The First 13 Lines

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One of the best classes I attended at LTUE was “Lucky 13” presented by Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury (who…may I say, totally knows her stuff—she moderates the Hatrack River Writers Workshop and Orson Scott Card’s website—click here or here and even here).

She had five (very brave) writer’s share the first 13 lines of their work with the class. We then tore it apart. Just kidding! (Did I freak you out a little?) 

But we did analyze the lines.

Just the first 13…because that is all the chance you may have with an agent.

She asked:

Do you understand what is going on (what the story is about? What the character’s problem is?)

Do you care (I mean, really…who wants to read a story when we don’t care about the mc)?

Do you want to keep reading?

As we continued to listen to the five brave souls, I noticed that a great first line hook is every important to a book. Check out a few well written books from the library and just read the first line. (I just finished both Speak & Fahrenheit 451. Great first lines.) What do they promise the reader?

Plus, please no flashbacks or info dumps. That is guaranteed to turn off your reader. (I have a book on my shelf completely devoted to a fantastic info dump in its first chapter. I couldn’t tell you about the rest of the book, because I stopped reading. The info dump was that good.)

Also, please just get to the meat of the story. We need to know why you started where you did. What is different in your character’s life at this moment?  We don’t care about the sunny picnic, we want the picnic ruined with rain and the swarm of ants.

I’m sure there was more to the class, but these were the things that stood out to me. Do you have any other suggestion? 

What do you look for in  the first 13 lines?

Stuff Hurts

The line was unbelievable. I hate lines. We knew where we were going and had raced to get there. How did all these women get there first? Did they not know there were dozens of other classes to choose from? Had they missed the keynote speaker to stand in this line? There were hundreds of them. The line was hardly moving. Our chance of getting in was slim to none. We cast a longing look at the sea of women who got there first and walked away.

It was BYU Women’s Conference. The class was Learning to Forgive. My sister and I were hoping the class would give us a fresh perspective on forgiveness. We were hoping for new tools. One of us was struggling with some particularly thorny issues. We never guessed that forgiveness was on everybody’s "to do" list. It turned out to be the hot button of the conference.

Some years later, I am discovering that forgiveness is still on my “to do” list. I expected forgiveness would get easier with time, but it sometimes feels harder. Have I changed? Is my heart harder? Or have I graduated to harder stuff?

We all have stuff. People have disappointed us. Some have hurt us. Broken promises, unfulfilled expectations, disloyalty, dishonesty are a few of the things that pile up in the corners of our hearts. People let us down. It’s part of life. Stuff happens. Unfortunately that stuff can get in our way.

Some wounds are deeper than others, yet I know that my stuff is not world class. My stuff is ordinary run of the mill stuff, probably much like yours. I am positive that it is healthier to let go and I absolutely know that choosing to forgive speeds the healing. Choosing not to forgive prolongs the suffering. Why, then, is it so hard?

Maybe that answer is different for each of us, but I think part of the problem is not knowing how to forgive? A second part is that we tend to bond with our stuff.

“Bond with my stuff?” you ask. “That’s ridiculous.” And indeed it is. Completely ridiculous. Yet we all do it. I’m pretty sure you do it too. Even though our stuff makes us miserable, we cling to it. We protect it. We visit it, and revisit it. We tell our friends about it. Sometimes we give it more than its fair share of room in our heart, crowding out the other tenants. Should we build extra rooms to accommodate it and make it comfy?

I’m studying forgiveness these days. I’d love your thoughts and experiences. Post your thoughts here, and experiences you can send to garners@xmission.com. I'm thinking of writing a book. Of course, the best book on forgiveness has already been written. Maybe you’ve read it. Jesus wrote it.

Stuff hurts. Forgive.

Linda Garner

Tripping Over Ideas

Madeleine L’Engle is one of my heroes. I love the story she once told about ideas for writing.

The most asked question that I generally receive is, “Where do you get your ideas?” That’s very easily answered. I tell a story about Johann Sebastian Bach when he was an old man. A student asked him, “Papa Bach, where do you get the ideas for all of these melodies?” And the old man said, “Why, when I get up in the morning, it’s all I can do not to trip over them.” And that’s how ideas are; they’re just everywhere.

I agree with both Madeleine and Bach. Ideas are everywhere, but keeping track of those ideas is sometimes tricky. I may have three good ideas while driving and two more while I am stirring up dinner, or cleaning a toilet (not at the same time of course). When I sit down to write those ideas have often evaporated.

To help me keep track of ideas, I use a small notebook, one that’s easy to carry and fits in my purse. I use little sticky tabs to create sections. The back page is always for books I want to read or movies I want to watch. It keeps me from wandering around the library aimlessly, or staring blankly at a list of unfamiliar movies.

The front of the notebook is for book ideas. Usually they are one liners describing a topic that I’d like to develop into a book.

Inside the notebook are tabs for other kinds of ideas. Sometimes when I write a story I am stuck for just the right name, so it helps to keep a list of interesting names to draw from.

I have a section of first lines. Sometimes an entire story can be developed from just the write first line. One of the first lines in my idea book is “She was my best friend and my worst enemy.” Someday that will be the beginning of a book.

I love playing with words. Some words are just delightful. I like keeping a list of interesting words that are begging to be noticed. It’s fun just to look over this list and get the creative juices flowing.

The funny thing is that I don’t always have to look in my book to get creative. Just writing them down often anchors them in my memory. And also it keeps me from tripping over them when I get up in the morning.

Linda Garner