Begin with a question?
- Thread starter Lilwritermonkey
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Is it a question for the reader or something an MC is really wondering?
If it's for the reader, that gets into tricky 4th wall territory (which I like but is kind of advanced stuff to write, usually). If the MC is really thinking it, it could certainly be intriguing, imho.
If it's for the reader, that gets into tricky 4th wall territory (which I like but is kind of advanced stuff to write, usually). If the MC is really thinking it, it could certainly be intriguing, imho.
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Like most things in writing, it will depend on execution. But know that unless it is the perfect, exceptionally well-done question, you're begging snarky agents, editors and reviewers to come up with snarky answers to that question.
And I wouldn't ask the reader a question unless the book consistently uses second person throughout the book.
~suki
And I wouldn't ask the reader a question unless the book consistently uses second person throughout the book.
~suki
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First line of what? A novel? A personal essay? An article?
I suspect that the answer depends on all of the rest of the lines.
--Ken
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I've done it for a personal statement; it's generally not a good idea because the writer normally answers their own question in the next line:
'Why are rich people such jerks? Does their money make them arrogant?'
And the question is often a cod philosophical one. I might accept it if it was dialogue but not really for anything else.
Provide an example; it depends entirely on the execution. I would say, though, that unless you are sure of it, don't do it.
If it works do it. I've been told in a query letter it's an absolute no-no. About two weeks ago I read the first two paragraphs of about 20 novels, and not a one started with a question or with dialogue. That doesn't make it a rule, but it seems that it's not commonly done.
Was it important for Frank to wash everyday? Would he have done it if Agnes didn't screech like a maligned bird each morning? Chances are, he thought, he would've given it up long ago. Smelling was only half as bad as hearing.
In actual answer to your question: I think it would only be cliche or boring if you wrote cliche or boring lines.
Whether or not the first line ends with a question mark is irrelevant. What it does to introduce us to your characters and story is more the important bit, IMO.
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Starting with a question can sound a bit too artificial, because the reader knows you know the answer and that they aren't in a position to answer it. And unless it's directed at the reader or another character, it sounds introverted, as if the writer's just talking to themselves.
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well im working on a YA thriller and the question im starting out with is being asked by the MC
the question is:
"Do you know why he killed my sister?"
the question is:
"Do you know why he killed my sister?"
If you decide not to start with an unnamed character asking another unnamed character a question, you could turn it into something like: "Tell me who killed my sister." More serious a tone, and it grabs the attention (IMO).
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I'm in the "Why not try it and see?" camp. It's worked for me, and I've seen it used elsewhere too.
-Derek
-Derek
Who is John Galt? -- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
"What's it going to be then, eh?" -- Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
caw
"What's it going to be then, eh?" -- Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
caw
I like it. I would for sure read on after this first line. At least to the second line
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Most readers want to know where they are, what's happening and in whose head they are.
"Do you know why she killed my sister?"
Apart from showing me the speaker is related to the dead 'sister', that opening sentence, for me at least, tells me absolutely nothing about who is speaking to whom, where when or why.
"Do you know why she killed my sister?"
Apart from showing me the speaker is related to the dead 'sister', that opening sentence, for me at least, tells me absolutely nothing about who is speaking to whom, where when or why.
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But if the next sentence supplies the information, or at least gets the reader to read the third, and so forth, does it matter. Surely a book deserves more than an eight-word chance.
True, but there are better and clearer ways of drawing readers in than plumping for a gimmicky opening question (dialogue or not) that no doubt makes instant sense to the writer because the writer wrote it with the prior knowledge of what it was all about -the reader doesn't have that prior knowledge.
If the opening sentence is unclear and information to clarify is provided in the next sentence that next sentence should be first.
Just my two-penneth.
If the opening sentence is unclear and information to clarify is provided in the next sentence that next sentence should be first.
Just my two-penneth.
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The question's being asked in a vaccuum. We don't know any of those three characters. Presumably this is going to be what the story's about too- perhaps a little too soon to tell us what the story's about? Because if it's just going to be about someone working out why her sister was killed, there are loads of books with plots like that.
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