Xaysai
Inkling
I've been thinking a lot about this lately.
I know the general consensus on these forums (and it seems mostly everywhere), is that the first sentence needs to "hook" the reader, and I agree that intellectually it makes perfect sense.
However, when I consider my shopping habits, the book cover gets me interested (yes, I know - I am that shallow), and then I flip to the middle of a it to browse because the beginnings of books are generally (at least for my short attention span), very slow....
Also, considering so many books in the fantasy genre contain prologues which are less than exciting, I'm left wondering exactly how important that first sentence is to a novel?
For a short story, I can certainly see "hooking" a reader because the expectation is that a lot needs to happen in a very short time, but wouldn't the general consensus be that novels ramp up as the plot moves along?
Looking back through some of my favorite novels, I would say that most of them have a lackluster first sentence. Even my all-time favorite intro to a book (Name of the Wind) is my favorite not because it "hooked me" from the standpoint of it being interesting or intriguing, but because it is so beautifully written.
I would also argue that one of the most addicting qualities of Name of the Wind is the last sentence in every chapter, which is usually designed to keep up up at 2am flipping pages because I can't leave on the note he ends them on.
I guess you could argue that there is no harm into placing a great deal of effort into that first sentence for those people who are "first sentence browsers", but what happens to our readers when we place such a great deal of emphasis on an amazing first sentence, and the rest of the book doesn't live up to the expectation we've set with our laser-like focus on the first ~10-20 words?
Thoughts?
I know the general consensus on these forums (and it seems mostly everywhere), is that the first sentence needs to "hook" the reader, and I agree that intellectually it makes perfect sense.
However, when I consider my shopping habits, the book cover gets me interested (yes, I know - I am that shallow), and then I flip to the middle of a it to browse because the beginnings of books are generally (at least for my short attention span), very slow....
Also, considering so many books in the fantasy genre contain prologues which are less than exciting, I'm left wondering exactly how important that first sentence is to a novel?
For a short story, I can certainly see "hooking" a reader because the expectation is that a lot needs to happen in a very short time, but wouldn't the general consensus be that novels ramp up as the plot moves along?
Looking back through some of my favorite novels, I would say that most of them have a lackluster first sentence. Even my all-time favorite intro to a book (Name of the Wind) is my favorite not because it "hooked me" from the standpoint of it being interesting or intriguing, but because it is so beautifully written.
I would also argue that one of the most addicting qualities of Name of the Wind is the last sentence in every chapter, which is usually designed to keep up up at 2am flipping pages because I can't leave on the note he ends them on.
I guess you could argue that there is no harm into placing a great deal of effort into that first sentence for those people who are "first sentence browsers", but what happens to our readers when we place such a great deal of emphasis on an amazing first sentence, and the rest of the book doesn't live up to the expectation we've set with our laser-like focus on the first ~10-20 words?
Thoughts?