Back in the day....
Back in the day, as a youngin, before I started to read a book, I would always read the first and last line of the book. Why? I don't know...It made me feel like I knew what was going on in the book already. Even though it was only two sentences, but in two significant places in the book. So as I was reading, 10 Tips for Novice Creative Writers, the "resolving the conflict" section appealed to me the most. A possible ending for a book,
"Brendan's eyes looked away from the priest and up to the mountains," signifies that the mountains symbolize much more than emphasized at the end of the book. They have deeper meaning throughout the book that you won't know until you read it. Perhaps Brendan is having doubts about marrying the girl he doesn't love at the current moment. These possibilites are endless, but you have strong evidence to support that the mountains symbolize something or the search for something else has begun. All of that power is within the last line of a novel. The last line is suppose to leave the reader with a heavy impact. For me the last line could start the reader with endless possibilities of a beginning. it all matters how the reader looks at it.
Comments
Tiffany, I think this is a great idea. I never actually read the first and last lines of the books myself, but I do know a lot of people who do the same thing. I have even heard of people who only read the first and last chapters of books so that they don't have to read the whole thing. I agree that it should be our goals as writers to try to make everyone want to read our books, so if the first and last lines, or first and last chapters intrigue this type of reader they may be more likely to actually read the entire book, and hopefully enjoy what they read. It looks like you have a great start on your story already!
Posted by: Erica Gearhart | February 7, 2008 10:04 PM