Thursday, June 23, 2005

Ladies, Start your engines

I STARTED MY BOOK!!!

Yup, the 1920's book, the one with the synopsis from hell, is now officially underway with the first 1,100 words (5 pages) down on paper. (er, screen.) I know that's not a lot, but I feel it's a good start, considering that the first scene in the book can be especially daunting. It's a mental thing, I think. Staring at the blank screen. Typing Chapter One. Fixing margins, typeset, double spacing. Doing everything but typing that uber important first line...

But I did it. I got past it. And now hopefully I can roll along at a good speed. :) Check back for crazy celebratory pics like Liz's on September 1st.

Okay - since I have to get to work (see when I'm writing you get short blog entries) why don't you click on the comments section and answer the following question.

-- If you're a writer, tell me what's the first line of your book.
-- If you're a reader, tell me a first line of a book that you especially like.

My first line is:

"I can't be the only one in this goddamn city who's too stressed for sex!"

What's yours?
Marianne

10 comments:

Elizabeth Kerri Mahon said...

Congratulations, Marianne!

The first line of my book is "There she stood in a tight denim jumpsuit, strappy sandals that made her seem even taller, a lone blonde, among the sea of brunettes. Leaning against the wall in the waiting room, slowly mouthing the copy silently to herself, she was a Greek goddess come to life. Of all the auditions in all of New York, why did she have to walk into mine?

Shannon McKelden said...

"It's not every day a fairy godmother gets to pick her next victim...er, godchild." - Venus Envy, Tor Books, February 2007.

Shannon

Stacey said...

"I was at the diner when I got my first real look at an Observer." - The Silver Spoon, sci-fi romance, RuneStone Publishing.

Abby said...

"Never fall in love with a rock star, that's what she told them. Never fall in love with a rock star and carry pepper spray at all times."

ParkAvePirate said...

"Please familiarize yourself with the following procedures; this will be required before you continue on."
I thought I would bore everyone with a line from one of the many business writing procedure manuals I write.
Sorry!

J

FerfeLaBat said...

"Most people think that belief in God and religion in general are the only things keeping us from murdering each other and doing bad things. I know a better reason." -- Envy.exe, Cindy Cruciger

Jana Armstrong said...

I have 2 favorite first lines.

"Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were." -- Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

"From a little after two oclock until almost sundown of the long still hot weary dead September afternoon they sat in what Miss Coldfield still called the office because her father had called it that -- a dim hot airless room with the blinds all closed and fastened for forty-three summers because when she was a girl someone had believed that light and moving air carried head and that dark was always cooler, and which (as the sun shone fuller and fuller on that side of the house) became latticed with yellow slashes full of dust motes which Quentin thought of as being flecks of dead old dried paint itself blown inward from the scaling blinds as wind might have blown them." Absalom! Absalom! by William Faulkner

*sigh* I love Faulkner.

Anonymous said...

"There was nothing dignified about peeing on a stick."

Mari Mancusi said...

These are great! There should be a book (or website) dedicated to first lines!

My other favorite of my books is from Boys that Bite (April 06)

"You know, being bitten by a vampire one week before prom really sucks. On soooo many levels."

Mar

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