Coming Soon! The Joy of Anticipation
by Laurie Schnebly Campbell
There’s nothing kids love more than knowing their birthday is coming up soon:
- People will sing Happy Birthday just for them!
- They’re gonna have CANDLES on their cake!!
- They’ll be the star of the whole day!!!
We all know that feeling of looking forward to a Big Day. Even after we’ve outgrown the thrill of counting candles on our cake, we still feel it before some special event... like, say, a writing conference:
- I’ll be able to chat with fellow writers!
- I’ll meet other creative people and discuss what we do!!
- I’ll get all kinds of free stuff!!!
Regardless of our age or event, anticipation is something EVERYONE loves. It makes our blood sparkle. We actively enjoy picturing some experience we know will be a treat, contemplating the pleasure ahead while sitting at a stoplight, doing a mundane chore, or anything else that can be brightened with a bit of excitement.
What gives YOU that feeling of anticipation?
You might have quite a few things, but it’s likely that one you especially enjoy is (drum roll) opening the cover of a long-awaited new book.
How will it start? Who’ll appear on the first page? What will they be doing, or thinking about, or talking about?
Will the story surprise you? Will it be what you’ve come to expect from this author? Will it make you feel challenged? Dreamy? Thrilled? Thoughtful? Scared? Entertained?
You’re probably going there in with some idea of what to expect, just from the book cover or title or author. But even so, no matter whose story you’re picking up, two crucial things determine how your expectations will be rewarded:
1. Boffo Beginnings
Ideally, the first 25 words will show whether your feeling of anticipation was justified. Maybe you’re instantly grabbed and engaged.
Maybe you’re not 100% consumed by those words, but you’re interested enough to keep reading the next 25. The next 100. The next 500. That’s a slower payoff, but it still leaves you aware that “yep, I want to know more!”
What openings have left you feeling that way?
For me, one that jumped out was from Ken Follett’s The Key to Rebecca: “The last camel collapsed at noon.” Huh? What? What’s this ABOUT?!
A friend’s recommendation of how Martha Wells opened All Systems Red turned me into a Murderbot series fan:
“I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don’t know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.” Okay, I’m hooked—I’ve gotta read more!
(And you’re already thinking of openings that have done that for YOU, right?)
But you also know that the closing is every bit as important as the opening. Which takes us into the next crucial element:
2. Fab Finales
The thing about great beginnings and/or great closings: neither one is especially useful without the other. As it happens, both those books whose openings I loved ALSO delivered highly satisfying conclusions.
But sometimes, readers can get so moved or exhilarated or heartbroken or renewed by the closing of a book that—even if they couldn’t quote you the opening line—they’re definitely gonna order this author’s next title as soon as it comes out.
Remember these exceptional closings?
- “Yes,” I said. “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”
- Reader, I married him.
- “And, oh, Aunt Em! I’m so glad to be at home again!”
- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
- He loved Big Brother.
- “After all, tomorrow is another day.”
I probably don’t even have to identify those books (although I should give the authors credit, so thanks to Ernest Hemingway for The Sun Also Rises, Charlotte Bronte for Jane Eyre, L. Frank Baum for The Wizard of Oz, F. Scott Fitzgerald for The Great Gatsby, George Orwell for 1984 and Margaret Mitchell for Gone With the Wind).
But did you notice how all these stories could be considered classics? Endings that resonate like the ones above tend to keep a book front-of-mind when recommending Great Reads, and everyone loves telling friends about their fabulous discovery.
So for writers, the trick is to have both a boffo beginning AND a fab finale, which involves quite a few techniques. Just as no two expert painters would give the exact same advice on how they create their best art, the same is true for book openings and closings...but feedback on options is always useful!
And speaking of options, you can choose whether to send in a comment for this:
Prize-Drawing Question
What’s a book you’ve loved because of (at least in part) its opening, closing or both?
Someone who answers will win free registration to Boffo Beginnings & Fab Finales, my November 3-14 email class on that very thing. This weekend I’ll have random-org draw a name and post it at the end of the comments, so check back Sunday when you'll still have a week to alert me "yes, I'll take it" at the email on my website below.
* * * * * *
About Laurie:
After winning Romantic Times’ “Best Special Edition of the Year” over Nora Roberts, Laurie Schnebly Campbell discovered she loved teaching every bit as much as writing... if not more. Since then she’s taught in-person and online workshops including the upcoming Boffo Beginnings & Fab Finales, and keeps a special section of her bookshelves for people who’ve developed that particular novel in her classes. With 50+ titles there so far, she’s always hoping for more.
