I've always been amazed at novel openings that start with one-liners: A short, concise sentence that conveys so many levels of a story. Its premise, its motivation and its mood. I was looking at some books in my library and I found four novels that did just that with a one-line sentence of less than 10 words. "You're either someone or you're not." Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers The reader is told from the beginning that being "no one" is not acceptable. The main character Regina … [Read more...]
In Media Res: Novel Openings
August 25, 2011 Read Comments
One of the things that I love about bookstore browsing is to read novel openings. Some start slow and then gather steam, while others go right into action. There is no wrong or right way to start a novel since both can produce a captivating first sentence. I thought I would share some novels that do start in media res --- opening with dramatic action rather than exposition. I discovered all of these books during bookstore browses and they hooked me to read more: "Micah's breath scraped in … [Read more...]
Layering: The Hunger Games
August 23, 2011 Read Comments
Since I'm getting geeked up for the The Hunger Games movie, I'm reading the first novel in the trilogy (again). This is a post from my 2009 archives when I first started blogging. I wanted to share this post again for all my new and current readers. I hope you find it helpful. I mentioned layering moments in a scene on one of my writing listservs so I thought I would go into more detail in this post. To help me learn structure in novels, I’ve been analyzing some of my favorite books. … [Read more...]
What Teen Readers Don’t Like
August 16, 2011 Read Comments
I know as writers we tend to fret about the current trends and what should be the focus of a story idea. But then sometimes I think we forget about the reader and what they want or better yet what they don't like. Since I'm primarily writing young-adult literature, I'm always interested to see what my intended readership likes and dislikes. I love reading reviews by teen readers as well. So when I was recently in my local public library and noticed they were having their monthly teen book … [Read more...]
