That’s what I’ve written on the new version of VZ. The first four lines of the bookd. Four lines that ask a question about how such a thing could have happened and who did it happen to and hopefully suck you right in.
I’m very pleased.
Okay, so it may not sound like much to someone else but the problem with going back into a story that you’ve been working on for years is that it is all too familar and I needed to shake it up. I made a list of the major plot problems and one of the biggest ones was dealing with the birth mother of the main character (adopted). No matter what I tried it felt forced or, in some versions, I simply didn’t mention her at all and that didn’t work either. Then I remembered a piece of writing advice from someone, if you have a hole in the plot, point to the hole, don’t try to hide it. So that’s what I did and suddenly there is energy in the story and I can’t wait to see it unfold.
And in the morning, it’s back to the day job, eeek!
Good for you!
And (sigh) back to the day job for me, too.
And of course, less than an hour after I was at my day job desk, the ideas were coming faster than I could write them down.
Good for you!
And (sigh) back to the day job for me, too.
And of course, less than an hour after I was at my day job desk, the ideas were coming faster than I could write them down.
If I don’t have the right opening lines, the rest of the story just doesn’t follow, no matter how long it is. That’s where I get the voice of the book, and the main character as well.
I’m pretty must the same way. I need the title (which is why Frankie and Max have gone nowhere – I still don’t have the right title) and I need the opening. Funny thing about the opening to VZ though, it’s not voice or the character. It’s a piece of paper he has in his pocket. Four lines that have haunted him ever since he found it.
If I don’t have the right opening lines, the rest of the story just doesn’t follow, no matter how long it is. That’s where I get the voice of the book, and the main character as well.