren't interested after the first page, no cover letter in the world can help you.
If we were discussing the first page, I would be in full agreement -- you would have to be a complete twit to think the first page can be nondescript. If you peruse the title of the thread, and the point of my post to which you responded, you will see the discussion is specifically tailored to the first sentence. Not the first page. So effectively you have set up a strawman. Your welcome.
Oh, you're right, I see how you could misunderstand the whole point of the thread and the way the conversation was going. What you said was that the reader would rely on the blurb. My point is that most agents won't read past the first sentence if it's not up to snuff.
Um no. I understand what "first line catcher" means. I don't equate it to the entire first page, unlike your somewhat misguided attempt at argument. If your point was "agents won't read past the first sentence if it's not up to snuff", perhaps that's what you should write, rather than "if they aren't interested after the first page"? Here's the first line of OP in case you missed it: So any things you guys use to help you come up with a great first line. Let me know if I need to break that down for you? There's some innocuous examples upthread that are about as plain and uninteresting as a sandwich with no filling. Perhaps you can explain how Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy was ever published based on the first sentence? The house stood on a slight rise just on the edge of the village. Or are you going to capitulate and say "The first page matters"? In which case we will have no disagreement.
1.) Hitchikers Guide was a radio drama before it was a novel. By the time it had gathered the interest of several publishers the first line wasn't going to matter much. 2.) There are a lot of novels that couldn't get published today based on their structure. The publishing industry has changed a lot. 3.) The first page will probably change a lot as the agent works with the author to make it attractive to a publisher. What you see as the first line of a published book is not necessarily the one that was pitched to the agent. 4.) There are agents who will absolutely throw out a novel if the first line doesn't interest them.
So the entire first page is probably going to change a lot, but the first line is a stumbling block? Your imaginary agent friend is displaying traits of inconsistency that lead me to believe he isn't real... If we're playing imaginary agents then my imaginary agent reads the first line and continues through the first page, regardless of that first sentence, to get a feel for the writer. If that first page grabs her, she reads a chapter. And then continues. A single opening sentence does not in any way shape or form influence her more than the first page. In the discussion above, I was specifically discussing readers - potential purchasers, not agents. Given that, I'll stick with the whole "blurb and cover art is more appealing than the first sentence" hypothesis. Coz you know, as good as agents are, and important, they don't actually buy the book yeah? Readers buy the book. Don't forget about the readers, Jack.
Your imaginary agent probably doesn't have 500 submissions to read that week. That's not hyperbole. Some agencies see over 200 submissions a day. Now for some corroboration. Hey Look! It's exactly the thing I was talking about! http://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-first-page/ I'll quote for you: This is from a seminar similar to one I attended a couple of months ago. The agents were reading the first three pages for the audience. The panel only went 45 minutes, and by the end the three agents on stage were chucking out manuscripts for any reason they could find. They went through over 100 audience submissions and accepted 3. Starting with a description? Gone. Starting with weather? Out. One of the agents chucked a manuscript for starting with description and another for starting with dialogue, which isn't fair. But what the OP should take away from it is that there is very very little space in which to catch an agent's attention. Edit: Ah, I appear to have linked to the same website in which the Original Poster got their information. But now everyone knows, so there is that. @Sarah's scribbles I can attest first hand that what Patterson is talking about is true. I'll put a fantastic book in the next post, when I'm not looking at the edit window.
Only someone desperately incapable of backing up an argument of "There are agents who will absolutely throw out a novel if the first line doesn't interest them." would interpret "but then they started rejecting them before they got that far", as such. http://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-first-page/ Not http://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-first-sentence/ Your welcome.
This is one that helped me a lot. It goes over a couple of core concepts for first sentences, first pages, and first chapters.
Yeah, because agents have the final word on what constitutes as good literature. An agent is just another reader, but one who's mind is tuned into demand and the markets. They don't care so much about what's quality, but only what sells, and that means their word, for the majority, usually means dick. If you're desperate to get published then go ahead and cater to an agents or publisher's desires, but if your ideas tap into human interest then it'll capture the reader, meaning the agent, no matter what. As for front covers and blurbs, they do have an effect on potential readers, because I, and I'm pretty sure others on this forum, have bought a book based on the cover or blurb; just like the first sentence, they allure us.
I have no idea what you're getting at here. The article was very clear about what the agents were throwing out. I'm not sure how you can "start with weather" without weather in the first sentence.
200 submissions / day @ 1 minute per page = 3 hours and 20 minutes to read the first page of each submission. meh. My imaginary agent laughs at your lazy imaginary agents.
