We are at the library roaming through the stacks or browsing the new releases in the local bookstore and we come across a book with an interesting title or cover and we pick it up. Opening the book to the first page, we read the opening paragraph and decide whether we want to read it or not.

As writers, we need to consider our books from a marketing standpoint. What are we selling? Why should the consumer care?

When someone reads our first paragraph, what are we telling them? What have we promised? What hints have we given them? Are we being honest with them? Is what we are promising going to continue throughout the book?

If our first paragraph, page and chapter is funny, violent, thoughtful, deep or whimsical, do we carry that throughout the novel? Or, are we guilty of false advertising? Are we consistent in our approach and tone in the novel?

Examine your first sentence, paragraph, page and chapter as a promotional brochure or advertisement. Have we captured the reader’s eye and imagination? Will they invest time and money in our story?

We hope so and if we do our jobs, we have a better chance of being accepted.

Here is one of the most powerful first paragraphs I have ever read. It is from the classic novel, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It is arguably the best of its genre ever written. Read this opening paragraph and write down what you learn from it.

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

What did you find? What does Ms. Jackson promise the reader? How does she lure the reader into her web so they will buy her slim and powerful novel? What have you learned from her beginning?

Go back and examine your first paragraph and apply these points to your own work.

Of course, as writers, we must retain the integrity of our story and the craft of writing and avoid the lure of gimmickry at all times. However, this attention to detail will help us accomplish that goal.

Charles Dickens is one of the greatest writers who ever lived and we are blessed to have his work with us today. Countless writers have been inspired by his work. We can be very thankful that he came along and today, we can pay tribute to his body of work.

“A boy’s story is the best that is ever told” (Charles Dickens).

Dickens 2012 – a tribute site

Biography and Book List of Dickens

Charles Dickens at 200

Charles Dickens at 200

Charles Dickens: An Overview

A Tribute to Bleak House

A Birthday Letter to Dickens

A Dickens Birthday Quiz

Ebenezer Scrooge named most popular Dickens character

Video tour of Dickens London

“In 1812, the year Charles Dickens was born, there were 66 novels published in Britain…”

Why Dickens still speaks to us

The Dickens Dictionary

Dickens Journals Online

The Dickens Page

Charles Dickens Museum 

A Chronology of the Life of Dickens

Charles Dickens Quotes

Dickens and Self-Education

Did Dickens Clean up the Slums? 

Dickens as a Fiction Writer

Dickens as a Journalist

Online Books of Dickens

Works of Charles Dickens

I wanted to share a link of beautiful and unique bookstores from around the world. Enjoy!

I am interested in what you use as a bookmark. I have a basic one from the library and I use it until it wears out. The bookmarks I use don’t have any special qualities or significance. They are simply functional.

I read one book at a time. Some of you read several books at once, so you will need a lot of markers. Do you use certain ones for specific purposes? Do you get them from the library or cheap ones from bookstores or do you actually go out and buy them?

Should be interesting to read your responses.

The agony of the Male Novelist

Barbour sells Heartsong Inspirational Novels to Harlequin

How to use an outline while you write your first draft

Three Tips to Consistent Tone

The Geyser 5 Step Approach to Revision

How to Create a Plot Outline

How to sell 130,000 Books Without a Publisher

Five Practical Goals for Writers

Choosing between a big word or a little word

Can you edit too much?

Crafting characters

Resurrect Old Frank

Self-editing and modifiers

The importance of reader perception

Four books that show you how to write

What to expect from a book review

I grew up in the country, so many vivid scenes appear before my eyes. I will share some of them and I hope you will, as well.

“The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning” [Mark Twain].

Countless people aspire to write fiction and dream of accolades and glory. Friends and family read their offerings and praise their efforts. They start building houses in their head and plan the outfits they will wear to book signings.

Confident in their mastery, they send their masterpiece to someone knowledgeable about writing and hear that their manuscript is filled with mistakes and inconsistencies. They either become angry, crushed or ambivalent about the advice.

Why does this happen? Because writing fiction is easy and very difficult at the same time and the sooner we realize this, the better. Anyone can tell a story but doing so at the highest level takes an incredible amount of work.

Those of us who are writing their first novel should come to this realization at some point. We need to study the craft and be brutally honest with what we are trying to do. Becoming a relentless editor, we see behind the words to the patterns that are developing in our plot. We begin to see our characters as the reader will and our level of honesty will allow us to see the reality or remain behind the shield of rationalization and denial.

If we will do the work, develop the correct mindset to produce quality material, we will soon realize that writing publishable fiction is gut-wrenching. It is like tearing ourselves apart as we work through thousands of decisions. The more we study writing, the more ignorant we feel. Instead, we keep working and learning, so we can grow.

Eventually, we see past the simple story to voice, tense, chapter transitions, grammar, themes, foreshadowing, minor and major characters, linear details, and hundreds of other crucial components.

What once was just a casual hobby becomes a life-changing event where we have truly given birth to something magical. Cheap, pulp fiction is ubiquitous in the book world. Yet, if we aspire to produce something that will last, we will turn ourselves inside out, if necessary, to elevate our writing to the highest rung we can attain.

If we will strive for that level of quality, we will realize that we are 10,000 miles from where we began with a pen, paper and a sliver of plot. Creating a world is exhausting but when we can behold its evolution, it will all be worth it in the end.

When our story consumes us, our characters become real and our mind can’t stop working on the plot, we have been reborn and we are ready to produce something special. Now the real work begins.