The First…by @denisemcolby

December 12, 2017 by in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as , , , with 3 and 0
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The First | Denise M. Colby | A Slice of Orange

The First…

Several words come to mind when I hear those words…

  • The First Noel.
  • The First Time in Forever.  Yes it’s a Frozen song.
  • And a few others I couldn’t quite remember the entire title.

 

We all know that Firsts are important. 

 

Babies have a first laugh, a first word, their first step, and so on.  Every stage of life has a first to it.  The first day of preschool.  The first day of high school.  The first day of college.

There’s always a first for everything.

The dictionary defines first as; coming before all others in time or order; earliest; 1st; never previously done or occurring.

It’s no wonder that as writers, we all have and celebrate our firsts too:

  • The first time we enter a contest
  • Submit our work for a critique
  • The first time we sign a contract
  • The first time we are published

[tweetshare tweet=”@denisemcolby explains … The Firsts” username=”A_SliceofOrange”]

Even within our fictional manuscripts we have firsts:

 

  • When our hero and heroine first lay eyes on each other
  • Their first kiss (which is their last first kiss)
  • The first time they realize they love the other person.

 

And part of the fun of writing is to get it right (a whole subjective term, I know, but that’s for a different post).

So, in our first book, getting the first Chapter correct is necessary.  Writing the first paragraph in a way to grab readers is crucial.  And delivering well, the first line of the book, is essential.

  • Vital.
  • Imperative.

I think you get the idea.

Ther First Line Fridays | Denise M. Colby | A Slice of Orange

First Lines in books.

 

Now that I understand this in my writing journey, I’ve been tracking the first line in the books I read and study (thank you Leslie for the idea).  And let me say, it’s amazing how different these lines are.  Some start with dialogue, some start with action, and some start with an inner thought from the main character.

And they all start us on a mini adventure we are willing to sit and explore for hours.

Recently, my critique partner introduced me to her blog posts First Line Fridays, which are hosted by a blog called hoarding books.

The First | Denise M. Colby | A Slice of Orange

Authors and readers write their own post on their blog, then post a comment at https://hoardingbooksblog.wordpress.com/  with a link to their posts.  The post includes the first line from whatever book is near them or they are reading. I’ve seen this as a Facebook challenge before, but not as a blog post.  It’s a great way to share books and authors with other readers, so I decided to join in the fray and post my first, First Line Fridays post this past Friday.

See how I did that?  It’s my first!  And I’m super excited about it.

If you’re so inclined to read it, you can check it out here.  http://denisemcolby.com/first-line-friday-12-8-17/

And if you want to learn more about the hoarding books blog, you can go to https://hoardingbooksblog.wordpress.com/

 

Happy Reading,

Denise

P.S. I googled ‘The First’ quotes and found a website that organizes quotes by topic.  There are a lot of quotes with the word first in them.  Go to https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/first  if your inclined to take a look.


Denise Colby |The Writing JourneyAlthough new to the writing fiction world, Denise Colby has over 20+ years experience in marketing, creating different forms of content and copy for promotional materials. Taking the lessons learned from creating her own author brand Denise M. Colby, Denise enjoys sharing her combined knowledge with other authors.

If you are interested in a marketing evaluation and would like help in developing a strategy for your author brand you can find out more here http://denisemcolby.com/marketing-for-authors/

Author Bio
Author Bio
Passionate about all types of stories—whether they are from songs, theatre, movies, or novels—Denise M. Colby loves history and constantly finds herself contemplating how it was to live in the 1800’s. Combining her love of learning about history, and reading, Denise writes Historical Romance Sweetened with Faith, Hope, & Love. Her first novel, When Plans Go Awry, is the first novel in her Best-laid Plans series. A mother to three boys and soon to be daughter-in-love, Denise loves to read, watch movies with her family, sing 80’s and musical songs, tap dance, and spend date nights with her husband at Disneyland. Sign up for her newsletter or follow Denise on her social media. Newsletter: https://denisemcolby.com/sign-up-for-my-newsletter/ Website: www.denisemcolby.com Blog: www.denisemcolby.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/denisemcolbywrites/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denisem.colby/
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Passionate about all types of stories—whether they are from songs, theatre, movies, or novels—Denise M. Colby loves history and constantly finds herself contemplating how it was to live in the 1800’s. Combining her love of learning about history, and reading, Denise writes Historical Romance Sweetened with Faith, Hope, & Love. Her first novel, When Plans Go Awry, is the first novel in her Best-laid Plans series. A mother to three boys and soon to be daughter-in-love, Denise loves to read, watch movies with her family, sing 80’s and musical songs, tap dance, and spend date nights with her husband at Disneyland. Sign up for her newsletter or follow Denise on her social media. Newsletter: https://denisemcolby.com/sign-up-for-my-newsletter/ Website: www.denisemcolby.com Blog: www.denisemcolby.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/denisemcolbywrites/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denisem.colby/
  • Veronica Jorge says:

    Hi Denise, That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing these days; reading the first line of each section to
    see if it works and the last line to see if it will make the reader turn the page. Nice post. Thanks for sharing.

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