How do I start this?

It is the truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Did I get your attention? Good, then lets begin.

They say the opening is the most important. It's the one that has us staring at the blank page tearing our hair out.

Jaydee did a fab post about the terror of the blank page but what do you do after the blank page? You've wrote your MS, and now you are focused on getting that opening just right.

So how do you go from an so-so opening to a great one? You know the one I'm talking about right? The one that makes agents excited enough to read on. That makes them see the potential in you and request your full and then offer representation.

The opening that - once published - makes readers buy your book and set up those fan pages dedicated to great quotes.

Oh sorry, thats the dream talking. Now, back to reality.

His Dark Materials author Phillip Pullman was asked how he wrote great books. His reply was that it's easy; all you have to do is write a brilliant first page. And then a brilliant second page. And then a brilliant third page... And well, you get the idea.

If they're are any hard and fast rules then I'm still looking but I've found a link that may come in handy:

http://writing-novels.suite101.com/article.cfm/more_great_first_lines

So over to you. Do you have a favourite opening of a novel? How do you work on yours to make it great?

Who wants lunch with Janet Reid AND Suzie Townsend?

I know, another post today, I spoil you all. Heehee. But, since I'm doing my read around the blogosphere I came across this and had to share with you all.

To celebrate Sarah Wylie's book deal she is hosting a competition with some amazing prizes.

1 Lucky Winner will receive a critique of their first 30-40 pages by Suzie Townsend. A pack of Twizzlers and a copy of Hex Hall.

3 Lucky Winners will receive a query letter critique by one of these three agents: Kathleen Ortiz, Joanna Stampfel-Volpe, or Colleen Lindsay.

1 Winner gets a writer's survival guide with some cool stuff inside.

1 Lucky winner gets a lunch date with Janet Reid and Suzie Townsend. It's not a free trip but hey, I'd fly over from the UK if I could for that!

So check out Sarah's blog and see what happens. Good Luck.

Writing Tips.

I had a different post planned but then decided that today I wanted to make you smile. Blow away the Monday blues with a little clip that I mentioned yesterday.

And thanks again to Silence18 on QT who showed me the way to the clip. Karma.

So, in all it's glory, here it is from Hush Hush author Becca Fitzpatrick's blog

Enjoy.

Ooooh shiny.

Now I don't normally post on a Sunday but I feel all warm and tingly and need to spread it around the blogosphere. And since the bookcase is up (and the new books are settled in)I'm a happy girl.

The fabulous Amparo Ortiz has awarded me the pretty award above.

Now I have some rules to follow:

1) Pass on to seven other awesome bloggers. Gotta spread the love :)
2) Link this post to the award giver.
3) Show the link of the original blog the award came from.
4) Add your blog to the Mr. Linky list on the blog the award came from so others can find you and say hi.

So here are my seven :

Talli Roland

Justine Dell

Zoe Courtman

Hilary Wagner

Stephanie Boman

Casey McCormick

Jen

The next link is just for fun. I thank Silence18 on QT for posting to check out Hush Hush author Becca Fitzpatrick's blog for a cool video on writing tips.

Have a good Sunday everyone.

Squeeee...

I have an addiction I need to share...I'm a bookaholic.

I promise myself I'll stop. I'll ignore the seductive pull of the unopened tomes calling my name and the delicious thrill of opening the cover for the first time. I walk amongst the shelves and tell myself I'll just look. I don't need another book. I don't.

And then I see the words I dread: 3 for 2.

Arghhhhhh.

So, as I write this I am and now the owner of the the first three books in the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr.

And my copy of The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan arrived today.

Oh well. At least I can say it is research on how to improve my YA fiction.

Good thing I'm getting another bookcase tomorrow :)

Happy Saturday.

That Friday Feeling

Today I have been wondering what to blog about. Not that I'm running out of ideas but that there are so many cool blogs that I follow who I think deserve a shout out.

Now I'm not going to make Friday a link sort of a day. I don't discriminate against linking, I'll do it anytime. lol. So please don't think I don't love you if you don't have a link here.

Matthew has a guest blogger today, Cole Gibsen. Cole is kindly sharing the query that secured her an agent. Awesome blog, awesome post:

http://theqqqe.blogspot.com/

Jana had a good idea about how to soften the blues that follow rejection:

http://allimsaying-jhutcheson.blogspot.com/2010/04/rx-for-rejection-induced-depression.html

Over on lbdiamond's blog we celebrate flake out Friday with some funny videos:

http://lbdiamond.wordpress.com/

Lydia is addressing the sometimes pain that is grammar:

http://lydiakang.blogspot.com/2010/04/lay-it-on-me-or-is-it-lie.html

Query guru and all round cool person Elana wants your opinions on what is a query:

http://elanajohnson.blogspot.com/

And Natalie Whipple talks about the pros and cons of character sheets. There is also a v.funny comedy sketch about feedback from a previous post that you should check out.

http://betweenfactandfiction.blogspot.com/

Oh and Kirk, it's SUNNY here today again :)

Books, books, books

Living in the UK can be annoying for two reasons 1) the weather. Today = nice sun, tomorrow = rain. 2) book releases.

Now I don't rant. I won't bitch about editors, agents or publishers. I know publishing is a slow business and they do their best to get the books to us asap but this year is a good year.

A really good year.

As you can see from the covers above there are a few books I'm looking forward to reading, especially Mockingjay. So, in the age of technology I thank the wonder that is Internet shopping for allowing me to pre-order these books and get them before they come out in the UK.

Shop, shop, shop...

http://www.amazon.com/ref=gno_logo

And breathe.

Are there any books you are looking forward to being released this year.

P.S For the fellow HG fans out there, I'm team Peeta!