Nostalgia City Mysteries

Mark S. Bacon

3:32 pm - October 10, 2014 -

Does a book’s first sentence grab you?

2

Conventional wisdom says that the first line in a novel should grab you by the lapels and drag you into the story.  Charles Dickens did a pretty good job.

For lots of examples of good beginnings and not so good, continue reading at http://cncbooksblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/heres-a-sentence-to-grab-your-attention/

Buried-under-books

Categories: Buried Under Books, pleasure of reading, quotations Tags: ,

2 thoughts on “Does a book’s first sentence grab you?”

  1. David Pincus

    A fine job on opening sentences, Mark — perceptive insights and excellent examples, including the one from Death in Nostalgia City . . . When I used to write news releases and such, I might spend 75% of the time on the opening sentence/paragraph and 25% on the rest; once the opening was right, everything else just logically flowed from it . . . David

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