Word count: 4,752.
How many of you are brave enough to do it? I actually would like to read them, so please share them with me. I know for me a book has to grab my attention fairly quickly if I am going to continue reading. I may give it a chapter, but when I’m in a bookstore and trying to find something to read, that first sentence and paragraph is very important.
I also won’t buy books online if I can’t read parts of it. Sorry, it’s not about the money. It’s about me spending my valuable time with a book. Whether I spend $1.99 for $25.00 on a book, if I don’t like it, I feel ripped off.
Here’s the first two sentences of my book:
Eli thought it had been a wonderful business trip for the last week until she came home and found a used condom in the bed she shared with her husband Sam. Up until then, it had been great trip but not so much anymore.
I love this first and second sentence. Every time I think about tweaking them a bit, I just can’t. I don’t know if they will survive the second draft, but for right now, I love them.
I’ll also confide something to you, but only you and that is: this is based on a true story. That one moment in life where everything changes and goes off the rails. But before you jump to conclusions, it didn’t happen to me but it did happen to someone I know. I’ve put a bit of a creative spin on it, but it did happen.
It’s funny how we as writers can take a moment and build a story around it. I think that makes us the coolest people in the universe. Whether any of us get published is not relevant. What is important is our stories and what we do with these moments in life and how we use them.
If you look around, there are stories everywhere to write about it. All it takes is the intention to do it and sitting your butt down in a chair for a long, long time and telling the story.
So, don’t be shy. Tell me about your story so I can learn.
idisagreecompletely 
I agree, your first two sentences are quite amazing. And based on a true story, too? You’re so brave to write about real life! I have attempted to do the same before and failed miserably.
Nikkinm,
It hasn’t been an easy book to write, but I’m going to get it all done for NaNo. Otherwise it will bug me forever.
Thanks for the encouragement. You know how hard it is to be objective on what you write. It’s never quite right sometimes.
I am doing the same thing this year, writing about real life but taking great liberties in changing characters and events. The first sentence means so much, I remember a guest lecturer at Uni saying her book won the award it did simply for its opening line (the book was “Where We Once Belonged” by Sia Figel) and since then I tend to rate the openers of the novels I read. Mine is this:
“It was my 18th birthday when I was told I would die.”
Jessica,
What a great first line! It does hook you right away.
Okay, I’ll bite…here is my first paragraph:
Nicholas Fletcher trudged through ankle-deep slush that had started the day as a layer of pristine white snow, until the feet of many passers-by had pounded the beauty out of it. He hunched his shoulders against the chill wind off of Boston Harbor and thrust his right hand deeper into his pocket. His left hand burned with the cold, too, but he needed it for the head of his silver-handled walking stick.
Sheila,
Love it! Very descriptive.