Begin at the very beginning - First lines

There was an article last week on the Daily Mail about Best First Lines in a book. The winner was "All children, except one, grow up." from Peter Pan. 

Looking at the list of top ten titles (Dickens, Orwell, Tolkien, Austen, etc) it struck me that there were only two "modern" authors,  J.K. Rowling and Sue Townsend (of the Adrian Mole series).

Does that mean that no one today is writing stellar lines? Of course not! But it's harder these days to get a consensus I think, as readers are spoiled for choice.

Still, I do think it's essential to capture the reader with the first lines of the novel.  You can use dialogue, action, emotion, contemplation, drama, humor, or even pathos--whatever is true to the style of the story. But something should immediately draw the reader into the story and make her unable to resist turning the page!

And although there are exceptions, I do find that the having a character traveling to a destination and reflecting on how he/she got there, or opening with background info and plot, isn't very effective.

One of my favorite quotes (as I've said before!) on writing was from Mickey Spillane. Paraphrased a bit, he said "The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book." So I say keep that in mind with every scene as well. Don't let your readers get so complacent they can just set the book aside. Always leave them wanting more!

If you don't judge a book by its cover, do you judge it by the first line? :)

Happy reading!

A question of identity...

So last week I probably spent about seven or eight hours (or more) trying to figure out/design/purchase business cards for myself.

Over the years I've seen plenty, admired many, and kept and recorded and passed along lots. But recently I've been more focused on getting the info into my electronic contacts and then letting go of the card itself.

But when I actually had to design and buy my own cards? The horrors! I went to one site and then another and searched through 900+ different styles of cards and set one up and then I would change and cancel and then do it all over again.  The colors looked wrong, it was busy, it was plain, it was too elaborate, too...  So I tweaked this and that and then started all over again.

There were colors and icons and pictures and images and fonts and so many choices that seemed appealing, but how to get a card that feels like me? That represents me to others? For years I just had a company card, and didn't think about it, but now the options are limitless!

So in the end I went fairly simple (I'll probably post again when they actually arrive and are in my hands!). Because I realized that those cards are just for who I am now--I'm not locked into reordering them if I don't like them, and I can try a different version whenever I want.

And that's a good thing to remember. We can change and adapt and tweak all we want. And if it doesn't work, we can just start over again.

Has anyone else struggled with choosing business cards?  It's tough! :)

Friday Photos - Staigue Fort view

Here's another picture from Ireland in October 2014. This is with Staigue Fort behind me (likely another picture from there in the future!) and looking south to South Kerry/Cork Beara Peninsula. I just loved the way the setting sun was over to the west and yet the light was almost beaming upward as it came off the water. With hay, sheep, water, mountains, winding roads, clouds and sun, it does feel like a very Kerry picture to me!

One more time? - When Reunion Romances are right...

As a reader, I find reunion romances to be tricky. It's fine if the couple knew each other a bit and dated and then broke up. Or even if there was a one-sided crush and years apart. With that personal background, there can be layers of knowledge and emotion and conflicts to overcome--and also there's a bit of an inherent level of trust in that the hero and heroine aren't starting from scratch in knowing each other.

But for me, if they had a great love in the past and crashed and burned and are coming back together now, I need a little bit more. I need to know that the reasons for the breakup were solid, and aren't likely to occur again. That it wasn't simply lack of communication or misunderstandings or a meddling family member or friend who broke them apart (no matter how realistic or not that can be!).  That just makes me doubt that couple and the strength of their love.

 And most of all, I want some kind of acknowledgement that the years apart have changed them and they are falling in love with the people they are now, and not just picking up with who they were five or ten or fifteen years ago. 

That's the toughest part I think. They are starting half way there, and they have tremendous history, but they also need to figure out who they are now. 

Sure, a lot of the qualities that drew them together from the past might be there, but since then they've had jobs, successes, failures, joys and sadness. My favorite parts of the reunion romance are when the hero and heroine acknowledge those differences, that they have grown and changed, but they just fall in love all over again. 

I guess I'm just a sucker for the falling in love part and sometimes with a reunion romance I don't see that happen in the pages--I just have to trust the author. And really, I read romances for that excitement and thrill and nervous anticipation. :) 

So when I'm editing a reunion romance I'll sometimes challenge the author to give me more motivation and really convince me that they deserve to be together again--and it will last.

How about you--do you enjoy a  reunion romance? 

Happy reading! 

Friday Photos - Morning in Aruba

No doubt you'll notice a lot of pictures from Aruba coming through from me. I'm lucky enough to have been able to visit a couple of times thanks to a generous cousin--this is her backyard. And I am hoping to be there in a few weeks!

It is a beautiful place and there's something odd--not sure of the light or what, but generally I'm not an early riser on my own and yet there's something about being there that makes me wake up early (for me!). I'll  just sit and watch the sunrise a lot more often than I ever make it at home.

It's definitely photogenic and gorgeous, and I hope you get to visit at some point...

Enjoy!

Creativity happens in so many ways....

This is the current career book I'm reading--again a recommendation from a Work Group colleague!

Over the years I've taken a number of creativity, brainstorming, out of the box, etc. courses, and I admit I tend to score at the lower end on those tests when it comes to pure out-of-the box elements.

HOWEVER, my creativity shines in making some of those other pie-in-the-sky ideas work. There can be tremendous creativity in implementation, innovation and stretching to make things work.

I might not be so creative in coming up with wild ideas (though I'm decent enough I think!), but I can usually come up with a bunch of ways to make it work when I know the goals. And writing copy and taking pictures also has creativity--though with some structure around it.

