Grand Openings

There are only a few days left to sign up for my Dialogue Basics workshop at the Savvy Authors site. Link in the sidebar. And if you read yesterday's post on basic html, there was an error, which I corrected, so if you read it early in the day, you should go back and note the changes. And don't forget, Tuesday's guest, Sarah Grimm, is giving away a book to a commenter. Scroll down and leave a comment under her post.

This past Sunday, I drove "all the way down the mountain" to Colorado Springs to hear literary agent Rachelle Gardner speak on openings. I'm going to hit some of the high points in this post.

Since I'm starting a new book, I'm facing that dilemma, and it doesn't get any easier. And, since Hubster read the first scene of my efforts and said, "I don't like the first line," I figured it couldn't hurt to have a 'refresher' course in what an opening should do.

Rachelle spoke as an agent, but we also discussed things from a reader's point of view. If you're submitting, that opening has to attract an agent's attention. If you're published, you're convincing the reader to buy your book, and not one of the other kazillion on the shelf.

She gave us some excellent reasons why openings are so hard to write. The first, that as the author, you've probably got an emotional attachment to your opening scene because you've envisioned it for days, weeks, months or years. But it might not be the best way into your story.

Or, you don't really now where they story begins.

Or, you don't have a true feel for the theme or premise until you've finished the book.

(For the record, the second one fits me best.)