1 OPENING A LINE OF CREDIT WITH YOUR READER
IT goes without saying that the first line of your book is your reader’s first impression of that book. Nobody opens up a book to the middle and starts at chapter 19. That wouldn’t serve any practical purpose. And even if they read the jacket copy or the back cover, that’s not a part of the story. It’s promotional copy.
The first line, though: That’s the first time the reader dips their toe into the author’s world.
When the reader opens the book to that first line, it’s as if they’re opening up a line of credit with the author. But the tricky thing about that credit is that it has no substance right from the start. The reader could just give you one line and, if they don’t like it, they can close the book and move on to something else to read.
Hence why writing a first line is so important. In a bookstore with thousands of books around you, that first line – maybe the first two or three – is often the only opportunity you have to hook your reader. If they don’t like your beginning sentence or paragraph, all they have to do is set your book down and pick up another, opening up a line of credit with that new author.
If, however, you get them with the first line, they’ll read the second. And then the third. And before they know it, they’ve