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I'll do the prize drawing part later. The stories that most regularly draw me in are actually written by someone I used to be in a critique group with (weekly anticipation, yes!). When you talk about the two big Ds (dialogue and description) she wrote the book on the description part. The book she was working on while I was in the critique group with her was about a psychically-sensitive young woman - just released from a mental hospital - who now works in a haunted house - and it's almost Halloween. It's probably been ten years since that critique group, but the opening and imagery from her story stick with me to this very day. If you want a taste of what her writing is like, I found this snippet online:
[Link deleted]
As to published authors, the two whose latest offerings I look so forward to are Diane Mott-Davidson (cozy mystery) and Kathy Reichs (forensic investigation). In the former, I love her main character (a caterer - story recipes included in the book!), and in the latter, the continuation on of her life (the murder investigations are fabulous too, but things that unfold in her personal life are also worth anticipating).
The author with my favorite endings won't be putting out any more new stuff because he's been dead for some time - the illustrious H.P. Lovecraft. All of his (mostly) short stories are interesting in their own right, but as a horror author, it's the endings that get you. An entire tragedy unfolds, but just when you think everything's resolved, he ends with something which shows it may not be as resolved as you think. My favorite story is "The Color Out of Space", but the one with the best ending is "Pickman's Model". In fact, I found the ending of "The Color Out of Space" so intriguing that I wrote a NANOWRIMO novel sequel.
Heather, it's so cool to get anticipation from actually reading the writer's work week-by-week ahead of the book release...I'll bet all her fans would greatly envy you if they knew what an opportunity you got to enjoy! And now, even though I'm usually scared by horror stories, you've got me wanting to check out those two H.P. Lovecrafts.
Although I read Remarkably Bright Creatures a few years ago, I’ll never forget the ending when Marcelles heads back into the sea! I was so emotional because he was finally free but also because we knew he was going off to die 🥹🥲
Sorry to those who have not read it yet if I spoiled the ending 👀
Nancie, wasn't that a powerful ending? And even knowing that he WAS about to go die was made easier with him having been counting down the number of days he had left ever since Page 1 -- we knew he'd been accepting that fate all along, but now had the extra triumph of having helped his favorite person. <3
‘Don’t look now,’ John said to his wife, ‘but there are a couple of old girls two tables away who are trying to hypnotise me.’
This opening sentence of Daphne du Maurier's "Don't Look Now" captures the entire story, including the ending: The hammering and the voices and the barking dog grew fainter, and, ‘Oh God,’ he thought,‘what a bloody silly way to die….’
It's a great ending.
Paula, I'd forgotten that story -- it sure was impactful! I remember instantly going back to the beginning and re-reading the whole thing to see what (if anything) I'd missed on the first pass. She was one heck of a writer ...and now that I think of it, your books have a lot of that same flavor.
Hi Laurie. I think one of the best opening lines (apart from the ones that you have so rightly mentioned) is: "By the time you read this I shall be dead..." (from The Part-time Job by PD James). Since the time she wrote it, over a 100 years ago, we have read/heard that line over and over again in many books (though not always as an opening line) and movies, but the intrigue value doesn't fade. You are hurled into the story right away and want to know how/why did this person die!
Adite, you're SO right about the intrigue value never fading! I forget what book I read recently with that same opening, but I remember marveling at how it still works so incredibly well. And, boy, P.D. James is right up there with Daphne DuMaurier above; I wonder if short-story writing is a good tool for building exceptional skill with great openings?
I like romance novels, and especially like the ones that begin with something so tense and intriguing I just have to read on. This opening, that I particularly like, is from one of the vintage Silhouette Special Editions I have in my bookcase.
“Where are my children?”
“I don’t know," the airport clerk repeated, and Kirsten Lawrence fought back a flare of panic. “All I know is, they’re not on this flight. If they were, we’d have the unaccompanied minor paperwork."
But what if Brad had forgotten to fill it out? Or the airline had lost it someplace? Maybe she was grasping at straws, but the possibility of not seeing Lindsay, Adam and Eric as soon as the plane arrived was making her stomach twist with horror.
Oh, Janet, what fun seeing my own work up there -- thank you! And you raised a good point about how tension & intrigue doesn't necessarily indicate a mystery / action-adventure / thriller type of book; those same things can happen even in a romance. 🙂
I love a slow camera-panning start to a story, where I, as reader, have a birds-eye view of the scene, and get to slowly zoom in as the author brings us into the main character's mind. Elizabeth Lowell did that for me with this opening line in her romantic suspense, Always Time To Die: "The cutting edge of a winter storm made the house sigh and moan as if someone was dying." This was from the prologue and while the first chapter held a different tone, that first line kept a dangerous undercurrent alive and active for me throughout. Loved it.
BUT, Laurie, you mentioned Orwell's 1984, and who doesn't feel an unsettling tingle from the very first words in that masterpiece? "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." Yikes! Talk about a need-to-know more!
