More First Sentences From Novels

This is a follow up to Pulitzer Prize First Sentences published by the Christian Bookmobile not long ago.

Writers look for ways to grab readers and the best place to start is with the first sentence. This time, we're showing the first sentence of other books and letting you the book and author. The only prize for getting them all right is that you will have read a bunch of good first sentences. I'll post the answers next week.

1. What’s happened in Pecan Spring over the last few weeks has given us all a great deal to think about—especially me, since the tragedies struck so close to home.
2. AS I WAS PACKAGING WHAT REMAINED OF THE DEAD BABY, THE man I would kill was burning pavement north toward Charlotte.
3. Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
4. I consider this body, mine, refracted under the steaming bathwater: my swaying chest-hair, legs bent to fit the tiny tub, lumpy kneecaps thrust near my chin, elegant feet concluding in inelegant toes, a row of potatoes at a group photo.
5. Librarian Paige Rogers had survived more exciting days dodging bullets to protect her country.
6. Our hero was not one of those Dominican cats everybody’s always going on about—he wasn’t no home-run hitter or a fly bachatero, not a playboy with a million hots on his jock.
7. THE DISTANCE BY wagon from Billerica to neighboring Andover is but nine miles.
8. MAE MOBLEY was born on a early Sunday morning in August, 1960.
9. A preacher with a lead foot, driving a red Mustang convertible with the top down, could make a state patrolman pretty testy.
10. He exited the church’s double doors and surveyed the gathering.
11. Sasha Edwards crouched behind the huge maple, its burnished, drying leaves rustling in the night wind.
12. Stop shaking. Crouched next to his small oak desk, Jakob clenched its side to steady himself, and took in a deep breath. (Sorry, I had to include two sentences for this one.)

a. Bunn, Davis , Lion of Babylon

b. Kent, Kathleen, The Heretic's Daughter: A Novel

c. Stockett, Kathryn, The Help

d. Williams, Shawna K., No Other

e. Karon, Jan, Home to Holly Springs

f. Tolstoy, Leo, Anna Karenina

g. Lickel, Lisa J., The Map Quilt

h. Diaz, Junot , The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

h. Mills, DiAnn, Breach of Trust

j. Rachman, Tom, The Bathtub Spy

k. Reichs, Kathy,  Bare Bones

l. Albert, Susan, Bleeding Hearts (China Bayles Mystery)

Pulitzer Prize First Sentences

Every writer knows the importance of grabbing the reader with the first sentence, but she also knows how difficult that sentence can be to construct. My writer friends seem to like this one from my novel, Where Love Once Lived: She felt loved on Tuesdays.

To be honest, I like it also. However, I'm not sure why it works. Now that I'm writing a sequel I'm looking for an even better first sentence. This is what I have now, but I'm not tickled with it: Was there anything more embarrassing than being left standing at the altar?

This first sentence could be a spoiler for those of you who have not read Where Love Once Lived and a question mark for those who have. Either way, let me know how you feel about the sentence.

To get the creative juices working, I have listed below, first sentences from a random selection of the winners of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy – When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him.

The Known World by Edward P. Jones – The evening his master died he worked again well after he ended the day for the other adults, his own wife among them, and sent them back with hunger and tiredness to their cabins.

Empire Falls by Richard Russo – Compared to the Whiting mansion in town, the house Charles Beaumont Whiting built a decade after his return to Maine was modest.

Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow – The book of ballads published by Von Humboldt Fleisher in the Thirties was an immediate hit.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck – To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth.

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley – At sixty miles per hour, you could pass our farm in a minute, on County Road 686, which ran due north into the T intersection at Cabot Street Road.

American Pastoral by Philip Roth – The Swede. During the war years, when I was still a grade school boy, this was a magical name in our Newark neighborhood, even to adults just a generation removed from the city's old Prince Street ghetto and not yet so flawlessly Americanized as to be bowled over by the prowess of a high school athlete.

The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron – Above the barren, sandy cape where the river joins the sea, there is a promontory or cliff rising straight up hundreds of feet to form the last outpost of land.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson – I told you last night that I might be gone sometime, and you said, Where, and I said, To be with the Good Lord, and you said, Why, and I said, Because I'm old, and you said, I don't think you're old.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides – I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan in August of 1974.

The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson – The prairie lay that afternoon as it had lain for centuries of September afternoons, vast as an ocean; motionless as an ocean coaxed into very little ripples by languid breezes; silent as an ocean where only very little waves slip back into their element.

The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk – He was of medium height, somewhat chubby, and good looking, with curly red hair and an innocent, gay face, more remarkable for a humorous air about the eyes and large mouth than for any strength of chin or nobility of nose.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

COTT -- A Special 3-Week-Long Clash

Your Clash Hostess:  Gail Pallotta

Clash of the Titles has a great selection of books in our give away this week. Shelley Adina will donate a copy of Lady of Devices, Keven Newsome offers a choice between a signed print copy of Winter OR two e-books, one of Winter and one of Aquasynthesis. James Rubart gives away a copy of The Chair. 


