All praise is not homegrown.
Readers, and especially critics, are blown away by a novel's first sentence.
There are classics. Think Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice.
I ran across an introductory sentence today that impressed me so much I had to share.
In Last Light by J.N. Bake, the opening sentence reads as follows:
"Hell. As I pried my sword from his life-less body, I was sure that's where I'd be going;
that was, if I could actually die."
Doesn't that tell you a lot, yet still draw you in? It did me. A fantasy? Or, a delusional killer?
Why chose? You must read on. I haven't read the entire novel, but I'm intrigued.
I went back to look at my own novels. (Proud to say that the last two have had gold medals bestowed upon them. The first a most popular www.authorsden.com novel for 93 consecutive days.)
Alexa's Gold starts with: "'Rich men don't date exhausted women.'" Grandma's oft-repeated admonition ebbed into the minutiae of Alexa Hovey's grief."
Find the Girl, A Fantasy Novel starts with: "Eta Dorcas pressed four fingertips into her right palm's flesh. She feared, if she looked, it could still be there."
One Paper Heart starts with: "The romantic flames of Alicia Danielson's sweet dreams flared into conscious panic."
Different genres please readers in multiple ways. For the author to gain that praise requires the reader to do one thing, i.e., read on with a sense of what comes next. That is, a fantasy, a romance, or a thriller with romantic elements.
It presents a tall order for the author. All readers may not have a critical vision when opening a novel, but below the surface there's an attraction. It benefits the author and the reader.
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