Debbie, you're right about 1984 having both a fabulous opening AND closing...that'd be another entertaining exploration. (Hmm, maybe in a few years?) And I like your observation about Elizabeth Lowell's different tones in the prologue and first chapter; that's a very effective style of foreshadowing!
Hi Laurie,
Great post as always. I was drawn to Pride and Prejudice as the opening lines suggest that generalised comments are true but since it's at the start I know there is at least one exception and I want to cheer them on. Likewise the ending is narrowed down to Darcy and Elizabeth's feelings giving me the pay off.
Cheers
Tracey
Tracey, good call on Pride and Prejudice delivering both a strong opening and strong closing...there's a nice overarching theme throughout the story, there! "Pay off" is a good way of describing what we want at the end; I like that.
Other than The Old Man and the Sea, no book has pulled me in as quickly as Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. I doubt it would make many people’s lists of great openings, but the instant sense of another world—so vivid and so strange--had me from the first line.
Timing probably played its part. I’d opened it in the YA section, looking for something my son might enjoy. (Ha!) But rereading that first page this morning, I felt the same jolt of wonder.
And the ending--well, it didn’t satisfy so much as ignite. I only wanted more.
“… looked into the sun, and walked into the sky.” Ha again--pretending it’s a normal world.
Thank you, Laurie, for the excuse to fall back into Pullman’s universe.
P.S. No need to enter me in the drawing -- I'm already hooked.
Jennifer, you have great wording for what made the opening -- instant sense of another world, so vivid and so strange" -- AND the closing -- "ignite. I only wanted more" -- tremendously effective...now I've gotta find The Golden Compass!
I'm going to pull the opening line from the book I'm currently reading - "An Unexpected Pleasure" by Candace Camp. The line is "The shriek cut through the night", which, in and of itself is a great hook in isolation, but it also sets up the mystery element that underlies the story. I love when opening lines set the atmosphere for the book when hooking you in.
Amanda, good point about now an effective opening line will sett the atmosphere...that doesn't always happen, and when it happens with exceptional intrigue or fascination or compulsion (like in this book) it definitely qualifies as a boffo beginning!
I'm going to go with This Is How You Lose The Time War (Amal el-Motar and Max Gladstone) which is just overall an amazing book, but opens and closes very strongly: "When Red wins, she stands alone.
"Blood slicks her hair. She breathes out steam in the last night of this dying world."
And the ending:
"But maybe this is how we win, Red.
"You and me.
"This is how we win."
Michael, I remember my son & DIL describing that book as the best they'd read in YEARS, so of course I grabbed it...and that opening and closing sure do summon up all the power and drama and horror and glory that resonate throughout the entire story.
Hey, Laura! Nice to see you, honey😍
Cheryl, seeing your name is a fun surprise; thanks for dropping in!
I called you Laura instead of Laurie. So sorry. We've had a foot in six holes lately. 🙂
Cheryl, good heavens, a foot in six hours sounds bizarre! And I always used to wish I were named Laura instead of Laurie because it sounded so much more grown-up...so for a quick moment I got the thrill any kid feels when they're treated like a grown-up. 🙂
Great insights, Laurie. Thank you so much. Going old school with my choice. I remember the first time I read “A Tale of Two Cities” — ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’ I had heard the phrase before, but as a kid, I didn’t know where it came from. And then to read the last line — ‘It is a far, far better thing …’ well, I just wept! I haven’t picked up that book since I was a kid, but I still remember its impact.
Nan, isn't it wonderful when a book sticks with us from childhood well into adulthood? I'm impressed you read it as a kid; I think I was in my 30s and remember feeling relieved that after all the raves I'd heard over the years, it actually DID live up to its reputation. 🙂
Thanks for these quotes, Laurie, and the good memories of these books, like old friends. This makes me think of the beginning and ending of Louise Penny's "A Trick of the Light." It opens with the line: “Oh, no, no, no thought Clara Morrow as she walked towards the closed doors.” And it ends with a paragraph that only works in the context of this story, but works so marvellously well that its embittered hope brings tears to my eyes. Not what you'd expect from a murder mystery, but Louise Penny's mysteries are always a different experience. I won't quote it here but I'd love to hear what you think of it, if you've read it (or read it in the future.)
Marie, wow, you're right about the Louise Penny closing -- she's always good, but that one was especially poignant. And what a great way of bringing readers back to the next in the series...and the next...and the next....
What book have I just loved because of either the book's opening or the closing or both?
Freida McFadden's book THE INTRUDER begins with:
"There is at least a 50% chance that in the next 24 hours, the roof of the cabin I'm renting will collapse and kill me."
I love all of her books and have read all of them. Obviously this opening line would make most readers think (at least I did) "what the heck is going on?" And her books never disappoint.
