So I’m doing this contest in Romance Divas. They’re having a ‘best first line’ contest. I generally don’t enter the contests, because they’re so time consuming. But this time I entered, and I’m judging. So after reading 60 first lines of manuscripts, I got a really small taste at what it must be like to be an agent/editor looking at a submission.
You might have the best book in the world, but if your first line reads like the first line in a dozen other books, or maybe it’s just okay–not exciting, but not bad, you’re not going to grab their attention. You have this tiny window to make an impression. Yes, maybe some read past the first line, but it wouldn’t surprise me if a manuscript gets set aside after a few paragraphs.
I entered as well, and so far the judging has been pretty great on my entry, but it also made me realize how many of my manuscripts I have where that first line could be amped up.
So I must share that I’ve added a little ‘fun’ to my Fun Stuff page on my website. Warning: You may get sucked in!
Okay, I got tagged by Anna. J. Evans and Yolanda Sfetsos for.. ‘eight random facts/habits about themselves’
Here are the rules:
1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
OK - 8 Random Facts/Habits About Me:
1. I bite my nails, the exception being before a conference when I grow them out. Or try to.
2. I have naturally curly hair.
3. I work best under solid deadlines. If I say, ‘Sure I’ll write that for you’ you never know when you’ll get it. If you say ‘I need it by the 20th’ it gets done a few days before the deadline at the latest.
4. I can be very friendly and open online, but meet me in person or the first time we talk on the phone and I can be initially shy. Seriously!
5. My birthing partner, when I had my daughter, was my best friend. She went to all my appointments with me and watched the c-section. She thought it was so great watching them cut me open, and was like ‘Dude, they were just ripping things out of you and putting them back in.’
6. I can get REALLY grossed out eating meat, especially chicken. I don’t do meat on the bone, and if I find a vein in my chicken, the meal is over. Hence the reason I keep trying to go vegetarian. But then I miss my cashew chicken too much, and end up eating too many carbs.
7. I am comfortable writing under many different genres. My favorite, and probably my biggest strength, is books that use a lot of humor. Yet at the same time, I can totally get into writing something like my Sci Fi, which is all action and alpha males, and there’s not a drop of humor in it. It often puzzles me that I’m like this. Do others experience this?
8. I just agreed to do a presentation for a chapter meeting with another writer friend. We’re going to be talking about taking advantage of free promo spots for writers on the web. MySpace, Bebo, Amazon, Barnes and Noble. How to use them to their fullest. We’re trying to come up wiht a clever title. So far I’m only coming up with….Bebo, B&N, and Amazon oh MySpace. (It’s a play on Wizard of Oz.)
Yes, I’m SUCH a dork.
Okay, am I tagging people? Hmm… Lillian Feisty, Karen Erickson, Emma Petersen, Jennifer Mckenzie, Aurrora St. James, Lenora Bell, Ericka Scott, Amie Stuart, April, Julie
Do it only if you wanna :)
I have been to several conferences where the entire editor/agent panel admits to rejecting stories based on the first few sentences, and on one recent occasion, on title alone. So I agree–that first sentence had better be a WOW! sentence. Scary! =)
Wow, that sure gives you a new perspective huh? Maybe I need to go back and look at my own first sentence.
Great list by the way! I’ll have mine up soon. :) Thanks!
My first lines could probably use a little work too.
The Monalisa comparison is hilarious! And unfortunately, so true (at least in Hollywood). Argh!
You’ve been tagged!
I wrote EIGHT RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME, and now I’d like to read about you. To get instructions, go to my blog at http://keelysfaerygoodadvice.blogspot.com.
It’s fun! I’ll be curious to know who you tag. :)
TTFN,
Keely
Thanks for taking part in the tag, Shelli! :)
Some very cool facts about you. And I know exactly what you mean about the writing in different genres. I can write serious and very dark, bordering on horror and then turn around and write a funny scene. Though most of my humour is snarky stuff.
Just depends on the story, I guess.
Have a cool day!
thanks for doing this Shelli!
I hear you on the C-section thing. Of course, it was my first husband watching and he turned green, green enough that I could see it even through his tan latino skin. Our sex life was never the same after he’d seen my uterus outside my body, lol. Well, not really lol since that’s part of the reason we got divorced. Ha! Oversharing on the web again.
I’m also shy in person, though I tray to act eccentric to cover it up, lol.
I also do the super humor or 0 humor thing. Watch out girl because that stumps people. I have a sweet reviewer over at FAR who has dubbed me the queen of Laugh Kink and expects everything I write will fufill her expectations of that title (which I totally don’t deserve, not being famous enough tot be the queen of anything).
Hugs, and thanks again,
Anna
I’m shy in person too. Wow, won’t this be fun when we meet this summer. Bring on the vodka!
I did this meme on my blog today :-)
Man! I managed to keep from getting tagged all week and you go and get me. LOL.
I bite my nails too. I got a French manicure and that keeps me from biting my nails. The ONLY thing that does.
Lurrrve you honey.
Sounds like a great contest. I haven’t had a chance to get to the divas lately and I miss them!
Oooh, you and me are kindred on #4 and with how chatty I can get on here, no one believes me! lol
Well - they say three times is a charm. . . and I’ve been tagged with this three times now. . .so I guess I’d better figure out eight of my deepest and darkest secrets!
My first line in Wild Ghost Chase (my current WIP) is:
It was blackmail, pure and simple.