Jo Bell on making a good start
In my first ever writers’ group, a novelist friend arrived one afternoon, with the first three chapters of a work in progress. They were full of names, information, backstory and detail. They were, in fact, very boring. We said so as politely as we could. ‘But you need to know this stuff, in order to make sense of chapter four!’ she said. Another member pointed out, ‘We don’t need to read it at all. If it were a book I’d bought, I would have put it down by now.’ Today’s tip is about remembering to start well:
Today I saw a very good opening line in this Tweet: and writing this post has made me remember many others. What’s your favourite first line?
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The Bell Jar 