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Kent Babin
@kentb
If there's one piece of writing advice that has stuck with me, it's a tidbit from Salman Rushdie about a story's opening sentence/paragraph. Paraphrasing here, the idea is that the first sentence/paragraph establishes a contract with the reader regarding the story they're about to read. Expectations management, as it were. Ever since, I always find myself looking closely at the first paragraph of a novel or the first scene of a serial/movie. Lots to learn from the pros. A Tale of Two Cities comes to mind as a great example. After reading the first paragraph, you know exactly what type of story you're about to embark on.
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christin
@christin
cc @cameron didn't we talk about you obsessing over the opening lines of your fiction writing?
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Kent Babin
@kentb
Ooh, say more!
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Cameron Armstrong
@cameron
basically a remix of what wrote actually! i think if crafted well, you can explain everything a reader needs to know about a character with the first impression - sometimes it's the sentence itself, sometimes it's what the sentence implies about the character (their values/demeanor/etc), sometimes it's what the sentence omits that you realize is the important bit but that first handshake *can* be some of the most rewarding part of literature imo (both for whole works and individual chapters, etc)
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Cameron Armstrong
@cameron
what you* wrote
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Kent Babin
@kentb
Totally agree. I enjoy writing that first sentence more than anything else. Random ones will just pop into my mind at the strangest of times. 😂
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