Wow! Vote in order to enter. You'll find the voting box below. You can also leave a comment on any COTT post or on our Facebook page. Multiple entries encouraged!

Many times we hear a word or phrase and another comes to mind. The two go together so well we can’t think of one without recalling the other. Some easily recognized pairs come from life experiences, others from songs, books or movies. Here are a few to complete just for fun.


1. A  song:  “Love and Marriage.” “Love and marriage, love and marriage go together like a  _____ and _____.”  According to Wikipedia, this tune was introduced by Frank Sinatra in the 1955 television rendition of “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder. It aired on Producers Showcase.


2. Something we eat. Hot apple pie and ____ _____. No one eats apple pie without it, do they?


3. Movie stars often cast together: Doris Day and _____ ______. Three of their 1962 movies, “Pillow Talk,” “ Lover Come Back” and “Send Me No Flowers,” are available today in a romance collection.


4. From Books and Television: The Hardy Boys / _____ ______. This series was based on two series published by Edward Stratemeyer.


5. A heroine in a book. Her name is in the title. ______ of Green Gables. This book was published in 1908 by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Originally written for all ages, recently it’s been considered a  children’s book. Since publication it’s sold 50 million copies, and is taught to students  worldwide. It’s been adapted to film, television and stage.


6. The prey in a tale of the sea.  Captain Ahab and the great white_____. Published in 1851 by Herman Melville, this is  one of the great American novels. It tells the story of Ishmael, a sailor on a ship named  Pequod.


7. A character in a novel.  Miss Scarlett in _____ _____ ___ _____. Margaret Mitchell won a Pulitzer prize for the  novel in 1937. The movie, considered a classic epic film today, premiered in 1939.


Answers: 
1. Horse, carriage  
2. Ice cream  
3. Rock Hudson  
4. Nancy Drew  
5. Anne 
6. Whale  
7. Gone with the Wind


That was fun. Now vote for your pick in the cover and book blurb Clash. When we read the blurbs, do the images on the front of the books come to mind and vice versa? If so, which of these go together best? Later when you think of what the book blurb has to say, will you see the cover in your mind’s eye?    Please vote for one.

Cover and Blurb A

We're all freaks. It's just a matter of perspective. 

Winter Maessen didn’t ask for the gift of prophecy. She’s happy being a freak – but now everyone thinks she’s crazy. Or evil. Goths aren’t all the same, you know. Some are Christians…

Christians to whom God sends visions. Students at her university are being attacked, and Winter knows there’s more than flesh and blood at work. Her gift means she’s the only one who can stop it – but at what price?

Cover and Blurb B

                                                                
London, 1889. Victoria is Queen. Charles Darwin’s son is Prime Minister. And steam is the power that runs the world. At 17, Claire Trevelyan, daughter of Viscount St. Ives, was expected to do nothing more than pour an elegant cup of tea, sew a fine seam, and catch a rich husband. Unfortunately, Claire’s talents lie not in the ballroom, but in the chemistry lab, where things have a regrettable habit of blowing up. When her father gambles the estate on the combustion engine and loses, Claire finds herself down and out on the mean streets of London. But being a young woman of resources and intellect, she turns fortune on its head. It’s not long before a new leader rises in the underworld, known only as the Lady of Devices . . . When she meets Andrew Malvern, a member of the Royal Society of Engineers, she realizes her talents may encompass more than the invention of explosive devices. They may help her realize her dreams and his . . . if they can both stay alive long enough to see that sometimes the closest friendships can trigger the greatest betrayals . . .

Cover and Blurb C

                                                  

If someone gave you a chair and said it was made by Jesus Christ, would you believe them?

When an elderly lady shows up in Corin Roscoe's antiques store and gives him a chair she claims was crafted by Jesus, he scoffs. But when a young boy is miraculously healed two days after sitting in the chair, he stops laughing and starts wondering . . . could this chair heal the person whose life Corin destroyed twelve years ago? As word spreads of the boy's healing, a mega-church pastor is determined to manipulate Corin into turning over the chair. And that mysterious woman who gave him the piece flits in and out of his life like a shadow, insinuating it's Corin’s destiny to guard the chair above everything else. But why? Desperate, he turns to the one person he can trust, a college history professor who knows more about the legend of the chair than he'll reveal. Corin's life shatters as he searches for the truth about the artifact and the unexplained phenomena surrounding it. What’s more, he's not the only one willing do almost anything to possess the power seemingly connected to the chair. Please vote below, and don't forget to enter to win one of these great books.

