You Never Forget Your First.

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Hello, my ah-dorable friends. Can you sense the spring in my font? It’s because I am drinking a delish Chai Latte,  I just had a great meeting with Alisha, and I am excited about all of the things we have planned for you. Prepare for  some big announcements next Wednesday. This week, however, I have to make good on last week’s promise.

As many of you know I have been working on two new series’ lately: The Phoenix Five and The Dirty Book Club. And it’s been more painful than childbirth. Hopefully you can NOT relate to that but have seen enough movies to know that it brings out the beast in a woman. Well, so does finding that perfect first sentence.

Why? In the same way that eyes are the window to the soul, that first sentence is a window to the next 200-ish pages. So when writing my firsts I try to make sure they do the following:

1) Make the reader curious.

2) Introduce the setting.

3) Give a sense of tone/voice.

4) Give a sense of who the main character might be.

5) MAKE YOU WANT TO READ MORE.

It’s a lot to jam into a few words. But those of you who Tweet already know that.

Here are some of my firsts. Do you think they meet the criteria?

THE CLIQUE:

“Massie, wipe that confused look off your face,” Massie’s mom Kendra said, “It’s really very simple–you’re not going.”

THE ALPHAS:

There were five Skye Hamiltons in the Body Alive Dance Studio.

MONSTER HIGH:

The fourteen-hour drive from Beverly Hills, California, to Salem, Oregon, had been total Gitmo.

THE PHOENIX FIVE (Draft One)

Nickel-colored storm clouds skulked above Noble High like timid freshmen.

THE DIRTY BOOK CLUB (Prologue–Draft One)

Today’s call came even earlier.

QUIZ

Here are some of my other firsts. Name the book.

1. Alicia Rivera usually thought sweating was a sign of weakness.

2. The amber-infused air snapped with anxiety.

3 “I love getting stoned,” Massie sighed…

4. Rate me.

5. Frankie triple-checked the date on her iPhone to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.

Looking back on these now I feel like they could be better. But I guess that’s true of all first’s.

Hana- welcome back to the comments section.

TTYW,

Lisi