Episode 168 - Making our first sentence sparkle. episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 6, 2025 · 28 MIN

Episode 168 - Making our first sentence sparkle.

from Essential Guide to Writing a Novel · host James Thayer

Does our story's first sentence cause the reader to ask, "What's next?"  Or does the reader say, "So what?"  Here are thoughts on creating a tense, sparkling first sentence.  Also, how the masters use specific, definite, and concrete details to convince the reader.Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more.  Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes.  The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars.  If you want structured, concise guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.Support the showBuy the master class.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jun 6, 2025

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Does our story's first sentence cause the reader to ask, "What's next?" Or does the reader say, "So what?" Here are thoughts on creating a tense, sparkling first sentence. Also, how the masters use specific, definite, and concrete details to convince the reader. Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more. Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes....

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Episode 168 - Making our first sentence sparkle.

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