How do you choose a book? After you pick one up, what makes you open to the first page? What makes you keep reading after you start? Well, a good first line never hurts.
examples:
“He began his new life standing up, surrounded by cold darkness and stale, dusty air.” The Maze Runner, by James Dashner
This is one of the best “WHAT IS GOING ON?!” beginnings to a book that I’ve read. The main character wakes up in a metal box, with no idea where he is, why he’s there, or even who he is. Who wouldn’t want to keep reading to figure out what on earth is going on? The hook in this chapter is the mystery -who is the main character, where is he, and why is he there? The author, James Dashner, rolls out information gradually and skillfully throughout the book so that the reader can’t help but want to continue reading to figure out where all the mysteries lead.
Another of my favorites, that I’ve mentioned before, is This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab, which starts with “The night Kate Harker decided to burn down the school chapel, she wasn’t angry or drunk. She was desperate.”
Kate strolls across the boarding school campus with an armful of stolen liquor and communion wine, calmly lights a chapel on fire, then sits down to watch it burn. I dare you to read the first scene and put the book down. In fact, I read this first chapter out loud to my writing class (where I was the only Young Adult Fiction aficionado) and the toughest critic in the room said, “I love that!” Add in Schwab’s beautiful prose and you have a recipe for a great reading experience.
These are fantastic first lines that lead into captivating first chapters. A great first line is a wonderful thing. However, a great first line isn’t the only way to snag a reader.
In some genres, the very premise of the book is, itself, the biggest draw. I think this is especially in speculative fiction. It is, after all, a genre predicated on speculating, wondering “what if.” What if a giant super-volcano exploded in the middle of Yellowstone Park? (Answer: life gets ugly. Buy ammo and kale seeds, asap. see: Ashfall, by Mike Mullin) What if aliens invaded earth and they looked exactly like people? (The Fifth Wave) What if water became so scarce that billionaires hired water assassins to protect their control over water supplies? (The Water Knife) What if love was considered a disease and everyone was forced to be cured? (Delirium)
I LOVE a good premise. If a premise is intriguing and the writing is solid, I will pick up that book and get reading. I don’t need an explosion in the first chapter. I don’t need a killer first line. If I read the back cover blurb and think, “Whoa, that’s a fascinating idea,” then I’m willing to invest the time to read a few chapters at least. I just love a chance to go wandering through an unfamiliar world, especially a world where things have gone seriously awry.
I grew up reading and watching Science Fiction, where world building is crucial, where half the fun is the escapism of immersing yourself in a world/time/situation that you could never find in real life. Even when the setting is depressing and dystopian there is something invigorating about mentally entering a world where the rules don’t apply. Where you, the reader, can’t predict what will happen next because reality as you know it does not exist there.
As a young reader, I loved Anne McCaffrey’s Dragons of Pern series. I spent hours daydreaming about having my own telepathic dragon. (Pssst- maybe I still do. I’ll never tell.)
When I was in high school, millions of people around the world fell in love with the Harry Potter books, were transfixed by the idea that a regular person could suddenly discover that he or she had magical powers and enter a world where magic was everywhere. It was, and still is, a captivating thought.
A good premise can’t stand alone, of course. If the writing isn’t strong, or the characters aren’t well developed, a good premise can’t carry a book. However, a good premise is a good foundation on which to build a story. It’s certainly the best way to convince me to pick up a book. My current work in progress, No Man’s Land, began as just a premise, conjured from a middle school biology lesson- what if women could reproduce without men? What would society look like? From there it took on a life of its own.
So now you know how to suck me in. Give me a book with a novel premise and I’m ready to read.
What about you? Do you crave that big bang moment in chapter one, a fascinating first line, a mystery, a quirky main character? What makes you pick up a book? What keeps you from putting it down? Comment and share!