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Printed from https://shop.writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/2527-.html
Action/Adventure: July 30, 2008 Issue [#2527]

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Action/Adventure


 This week:
  Edited by: W.D.Wilcox Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

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Word from our sponsor

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Letter from the editor

The Opening

He rose early that morning, frightened awake by his dead wife talking to him with a mouthful of graveyard dirt. After that the day deteriorated.

The opening to any story has got to explain the tale in a nutshell. Not only that, but it has got to define your character and what he is about to go through.

He loved his wife—whose funeral he had avoided and to whose deathbed he had never gone.

The opening has got to raise some questions, and peak Dear Reader’s curiosity.

He did not fully understand why their marriage had ended after the death of their daughter. As far as he could see, the only thing that had come between them had been her grief, which had been so great and dark and heavy that she had no longer been capable of harboring any other emotion, not even love for him.

The opening has got to make Dear Reader relate to, sympathize with, and feel compassion for, your main character.

He still loved her, not passionately any more, but in the melancholy way that a man could love a dream of happiness even knowing that the dream could never come true. Not a dream of what might be but of what could never be.

The opening has to do so much, and be so good, that you could use it as a blurb on your book cover, or to sell your story to any publisher.

Now that they were both dead and gone, there were times when the weight bowed his head and the very bones of his shoulder felt as if they would splinter and crack under a mountain of guilt and grief. The whole ordeal left him with such a bitter taste in his mouth he felt as though biting into the hard truth of it all would only produce a flavor as acrid as chewing on dry aspirin.

And then most importantly, the opening has got to hook Dear Reader like a Big Old Fish.

‘Why did I kill them?’ he thought. ‘Shall I awake and find all this a dream? Is there another Life? Surely we cannot be created for this sort of suffering.’

The opening has got to be the best part of the story. It has got to setup what will come next, plus make your Dear Reader compelled to read on.

Until next time,

billwilcox


Editor's Picks

Editor's Picks

 Condition Black Open in new Window. (GC)
Fear is what keeps you alive.
#1175984 by Eddo36 Author IconMail Icon

 The Well Open in new Window. (13+)
A woman and her daughter haunted by the past
#1376784 by IGWOOTEN Author IconMail Icon

Inside His Mind Open in new Window. (13+)
A trip inside his brain to do some rewiring.Written for WDC's 6th Birthday contest.
#1158032 by Molly Author IconMail Icon

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1401709 by Not Available.

 Monsters Open in new Window. (13+)
Karen is being pursued by monsters
#1320001 by ds1r3d Author IconMail Icon

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1420459 by Not Available.

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#766550 by Not Available.

STATIC
The Shifting Sand Open in new Window. (13+)
“The original ship in a bottle.”
#816877 by W.D.Wilcox Author IconMail Icon

 
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Ask & Answer

Submitted Comments


NanoWriMo2018 Into the Earth Author Icon
Submitted Comment:
Yes, doing your homework first always makes the assignment easier. and, oh, where can I get a pony with "bad guy" radar? .
Great NL, WD,
-Robin


writetight
Submitted Comment:
Thanks, pardner, for them fine words and mention of my "Westerns" in your last Action/Adventure Newsletter. I 'preciate it mightily.
-Dan


lulubelle
Submitted Comment:
Thank you for the great newsletter. I love Louis L'Amour! He's a great writer. Thanks again.


PoisonAvy21 Author Icon
Submitted Comment:
I've tried everything to write a beginning, even read this twice and can't seem to write one that I like. Help me! I think I over think what I'm writing. How do I start and love what I write?
Well, PoisonAvy, this week's Newsletter is dedicated to you.*Cool*

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