Great First Lines

The snow is coming down as I write this, looks like four or five inches so far.

The First Line – So much has been written about getting a book or short story getting off to a great start with a first line hook.  I am not sure the hook or great line needs to be in the first line, but it certainly needs to be in the first paragraph. Is a great hook or line necessary, not always? Fiction seems to do best with a great start, but nonfiction and often short stories do not necessarily need a great line to keep readers engaged.  

My all-time favorite is the Charles Dickens start to his classic, A Tale of Two Cities. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

In contrast, I have never understood why Herman Melville’s line, “Call me Ishmael,” is so widely considered the greatest opening line in history. You might ask why I don’t like that line, well, I do, but it starts chapter three, not one, and is some eighty paragraphs into the book.  Off the subject a bit, but for all of my author readers, Moby-Dick, now a worldwide classic, sold only a few over 3,000 books before Melville died in 1891, forty years after Moby-Dick was published.

 First Lines from two of my Eleven Books –I spend a lot of time on the openings of my books, often changing the opening a dozen times before I like it. Here is how I started two of my books, the first from book one of my kid's chapter book series, Melvin the E-Street Ghost. “As a kid, I lived on a red brick street in a very big white house. Not unusual considering, everyone I knew lived in a white house on a red brick street.”

From the second of my Blade Holmes western mysteries, The Ghost Dance is this line. "The man riding alone on his horse should have heard the shot, but he was already dead."

First lines never make a decision for me to keep reading or not read on, but a few pages, or a chapter in, will hook me, or send me off looking for another read.

From the Old West – A man who ain't got an idea of his own should be mighty careful who he borrows 'em from.

Backyard wildlife

What Am I Working On? Nothing much. What kind of an answer is that?  I just returned from the State School Boards Convention, and this post is the first thing I have written since Monday. But the rest of the day, and tomorrow, I will continue on the edit of my fourth chapter book. I might also do some research for my – in-progress – nonfiction book if I have the time.

 Photo of the Week – 

From a nice warm weather hike earlier this week

 

As always, you can find all my books here on Amazon

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Keep on Reading and keep on Writing

& 

Have a wonderful weekend.

 My newest book - Under Christmas Skies 

                                                        

Writing Time

It’s Writing Time Again

Sometimes I worry because I am such a non-morning person. Odd, since I was in my classroom teaching by eight AM for 42 years. Now that I am retired, and have the time to write full time, I find it hard to get up and get going. Because of this, I have become more and more an afternoon, evening and sometimes late night writer. So when is your writing time?

Hemmingway, despite his often, late nights, liked to write at first light. Stephen King writes six pages a day starting at eight or eight-thirty each morning.   Charles Dickens was at his desk by nine and wrote until two, taking a quick break for family lunch; afterward, he walked for three hours, and then enjoyed the rest of the day. No matter where I look, it seems everyone but me writes in the morning.

I do try to do my blog posts, which I have now turned into a twice-weekly effort, in the morning. Maybe these posts will spur me in to write more in the mornings.

The bottom line is – It doesn’t matter when you write, but if you write. I am writing five or six hundred words a day, plus whatever I do on my blog. Just write!

With great apologies to Buck Owens –

 It’s Writing Time Again and, I’m afraid the words will leave me

I can feel those faraway places in my mind

Saw this doe taking it easy on our evening ride yesterday

From the Old West –  Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from any direction.

What Am I Working On? – Back to doing some research on my nonfiction work about Fort Laramie. Also working out the rest of the outlines for two fiction books.  Editing my kid's chapter book - again.

 Photo of the Week –

Front yard - looks like I have some raking to do - Lucky that some fall into my pickup.

As always, you can find all my books here on Amazon

 Or

Follow me here on twitter at @wyohistoryguy

Keep on Reading and Keep on Writing

170 Year Old - A Christmas Carol - The Story

 In the past few weeks I have watched all or parts of several versions of the Charles Dickens story, “A Christmas Carol.”  Some newer movies kept the Dickens title and others have been renamed, Scrooge or Scrooged along with many other names that relate to the original story. Dozens of other short stories, books, television programs and movies are loosely based on the Dickens tale.

Dickens wrote the story as a commentary on greed in Britain at the time. His character Ebenezer Scrooge, became one of the most well know names in all of literature because of the story and likely because he was such an uncaring person throughout the first part of the story and changes as his life is revealed to him.

Dickens wrote the 80 page novella fairly fast, starting in September and finishing six weeks later in early December. Publishing it 170 years ago today- December 19, 1843 it became an instant success. The only problem was that Dickens needed money and hoped to make much more on the book than he did.

Dickens, “The Christmas Carol.” Has been continuously in print for 170 years and still sells well, especially around Christmas, throughout England, America and numerous other countries around the world.

