Got Books You Love?

I’ve found some of my biggest inspiration through the books I love.

I wrote The Girl Next Door after re-reading The Catcher in the Rye. I was so moved by the relationship between Holden Caulfield and his dead brother, and I wished that I could read a story about them – a prequel.

My subconscious must’ve been especially taken by the idea of using a life-threatening illness as a backdrop for a story, because I woke up the next morning with the words, “Jesse’s dying” in my head. I actually said them out-loud!

Then I said, “Who’s Jesse?”

My subconscious had the answer – and the entire novel, just waiting to be put to paper.

What’s your favorite book? What’s its theme? Today’s writing prompt invites you to think about this, and then write an opening paragraph to a story inspired by that book you love.

I hope you’ll share your results with me. I’ll be looking for yours up until next Wednesday, and I'll post the winner(s) on Friday, May 4. When entering, please tell me the name of the book which inspired your entry.

Hey, you might wind up with a whole novel.

I did!

Enjoy,

Selene

Metaphor This!

"Those words are most pleasant which give us new knowledge. Strange words have no meaning for us; common terms we know already. It is metaphor which gives us most of this pleasure." Aristotle

I know, I know. It's not the day for Got Inspiration. It's Got Writing Monday. So I do have a prompt for you but I've got a challenge too, of another sort - at the end - before the prompt. But I had to start with Aristotle. He's a dude.

Metaphors are cool. According to About.com there are 13 different types of them from mixed metaphors to submerged metaphors to visual metaphors. For any metaphor though the idea is to make a comparison between two unlike things that actually have something in common. A metaphor expresses the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar (About.com; metaphor; Nordquist, Richard).

Metaphor's make your writing sing. Overused they can stick out like a sore thumb (overused metaphor). But used just right they can activate powerful imagistic areas of the brain. I just made that word up. Here are four short quotes with metaphors. Can you match the quote to the book/author?

Quotes:
1. Considering the fact that they were inside a thousand-foot-long airship made from the life threads of a whale and a hundred other species, it hardly smelled at all. The scent was like a mix of animal sweat and clart, like a stable in summer. 


2. Far down the maze of ducts, Sloth was cranking away at a winding drum, sweat bright on her skin, blond hair pasted slick to her face as she sucked the wire out like a rice noodle from a bowl of Chen's soup ration. 


3. Dead leaves crunched beneath his feet like sharp teeth on bones, and the moon cast blue-black shadows all around that looked like monstrous figures eating unspeakable living buffets. 


4. I have what looks like the outline of a normal boy's ear, but it's pressed down into the flesh, squashed like potter's clay. 

Match to Book, Author:
a. Stick, Andrew Smith
b. Goliath, Scott Westerfield
c. Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi
d. Return to Exile, E.J. Patten

So here's your writing challenge for this week. Come up with a metaphor using 1-2 sentences, no more, that create an image for us that will light up our occipital lobes. We'll take entries through Wednesday April 11and post the winner on Friday, April 13.
- Joe

got writing?

KILLER FIRST LINES

“Truth is the beginning of every good thing...”

-Plato

To produce a killer story, you need to start with a killer first line.

Not only to entice the reader to move forward, but also for the more important reason of moving yourself forward.

You are your own first reader. You have to be compelled enough to carry on. If you’re not interested, why on earth would anyone else be?

 Here are three examples of killer first lines:

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”-The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

"Where's Papa going with that ax?" - Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.

“Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler’s pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die.” - Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Each of these lines has their own style, but they all capture your attention.

Your first line can be long or short, funny or sad, sarcastic or down to earth...But it must be original and it must contain a hook.

And...in my opinion, it must contain a truth.

Here are some first lines I’ve written:

 “Benjamin Tallmadge had never killed before.”

-By the Sword

 “Jesse’s dying.”

-The Girl Next Door

“The taxi’s spinning wheels spit pebbles and dirt as it left me behind at the marina’s gate.”
-Saved by the Music

As you can see, my approach varies. But each of these lines was the thing that propelled me into the rest of the story. And each of these lines reveals some insight: informational, emotional and/or psychological.

What’s your killer first line? Please share it with us at gotteenfiction@gmail.com. Deadline is Wednesday, April 3. We’ll post our choice for the most compelling line on Friday, April 6.

And hey, if you’re really daring, feel free to send us your opening paragraph!

-Selene