Bookish question Archives — JPC Allen Writes

On JPC Allen Writes this month, we’re all about how to write the beginning to your novel. So my bookish question for Monday Sparks is what are the best opening lines from your favorite novels?

When I look at the first page of my favorite novels, it’s a bit of shock to realize that most of them don’t have memorable first lines. Most of my favorite novels are older, so there wasn’t the push that there is now to grab readers’ attention with the first sentence. Authors could take a couple of chapters to slowly reel in readers.

First line of the The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is the one memorable line among my favorite novels:

“When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.”

But here some other opening lines from my favorite novels:

“It was an old plane, a four-engine plasma jet that had been retired from active service, and it came in along a route that was neither economical nor particularly safe.” fromFantastic Voyageby Issac Asimov

“The primroses were over.” from Watership Down by Richard Adams

“Grant lay on his white cot and stared at the ceiling.” from The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

“Don’t talk droopy talk,” Archie Carstairs said. “Mother can’t have lost a twelve-pound turkey.” from Home Sweet Homicide by Craig Rice.

These are all great novel, but they don’t have the hooks contemporary novels expect. So let me hear from you. What are the best opening lines from your favorite novels? And if your favorites don’t have a great opening line, tell me why you like the novel despite a less than stellar hook.

Here are more bookish questions for avid readers.

I’m always interested in how other writers, and even other artists, work and find and develop inspiration. So where do you find characters for your novels? Do you pull mostly from people you know? Are you inspired by characters in books or movies? Do you scroll online for inspiration?

Inspiration for my characters fall into two broad categories–inspiration for their physical features and inspiration for their personalities. When I see a face that catches my attention, whether I see it in person or online, it usually suggests a personality to me. For me, the face and personality have to work well together or the character will fail. If I decide this character will be a major one, I explore their personality based on my experience of human nature. So while the character’s physical appearance is inspired by a 1940’s movies star, her personality is based on a mom I know from my kids’ school.

One of my favorite places to find faces is old movies. Eighty years ago, producers cast roles differently from the way they do now, so you’ll see actors who can look different from the ones working now.

Let me know in the comment where you find characters for your novels.

Here are more tips for creating characters.

Last month, I discussed ways to get ready to write a novel. This month’s posts are about starting the writing process by creating characters–this is how I often start my novels. But the most common way for me to begin is for the climax to pop into my head and then I write a novel to meet it. But telling rookie writers to start their writing process with inventing a climax is too confusing. So I’ll focus on characters, my favorite aspect of writing. But before we dive into characters, I want to ask other writers–how do you start writing your novel?

There’s no wrong way to begin. Does a specific plot twist inspire you? Or an intriguing setting? Maybe it’s a genre or subgenre. I’m curious to get other writers’ opinions because there are as many approaches as there are writers.

Here are my posts on getting ready to write a novel if you missed them from last month.

This month, I’ve been discussing how to get ready to write a novel and forgot to ask the most basic questions–why do you want to write a novel?

There are no wrong answers, except that one where you want to write a novel because you think you’ll get to be rich and famous after publishing one book. Most writers never get wealthy or even write fiction as their full time job. It’s second job or a hobby they do in their spare time.

Now that that myth is dispelled, I’ll tell you my reason. I was born a writer. I have to write. Like exercise, I feel better when I do. If I had never published a single story, I would still be a writer. Writing novels seems to be the best form to tell the stories I want to share.

Now it’s your turn. I’d love to know your reason!

What kind of a writer are you? And I don’t mean what genre do you write. I mean, what’s your pattern for writing? Are you a weekend writer, writing for a few hours each weekend? Are you more of a tortoise kind of writer. Slow and steady gets the book written, like writing an hour each day unless something major comes up. Are you a hare writer? You block off a weekend to bang out as many words as you can in forty-eight hours.

And your writing pattern can change based on the circumstances of life, if you write long enough. So let me know what kind of a writer you are and if that pattern has changed over the years.

Here are this month’s other tips on what you need before you start your novel.

Tag: Bookish question

Best Openings Lines from Your Favorite Novels

Where Do You Find Characters for Your Novels?

How Do You Start Writing Your Novel?

Why Do You Want to Write a Novel?

What Kind of a Writer are You?

JPC Allen Writes

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