First Paragraph
“Once across the First Threshold,
the hero naturally encounters new Challenges and
Tests, makes Allies and Enemies,
and begins to learn the Rules of the Special World.
Saloons and seedy bars seem to be good places for these transactions.”
-Christopher Vogler
First paragraph from the Stephen King Novel, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
PREGAME
(creative title for prologue which ties in storyline)
THE WORLD had teeth and it could bite you with them anytime it wanted. 1 Trisha McFarland discovered this when she was nine years old. 2 At ten o'clock on a morning in early June she was sitting in the back seat of her mother's Dodge Caravan, wearing her blue Red Sox batting practice jersey (the one with 36 GORDON on the back) and playing with Mona, her doll. 3
At ten thirty she was lost in the woods. 4 By eleven she was trying not to be terrified, trying not to let herself think, This is serious, this is very serious. Trying not to think that sometimes when people got lost in the woods they got seriously hurt. 5 Sometimes they died. 6
Unwritten rule: Dialogue begins after the first three paragraphs, sometimes sooner.
Now it's your turn!
Write a new first paragraph for your story using the strategies and tips we've gone over. In the next few lessons, you will be able to review a writer's checklist, a character description chart and symbolization list. As for now, have fun with it!
Challenge: What are your the top three books AND films/TV shows that influenced you! They're a part of your author-DNA! Use those influences in the same way they touched your heart to touch your reader's hearts.
Try to be as bold and as imaginative as you possibly can!
One of your GOALS should be to sell everything you write from now on, so pour your passion into it. Every story you write counts toward a body of work—YOUR BODY OF WORK!
Write something that can only come from YOU—the experiences in your life dictate your UNIQUENESS!
GO, GO, GO!!!
Go On An Live Writing. = G.O.A.L.
AAntonioHall.com
How Stephen King "Wows" in Six lines:
1. Strong first line.
2. Second sentence – Name/age.
3. Third sentence – setting, plus character trait.
4. Fourth sentence – conflict.
5. Fifth & sixth sentence – what's at stake!
