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Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

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Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Writing Craft » Page 8

Writing Craft

The First Lines of Your Novel

By Steve Laubeon January 29, 2024
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The opening lines of a novel are like an introduction to the rest of the story. Some have become famous. “It was a dark and stormy night” is the well-known beginning of that struggling novelist Snoopy in the cartoon Peanuts. It is also the first line of Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel Paul Clifford (1830), as well as the first line in Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. (L’Engle admitted she was having a little fun with her readers by using that line.)

I hope you spend a lot of time thinking about your novel’s first sentence. It is a first impression. Let’s make it a good one. For as John Gardner wrote in his book On Becoming a Novelist,

We read five words on the first page of a really good novel and we begin to forget that we are reading printed words on a page; we begin to see images.

Can you recognize any of the following first lines (without Googling them)? Give your best guess in the comments below. (Author? Book title?) The answers will be posted in the comments later today.

(1) “It is 348 years, six months and nineteen days ago today that the citizens of Paris were awakened by the pealing of all the bells in the triple precincts of the City, the University and the Town.”

(2) “Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton.”

(3) “When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.”

(4) “Alex Stafford was just like Mama said. He was tall and dark, and Sarah had never seen anyone so beautiful.”

(5) “Rayford Steele’s mind was on a woman he had never touched.”

(6) “On that November afternoon when I first saw Cutter Gap, the crumbling chimney of Alice Henderson’s cabin stood stark against the sky, blackened by the flames that had consumed the house.”

(7) “At dusk they pour from the sky. They blow across the ramparts, turn cartwheels over rooftops, flutter into the ravines between houses. Entire streets swirl with them, flashing white against the cobbles.”

(8) “You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.”

(9) “A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out at either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once.”

(10) “It all began with the aurochs.”

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Category: Craft, Creativity, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Creativity, first lines, Writing Craft

Story Structure Part #5

By Lynette Easonon January 24, 2024
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Welcome back to Story Structure. Using our story we’re creating with Oliver and Sophia, we come to Pinch Point #2. Pinch Point #2 comes after the midpoint of your story, where the main conflict and stakes have been clearly established or escalated. This is about ¾ of the way through. In our story, this is after the revelation that the face reconstructed by Oliver is not Cassidy but her friend …

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Category: Writing Craft

Story Structure Part #4 – Three Act Structure

By Lynette Easonon December 13, 2023
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[Due to a technological glitch, this post did not go out in our newsletter feed, so we are posting it again for those who missed it.] Welcome back to our series on story structure. Last time I talked about Pinch Point #1. Remember, a “pinch point” in a story is a moment where the antagonist’s power is showcased, applying pressure to the protagonist and emphasizing the stakes at …

Read moreStory Structure Part #4 – Three Act Structure
Category: Craft, Writing Craft

Writers Learn to Prepare

By Steve Laubeon December 4, 2023
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Preparation is awfully important if you are planning to climb Mt. Everest. If you show up in a T-shirt, shorts, and flip flops, with a sack lunch, it is likely you will perish during the ascent. The same idea applies to the writer. Preparation is one of the keys to success. There Are No Shortcuts Despite numerous methods for efficiency, there is still no shortcut in writing a great book. It is …

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Category: Craft, Rejection, The Writing LifeTag: Creativity, Rejection, Writing Craft

November 22, 1963

By Dan Balowon November 22, 2023
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Today marks the sixtieth anniversary of the deaths of three well-known authors: US President John F. Kennedy (he wrote three books before becoming President), C.S. Lewis, and Aldous Huxley. JFK was 46 years old when he was assassinated. In the car driving through Dallas that day, Texas Governor John Connally’s wife turned around and said, “You certainly can’t say that the people of Dallas haven’t …

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Category: Creativity, Encouragement, Inspiration

Story Structure Part #3 – Three Act Structure

By Lynette Easonon November 9, 2023
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Welcome back to our series on story structure. As I’ve said before, this is only one of many options to choose from when it comes to plotting your stories. In the last two posts, I covered the inciting incident and Plot Point 1. I left poor Oliver attacked outside the restaurant with a head wound and a warning to “let the dead stay dead.” Someone doesn’t want the skull reconstructed. Oliver’s …

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Category: Craft, Writing Craft

R Is for Reserve Against Returns

By Steve Laubeon November 6, 2023
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Every traditionally published author needs to understand the principle of “Reserves Against Returns,” which is an integral part of publishing economics. It can reduce the amount of money an author receives in their royalty statement. It is usually a shock and elicits a phone call to their agent crying, “What happened to my money?” Did you realize that book publishing is the …

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Category: Book Business, Publishing A-ZTag: Book Business, Contracts, Get Published, Money, Traditional Publishing

Story Structure Part #2 – Three Act Structure

By Lynette Easonon October 31, 2023
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Welcome back to the continuation of story structure. For this series, I’m using the Three Act Structure. However, there are other models you can use. Just because I’m using this one doesn’t mean none of the others won’t work as well. However, the three-act structure is a tried-and-true method for crafting a story and is utilized by screenwriters and novelists alike. So, here we are in Act 1. Act 1 …

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Category: Craft, Writing Craft

J Is for Just-in-Time

By Steve Laubeon October 30, 2023
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The economics of bookselling are complex and ever-changing. There is a method of inventory control called “Just-in-Time” (or JIT) that revolutionized both the retail and manufacturing industries. When I began as a bookseller, there was no such thing as computerized inventory, at least not in the Christian bookstore business. We used a method called “Stack ’em high and watch ’em fly.” Because “If …

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Category: Book Business, Marketing, Publishing A-ZTag: Book Business, Economics, Publishing A-Z, Technology

Develop Your Book’s Concept by Brain Dumping and Mind Mapping

By Megan Brownon October 26, 2023
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One of the first challenges many first-time authors face when it comes to beginning or completing a manuscript is getting their content clear and organized. Specifically, authors aren’t always able to clearly articulate their main idea–the thesis of their book–or illuminate the supporting evidence for their claim in the following chapters. Without taking the time to truly develop their …

Read moreDevelop Your Book’s Concept by Brain Dumping and Mind Mapping
Category: Creativity
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