In this book, as in THE ELEMENT, Ken spends time focusing on the problems with education today and the teaching to the test focus in schools. I admit, this wasn't a problem for me growing up, as I am a good test taker. But I do agree with his comments that after starting school kids who would belt songs proudly, draw wildly, tell crazy stories and be adventurous often start to "settle down" in some fashion and become self-conscious. I'm not sure if it's teachers, fellow kids, older kids or the pressure to fit in, but it does happen.

My niece is five (and three-quarters as she would remind me), and loves her American Girl dolls. She dresses them, wants pictures with them, walks with them and sends them over to their grandparents to spend the night when she's away or busy and can't love them enough. Along with changes of clothes (and they better change once during the visit!), she sends lists of what they should eat and do and the rituals before going to bed. I love it, but also miss the time a few years ago when it was her imaginary friend who would visit and have to do these things. Now the girls (and one boy) are very concrete objects. She's still creative, but is she losing some of that spark? And is it necessary? I'm not sure that the future holds, but very interested in seeing it.

 There's a lot more to learn in the book about how to spark creativity, but just wanted to share one fact I found fascinating from a tech point. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter (eek!) but when asked by Ken for a visualization, the scientist said it's "about the distance that a man's beard grows in one second."

Being able to manipulate something that small? It's certainly creative I think!

and changing yet again!

A few more tweaks here on the site! I started it on my own, and now a friend has come in to spiff things up and give advice on how best to show elements off.

He's talented and I really appreciate his help because he's been swamped with other things and fit me over the long weekend.

But I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I want to say/do here. Which, I think, is why I'm an editor and not an author. I don't want that blank page staring at me--I want the one with writing already on it that I can switch around and tweak and try! :)

More tweaks will no doubt happen--but if there's anything you want to see more of, do let me know!

To Keep or not to Keep....

Last week I was thinking about books you keep, but today it's more about the memories and the people. It's been pretty cold in NYC this past week, and I needed an excuse to stay in, so opened up a box of "stuff" from a closet.

It turned out to be some cards and letters from when I was in France for spring semester of my junior year. I had to snap a picture of one letter and send it to my friend--her fandom tastes haven't changed much over the years!--and I've put aside some from the family as well. They'll get a kick out of seeing what they were thinking of all those years ago!

It also made me think about who I was back then. Some of the people whose letters  I saved were at Villanova with me, and I barely remember them, while some are connected again on Facebook. Sadly, at least one has passed.

But I had forgotten how important those letters were (yes, written and some on airmail paper! I don't think anyone had a home computer at that time for email.) to me at that time. They were a reminder and a touchstone at a time when it wasn't easy to write or call home and I was in a strange place.

As I read through them and smiled and wondered, I was thinking about the points not taken and who I was then and what she would have thought of me and my life choices.

Overall I'm pleased, and enjoy the connections of today that we take for granted with Facebook and Twitter and such these days.

But reading through those emails did make me wonder about all the points not taken, and who I might have become. It's not quite nostalgia, not quite like wistfulness or sadness. But it was kind of amazing to see the past in a bit of a new life. I now see the appeal of that Facebook Look Back--it shows you all the thens and nows. (Of course you have to post more on Facebook to take advantage of it!)

So I weeded out some letters and kept others--but mostly to share the memories with the writers. I don't think I'll be keeping the physical reminders. But maybe just one or two...

Hope you get a chance to look back on those memories and wonder what if...

Enjoy!

Friday Photos—Red Anemone

This is one of my favorite pictures I’ve taken. I was visiting California in 2009 and my authors Sandy Chvostal (Sandra Paul) and Barbara Joel (Barbara McCauley) and Barbara Benedict took me to Rogers Gardens. The day was beautiful, the flowers were gorgeous and I loved the spot of red in the purple. I’ve blown this up for my wall, used it for my credit card, and often as a background. It still makes me smile to remember how fabulous it was to be with like-minded people, good friends, laughter and sunshine. Thanks, guys!

Do you re-read?

I think every reader--and writer--has a “keeper” pile, or shelf, or bookcase or room!  For non-readers, this can be a puzzle. They’re done with the book, why still have it around?

For those of us who re-read (whether scenes, skimming, the whole book or whatever), it’s just explainable. It’s two worlds crossed by a great divide (and a love of clean shelves by some odd people).

It makes me think of EX LIBRIS: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman. Have you read it? When cleaning out my office I found three copies--I’d loan one out and then need to loan out another before it was back and somehow ended up with more than I started!

While many of the essays rang true (I didn’t grow up with parents who were readers, but they did try to instill a love of books in us), the ones I most relate to were the marrying the libraries (just because I have ended up with multiple copies of books--and recently had to choose among a couple of Georgette Heyers I had two to four copies of!) and the carnal vs the courtly reader.

There are readers who strain, crumple, break the bindings and then there are ones who you never knew the book was read. Growing up I was a carnal, now I tend to be a courtly--except for beach or outdoor or pocketbook reads, but I pick those carefully! :) 

The advent of ebooks means that I can have even more books hidden around and on shelves, but it’s true that I'm not about to give up the shelves of read--and unread books. And even though lack of space might force me to do some reshuffling and prioritizing at times, I’m always going to have piles of books around. 

So now I think I have to go pick something off my previously read shelves, stepping over all those yet-to-be-read titles, because there’s nothing quite like greeting an old friend and being reminded of just how wonderful it is. And really, there's always something new to discover.

Who do you like to re-read?

Enjoy!