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Some opening lines may be
memorable because we enjoyed the book, not because the line was so fabulous.
Think about "Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again." My response to
that line was, and is, "Who cares? I'm not interested in anyone's dreams."
(I skip dreams inserted into novels, even when I like the novel and its
author.) But I enjoyed Rebecca; and because I did, among the books
I've bought, read and donated is Sally Beauman's Rebecca's Tale,
which takes place twenty years after Rebecca's death. I bought this book
online, without having read a review of it. But when it arrived, I began to
have second thoughts; it's 528 pages long, and the back cover claims that
"Rebecca's tale is just beginning." Hmm. I wasn't sure I wanted to know that
much more about Rebecca. I decided to follow the writing teachers' tips, and
check the first line to see if it "hooked" me. Uh, oh. The first line: "Last
night I dreamed I went to Manderley again." Not only tedious, but
repetitive. I put Rebecca's Tale down, and when I picked it up again,
couldn't make myself finish it.
As I thought more about "hooks," I
realized I rarely look at the opening line before I buy a book, or before I
check it out of the library. To find the kind of books I like, I buy the
latest work by an author I've read and enjoyed, or get a recommendation from
a friend, or read a review by someone I respect, or read the text on the
book jacket.
But I'm a pushover for what I
think is the greatest possible hook-a sequel or a continuation of a book I
know and love. I own about fifty continuations and sequels relating to Jane
Austen's novels. I acquired them because I adore the original novels, and
long to know what happened to Austen's characters. In fact, I buy just about
any sequel or book related in some way to a novel I enjoyed.
What are the other types of
related books I like? The book that develops a minor character in an old
favorite-like Jane Fairfax in Emma-into a major character with a plot
of her own. (See Jane Fairfax by Naomi Royde Smith, 1940, or
Jane Fairfax by Joan Aiken, 1990). Another favorite is a
retelling of an old favorite from another character's point of view. I
enjoyed Wicked, the wonderful Oz-related musical based on Gregory
Maguire's book, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the
West. I checked the opening line of the book, and it's a good one: "A
mile above Oz, the Witch balanced on the wind's forward edge, as if she were
a green fleck of the land itself, flung up and sent wheeling away by the
turbulent air." But for me, the concept was the hook.
Unfortunately, some sequels don't
work. In 2006, Geraldine McCaughrean produced a sequel to Peter Pan,
entitled Peter Pan in Scarlet. A sequel to Peter Pan in itself
is a hook, but so is the title. (Why was the green-clad elfin boy I know so
well wearing red?) A good title can be a great hook. (Here's the beginning
of a list of books I'd buy on title alone: The Secret Garden Revisited;
More Adventures With the Little White Horse; Harry Potter's Birth
and Early Childhood; and Jane Marple at Twenty: Her First
Investigation. The Jane Marple book I'd like to write.)
I bought Peter Pan in Scarlet
without reading a review, or even looking at the opening line, which is "I'm
not going to bed," said John-which startled his wife." Yep, that's right.
Not much of a hook. But I read the book anyway, and I didn't like it.
I loved Gone With The Wind, although I wasn't
'hooked' by its opening line: "Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men
seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were." I
read Gone With The Wind after I saw the film because it was a great
love story. (I was hooked by the film) I longed to know what became of all
the characters, and rushed out to buy Scarlett, Alexandra Ripley's
sequel to Gone With The Wind. I didn't like it. But I keep hoping,
and keep buying sequels.
I also keep buying books about how to hook the reader,
hoping for something new. I just read Les Edgerton's Hooked,
Cincinnati: Writer's Digest, 2007. To my delighted surprise, Chapter Eight,
"Great Opening Lines," contains 27 fabulous opening sentences from works by
all sorts of writers. A number of them are from short stories I haven't
read. Guess what? I'm hooked. Those stories are going on my "To read" list.
(The rest of the book is good, too.)
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