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Printed from https://writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/4252-Attention-Grabbers.html
Action/Adventure: February 23, 2011 Issue [#4252]

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Action/Adventure


 This week: Attention Grabbers
  Edited by: NanoWriMo2018 Into the Earth Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

hook 'em from word one


Word from our sponsor

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Letter from the editor

If you don't have them with, "Hello" you'll lose them to Halo, or texting, or a marathon of Friends. A bah-zillion distractions vie for your reader's attention all day long.

Grabbing the reader's attention isn't complicated. You're a writer, right? Create openings with action, intimacy, intrigue, or unusual circumstances. Here are some examples of published authors' opening sentences.

So I'm sitting in a Chevy SUV on Third Avenue, waiting for my for my target... The Lion by Nelson DeMille Who is the target and what does the main character waiting in the SUV want to do with him/her?

My decision to become a lawyer was irrevocably sealed when I realized my father hated the legal profession. John Grisham The Rainmaker. Readers want to know why the main character would tackle law school, the bar an 80 hour work week to carve out a career in law all because he realized his father hated lawyers. Furthermore, what happened to spark the hatred in the first place?

I was watching the Denver-Oakland football game on TV last night when it was interrupted by a "BREAKING NEWS" bulletin from the FBI about unknown terrorists who were planning to destroy major targets all over the United States, perhaps within 24 hours. Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson A few questions run through readers' minds that putting the book down seems ulikely.

The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call 'out there'. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Description pulls readers in.

Don't let the quest for a 'catchy opening' hurdle your overall efforts. Sometimes it's best to write a dry, boring beginning to get the story going. You can always revise your approach when creating a must read first sentence.


Editor's Picks

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#1738287 by Not Available.

 The Lost Tale of Shaharazad Open in new Window. (13+)
A story "roughly" in the tradition of the Arabian Nights.
#918728 by Norksquad Author IconMail Icon

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#1273268 by Not Available.

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#1072963 by Not Available.

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#1064374 by Not Available.

 Legend of Zelda Open in new Window. (E)
How well do you know the Legend of Zelda Series
#1572441 by LunarMegami Author IconMail Icon

 
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Ask & Answer

monty31802 You get your point across without wasting words.
Your newsletter is worth reading.

{suser:vdavisson)}You have to get the reader involved from the first seconds. Here's the tease for my novel "Woman, Gentle Woman":

"Why are you so willing to do this for me?" she asked. "This land is surely not that valuable to you."

"Oh, but it is!" He smiled gently. "It's very valuable." And she didn't know at that moment if he was joking or serious, so impenetrable was his gaze.

She sat, studying the tablecloth. What can I do? Talk to the pastor? No, he's a rancher's man. Perhaps the banker, if I could get to town. This-- this idea-- it's not proper-- I've only been a widow for a month-- maybe in a few days or weeks I could--- I might think of something else before that.

She stared him in the eye as she spoke. "All right, Mr. Andersen. I'll think about it. How much time do I have?"

He stood and limped to the window. "By the looks of that sky, I'd say about an hour."

"An hour? But-- but why?"

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