Carmela A. Martino

Below is a list of the resources I shared in my ACFW-Chicago presentation "Great Beginnings: How to Hook Readers and Keep Them Turning the Pages":

Books:

• Beginnings, Middles and Ends by Nancy Kress (Writer's Digest Books)
• The Writer's Guide to Crafting Stories for Children by Nancy Lamb (Writer's Digest Books)
• Hooked: Write Fiction that Grabs Readers at Page One and Never Lets Them Go by Les Edgerton (Writer's Digest Books)
• Your First Page by Peter Selgin (Serving House Books)
• Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Lisa Crons (Ten Speed Press)

Articles:

• The Deadliest First Page Sin by Peter Selgin
• Writer's Digest magazine Jan, 2011 article by Elizabeth Sims, "8 Ways to Write a 5-Star Chapter One."
• Article by Bharti Kirchner in The Writer, Dec. 2010, “The Pleasures and Perils of Prologues."

Blog posts by former literary agent turned developmental editor
Mary Kole, author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit (Writer’s Digest Books):

• The Promise of the Novel
• Writing Compelling Novel First Pages
• Your Novel's First Line
• How to Start a Novel

I didn't mention the following articles, but they may also be of help.

• How to Write a Short Story, article includes info on how to "Write the perfect first line" and links to another article specifically on that topic.
• Article listing examples of some BAD ways to start a novel.

If you have any questions about the presentation, you can post them as a comment below or email me via the "Contact" page of this blog.

Here are links to the online resources I'll be sharing this evening at the Fountaindale Public Library presentation, "Great Beginnings: How to Hook Readers and Keep Them Turning the Pages":

* Writer's Digest magazine Jan, 2011 article by Elizabeth Sims, "8 Ways to Write a 5-Star Chapter One."
* Article by Bharti Kirchner in The Writer, Dec. 2010, “The Pleasures and Perils of Prologues."

Blog posts by former literary agent Mary Kole, who is also the author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit (Writer’s Digest Books):
• “The Promise of the Novel"
• “First Lines"
• “Fix Your Beginning"

Also, I won't be mentioning this article listing examples of some BAD ways to start a novel tonight, but it may be of interest, too.

If you have any questions about the presentation, you can post them as a comment below or email me via the "Contact" page of this blog.
 Read More 

This post is for students of the fall 2016 session of my COD "Finding Your Writer's Voice" class.

To read winners of the Writer's Digest Photo Prompt contest, see this page. Remember: these are polished manuscripts--don't compare them to your freewrite story.

For info about the COD Writers at Work group see this website.

To learn about Waterline Writers, a group that meets monthly in Batavia, IL, see this website.

For an interesting article on the question of "Do I have writing talent?," see the Writer Unboxed website.

Here are two other articles you may find of interest:
a listing of some BAD ways to start a novel and
a piece called "The 'Zen' of Writing".

Finally, I invite you to sign up for my e-newsletter in the right sidebar on the News page. If you do, be sure to watch for a confirmation e-mail in your inbox--it may end up in your SPAM folder. You MUST click on the link in that e-mail to activate your subscription.

No matter what, I hope you'll keep writing!
 Read More 

Here are links to the online resources I'll be sharing at the Ela Public Library presentation, "Great Beginnings: How to Hook Readers and Keep Them Turning the Pages" on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013 :

* Writer's Digest magazine Jan, 2011 article by Elizabeth Sims, "8 Ways to Write a 5-Star Chapter One." .
* Article by Bharti Kirchner in The Writer, Dec. 2010, “The Pleasures and Perils of Prologues ."

Blog posts by former literary agent Mary Kole, who is also the author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit (Writer’s Digest Books):
• “The Promise of the Novel."
• “First Lines ."
• “Fix Your Beginning."

If you have any questions about the presentation, you can post them as a comment below or email me via the "Contact" page of this blog.
 Read More