Merry Christmas! 

Corner of Our Family Room

Maybe I Am Not Who You Think I Am

Are any of you, like me, trying to decide what penname you will be using after you become famous and want to write as someone else? Just kidding, but I find pennames to be an interesting study. Why do people use them, to remain anonymous I suppose, but why? Seems I know more writers that would like to be famous than those who would like to remain unknown.

Mark Twain might be the most famous of all, but many other writers, some quite famous, have written with names other than their own. Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Benjamin Franklin, Nora Roberts, J. K Rowling, And Charles Dickens among hundreds of others wrote at times with pennames. Some, which no one would ever suspect to have used pen names, like Agatha Christie and Emily Bronte also used pseudonyms when it suited them.

A few years ago I was flabbergasted to learn that two of my favorite western series writers, Dana Fuller Ross and Donald Clayton Porter were one in the same – Noel Bertram Gerson. I guess this falls under the heading of, you learn something every day.

Now I am beginning to think many of you that I follow are likely famous and using aliases on line so that I will not find out.

Or - probably not!

 Saw this little guy last evening just before dark

 

Wilkie Collins -The Women in White

I have long been a huge fan of Charles Dickens and felt it was about time I read one of the works by his longtime best friend, Wilkie Collins. I am part way through Collins, The Women in White, his fifth and reportedly his best novel.

So who was Wilkie Collins? The author who started detective fiction, the ending cliffhanger and maybe modern day detective mystery novels. Collins novel, The Women in White, I referenced above, often pops up on lists of 100 greatest novels, and so far, half way through, I have not been disappointed. Next time you find a good detective mystery or a story with a super cliffhanger thank Wilkie.

Wilkie Collins died at 65 after years of battling gout and drug problems related to pain meds he took for the gout. Wow, did that hit home. I have been battling gout problems for years. Think I will read some more of his stuff but will stay away from reading any more about his sufferings from gout.

One last note, The Women in White, is a Kindle free download.

 

 

Why I Love Charles Dickens

When I was in high school our librarian liked to suggest books or authors to students she believed might like them. That is how my live long love of the works of Charles Dickens started. She suggested I try, Oliver Twist and I couldn’t put it down. My second Dickens' book was, A Tale of Two Cities. Who doesn’t love the greatest opening lines in all of fiction?

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”

Dickens led an incredible story book life. He father was imprisoned for debt and he was forced to work in a factory for pennies a day. Many would have accepted their lot and told all who would listen their tales of woe. But not Dickens, he read. He has often been described as an autodidact, and I suppose he was. He read, he learned and he remembered, forever.

Dickens intellect not only got him out of the blacking factory it made him famous. By age 24, only 12 years after being forced into the boot black factory, he was one of the most famous people in England. He reached the fame through the publication of his, Pickwick Papers. The papers were printed in installments and became the most widely read articles in all of Europe.

Dickens never returned to school, nor did he need to. His formal education ended after elementary school and after Shakespeare he may be the most famous of all English writers. His works are still selling today, his Tale of Two Cites, I referenced above has sold over 200 million copies. Because of his tough upbringing Dickens remained a champion of the poor and down trodden throughout his life giving both time and money to many helpful causes.

Born a pauper to a dead beat father Dickens story is remarkable. He could have been forgotten by the age of 12, instead he spent the next 46 years becoming one of the most beloved authors in all of the English language. Charles Dickens life ended too soon at 58, he was buried with kings and queens in Westminster Abby. Quite a finish for someone who started the race in last.

 

 

 

 

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Western First Lines

Today we will look at the second of two parts on famous, western novel, first lines. Some opening lines are great, some are all right and some are downright dreadful. See if you can guess who penned these first lines. Answers on the bottom of the page—no peaking.

“When the earth was already ancient, of an age incomprehensible to man, an event of basic importance occurred in the area which would later be known as Colorado.” 

“In later years people often asked Hugh Hitchcock about the Canadian River cowboy strike of 1883.”

“He was on the east side of the Absaraka Range, in the timber, heading down toward the Popo Agie. He was in no hurry, and there was no reason for him to go there.

“A boy and a horse. A thin knobby boy, coming sixteen, all long bone and stringy muscle, not yet grown up to knuckly hands and seeming oversized feet.”

“He rolled the cigarette in his lips, liking the taste of the tobacco, squinting his eyes against the sun glare.”

 -See answers below-

 

 

Centennial – James Michner

The Day the Cowboys Quit – Elmer Kelton

The First Mountain Man – William W. Johnstone

Monte Walsh – Jack Schaefer

Hondo – Louis L’Amour

 Not really much of a western but you still cannot beat – “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”  Charles Dickens