Hi writing friends, I hope you are finding time for your writing. It can be really hard when life gets in the way to prioritise our stories. I have been on the move this month, and had a broken laptop, so I haven’t written or edited any of my own work. I have done a lot of thinking about my new novel though as I am currently visiting family and friends in my hometown where the story is set. I have been wandering the streets and trying to remember what it was all like 34 years ago, as much of the story is set in 1990.
If you already have a novel draft that is complete, or almost complete, you can win an editorial report on your manuscript in the Opening Lines competition, which closes in just 5 days.
It’s important in the first lines, paragraphs and pages of a novel that you grab the reader’s attention and get them invested in the character and story you’re leading them into. Immerse them in the world you are creating.
Things to think about when writing those crucial opening lines:
Are you placing us firmly in a character’s point of view?
Can we tell where and when the story is taking place?
Is the narrative voice strong and engaging to connect us to the protagonist?
Are there some questions ignited in the reader’s mind to keep them reading on?
You can read more info on writing compelling first chapters in the post I wrote earlier this year.
And here are some opening lines from novels that are compelling, intriguing and ensuring I want to read on.
Here we have a really distinct narrative voice, we instantly have tension and intrigue as the three girls are going somewhere they shouldn’t be. The setting is invoked strongly and the name of the estate and the dancehall both give an impression of menace, as does the cloth like a towering inferno.
Here the use of Canton for the city name firmly places us in the past, as does the faded address written in a diary and the use of Miss Betty for the Englishwoman’s name. The fact that everyone but the boy is dead makes us want to know how everyone else has died and whether the boy is going to survive.
A very strong opening that sets up huge questions about whether the world is literally going to end soon in this novel. Then the casual introduction of the Time Institute, which following that opening line about the end of the world makes us wonder if the narrator is going to be time travelling to try and save the planet. Swiftly followed by another sentence that lets us know these characters don’t even live on Earth but go there for vacations. Intrigue indeed!
I hope sharing these openings has shown you how opening lines can work really hard to connect readers to the stories we tell.
I look forward to reading the start of your novel!
With love,
Opening Lines Competition Prizes
1st Prize: An editorial report on a full MS up to 80K words
2nd Prize: An editorial report on first 10K words
3rd Prize: Feedback on your opening chapter
ENTRY FEE: £10
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Send the opening lines of your novel to be in with a chance of winning an editorial report.
MAX WORD COUNT FOR OPENING LINES SUBMISSION: 350
DEADLINE: 30TH APIL 2024
Submit your opening lines here
Competition T&Cs
Submit your opening lines only through Submittable using the button below by 23.59 GMT on the deadline date (sorry – any entries that have included prologues, more than 350 words and/or a synopsis will be disqualified and fees will not be returned).
International entries are welcome but all entries must be written in English and can be up to 350 words (no minimum word count) and on any theme and subject (except children’s fiction). Email entries are not accepted.
Name the document you upload with your novel title.
Please use a 12pt or 14pt easy-to-read font and double spacing.
Do not include your name on the document, the title of your entry or the document you upload as it is judged anonymously. Any entries that have the author’s name on them will be automatically disqualified.
The novel should be unpublished and not have been accepted by an agent or publisher – if it is accepted by an agent or publisher after submission but before the judging takes place then it will no longer be eligible and entry fees will not be refunded.
You can enter as many times as you like but each entry must be made separately and the entry fee paid each time.
The judge’s decision is final.
There are no alternative prizes.