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Making Dreams Come True – Part 6

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If you haven't read the previous parts, you may want to do so first. See:

·         Making Dreams Come True – Part 1

·         Making Dreams Come True – Part 2

·         Making Dreams Come True – Part 3

·         Making Dreams Come True – Part 4

·         Making Dreams Come True – Part 5

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Lois died the day before Thanksgiving, 2008

The eight months we had together, with both of us being Stephen Ministers, helped me through the grieving process. All during that time she was alert and looked forward to joining her heavenly family. I'd never seen her so at peace. We had time to make plans. We talked about her will and her two grown children. Her son, who was in Afghanistan was able to return and be with her for a time before she died. She got to see her daughter through new eyes and loved her even more. She showed me how dying is not as difficult as I had thought it might be.

After the memorial service, I was lost. I went from being a 24-hours a day nurse to not having any obligations. I'd been giving the shots, changing the bandages, feeding her intravenously, checking blood sugar, and keeping it all on schedule. I couldn't face Christmas, so I went to Nova Scotia alone and stayed until after New Year's day. It was a place with no memories.

Planning to open a bookstore.

By the time I got home I had decided to work on another unfulfilled dream.

All my life I'd dreamed of owning a small independent bookstore with space for living above the store. In the store itself, I visualized a place to write plus displays of collectible books, posters and such from famous writers. Of course, I also realized it would never happen.

Then, when Lois died and I needed to sell the house and find another place to live, I thought it might be the time to open a bookstore. I decided to limit it to prize-winning books only and I began to collect books that had won the Pulitzer Prize. I would have a corner for Christy Award winners and children's section with nothing but Newbery Medal winners.

I would sell the house and open a bookstore in town with living space upstairs. The more I worked on the bookstore plan, the better I felt and soon I was working on the changes White Rose Publishing had suggested.

I made the changes the publisher asked for

I also began to get involved with living. I went back to church and rejoined the choir. I attended rehearsals with the San Gabriel Chorale again. I worked on the edits nearly every day now.

I cut and cut and cut, saving all the precious words in a separate file in case I could use them later. I cut the length from 100,000 words to 80,000 words. I cut most subplots, but there were two I couldn't leave out. One was about the bookmobile librarian Liz who started the idea of the book in the first place and the second was the race relations subplot I haven't told you about. I resubmitted the manuscript to the publisher August 17, 2009.

Read the next post to find out what the publisher said.

The Magnificent Ambersons – The DVD

I collect Pulitzer Prize winning books, mostly those that won the fiction category. My theory is that if the book is good enough to win the prize it is worth reading. The Magnificent Ambersons, by Booth Tarkington won in 1919. I purchased the book, but have not read it yet. While searching for it, I ran across this DVD that came out in 2002. It is a remake of the 1942 film directed by Orson Welles which was nominated for four Oscars. The 2002 remake is said to have followed Welles' original screenplay, much of which was cut out of the 1942 version. I also found there was an earlier movie that came out in 1925.

The Magnificent Ambersons is an excellent story about George Amberson, a rich brat who falls in love with Lucy Morgan, the daughter of Eugene Morgan, George's mother's former lover who returns to town after a twenty-year absence. Due to economic changes and poor investments, George is forced to move from rich brat to a man struggling to survive.

Because the story is set in the early 1900s, there are interesting subplots relating to automobiles and suburban growth.

My Prize-Winning Bookstore

Some people asked me about the reference in yesterday's post to cleaning out my bookstore since I've never mentioned a bookstore before. Here's what happened.

All my life I've dreamed of owning a small independent bookstore with space for living above the store. In the store itself, I visualized a place to write plus displays of collectible books, posters and such from famous writers. Of course, I also realized it would never happen.

Then, when my wife died, and I needed to sell the house and find another place to live, I thought that might be the time to open a bookstore. I decided to limit it to prize-winning books only and began to collect books that had won the Pulitzer Prize. In addition, I would have a corner for Christy Award winners and children's section with nothing but Newbery Medal winners.

But God had other plans for me. While I was searching for a building to buy, I met Celeste. At first, she went with me to look at the various locations. Then at some point, the idea of living alone upstairs in a bookstore begin to lose its appeal. Living with Celeste sounded much better.

Celeste and I got married and moved into a nice home close to where our previous homes were. I don't miss that bookstore one bit. I rented a storage space we called "the bookstore" and moved my books there until I could find time to dispose of them. I will sell the collectibles on eBay and give away the others to libraries.

Texas Book Festival

I dreamed of being asked to participate in the Texas Book Festival one day. I may have even mentioned it in a prayer sometime along the way. But I wasn't serious. It was one of those dreams about winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. A wonderful goal you know you'll never achieve.

Well, guess what.

No, I wasn't asked to speak at the Texas Book Festival or to read from my book. My name's not on the list of authors for the event. However, I'll be there showing off my latest (i.e. first) novel, Where Love Once Lived.

How's that?

I won the lottery!

Actually, me and nine other members of the Writers' League of Texas. We each won a two-hour slot at the League's booth. I'll be in t he shadow of the State Capitol at booths 122 or 123 in the exhibits tent on Colorado between 12th and 13th streets Sunday, October 17, 2010 between 2 and 4.

Come see me!

You can read more about it here: http://www.writersleague.org/events/10-book-festival.htm