Patti, isn't it a treat to find an author whose every book (more or less, anyway) makes us excited about reading all their other books as well? And that opening is a particularly good one; it'd be fun having a club discussion of Favorite FM Beginnings. 🙂
The opening line that springs to mind is from Sherrilyn Kenyon's 'Night Play'... "I'm so sorry, Vane. I swear I didn't mean to get us killed like this." I immediately had to know more. And ended up reading the entire series.
And though it isn't a book, I was definitely hooked by the opening of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'd heard so many writers remark on its great pacing, but I don't read/watch vampires stories. Still, I buckled down with pad in hand to take notes.(Opening- Two teens sneak into school at night. Cue ominous music and strange noise. The girl is nervous "Did you hear that?" Boy reassures her they're alone. She smiles, turns into a vamp and bites him). All before the opening credits roll. Seriously, who could take notes after that. I put the pad down, enjoyed the episode and rewatched it later to study the pacing.
As to endings, I tend to read/write series, so I like an ending that also sets up next book. In 'Unleash the Night' (Sherrilyn Kenyon-paranormal romance) she she shows the wedding of hero/heroine then shifts to viewpoint of a major secondary character ...
'His old life was over..Now, like Wren and Maggie, it was time for a new chapter to begin in his life. And he could feel it coming, just like the wave that was cresting ...'
Lee, I'd forgotten that Buffy opening -- you're right; that was astonishing. (I joined the series in Season 2 after my editor raved about it and didn't see the kickoff for a while, but it was good even then.) And with your series prowess, it makes perfect sense that you're spotting the highlights of Sherrilyn Kenyon's techniques!
Hi There Laurie! So good to see you here again. One book that stands out in my mind is Homestead by Melinda Moustakis. Historical fiction is my jam, and this novel tells about homesteading in Alaska a few years before statehood. It starts out with a delicious description of the 150 acres below Pioneer Peak where the main character's children "will call the years." We're there with him.
The writing is spare at times but deep, leading readers to read between the lines. NPR says: Homestead is a beautiful novel, quiet as a snowfall, warm as a glowing wood stove.
Between the promise of beautiful historical Alaska and the story of a newly married couple getting to know each other while working their tails off to heed the grueling conditions of acquiring a homestead, I was hooked.
Debbie, right off the bat I love the idea of where the main character's children "will call the years." It gives such a vivid picture of the whole flavor of the book, and that title is definitely going on my To Be Read list!
I always love reading your posts, Laurie, so many thanks for this keeper! I really struggle with beginnings, so I have a feeling I need to take your November class. And OF COURSE I have a houseguest for most of those dates.
I get major book anticipation for my favorite authors. Most of all when there is a new book in a beloved series. Will this one be as great as the last one? Will I get to see all my favorite characters? Will this character who I watched in the other books get a story worthy of them? It's totally a thing. 🙂
Jenny, "major book anticipation" is such a great phrase -- and especially, as you're right in observing, when there's a new book in a series you already love. PS: no worries about houseguests this month; I teach Boffo/Fab every few years. 🙂
Oh, great news that you'll teach it again!!
Jenny, there are classes I just can't stay away from. It's always fun seeing what references should change after a few years, like replacing the most popular new genre...
This beginning has stayed with me for 50 years! From Jubal Sackett:
"A cold wind blew off Hanging Dog Mountain and I had no fire, nor dared I strike so much as a spark that might betray my hiding place. Somewhere near, an enemy lurked, waiting." The last line in particular. I keep thinking that the line, "There's a bullet out there with my name on it," came from one of L'Amour's books. Another line that has stayed with me for decades.
A more recent first line: "If I leave this house, it will be in handcuffs." The Housemaid by Freida McFadden. She's a master of first paragraphs, first lines.
When I first started writing, I collected first lines, studied them, then tried imitating them. I think I succeeded. My latest is the first line from my upcoming psychological thriller to be published mid-Nov: "I've waited a long time to exact my revenge."
I still love finding (and writing) first lines!
P.S. No need to put my name in the drawing; it's a subject I've taught. 🙂 Love that you're teaching it!
Diana, wow, it's so cool to remember a line that's stayed with you for half a century...can you imagine that author thinking back in the 1970s how somebody might still be quoting the opening waaaay off in the future? (Or, heck, Freida McFadden imagining it now!)
Laurie, thank you so much for reminding me of the gut-punch of "He loved Big Brother." Wow.
My all-time favorite opening line is from an otherwise-unmemorable book whose name and author I don't even recall. "One thing was for damn sure, he wasn't going to get away with it again." I simply had to know more!
Meg, isn't it fun seeing lines we loved long ago but hadn't kept top-of-mind? And, boy, I wish Google would've yielded an answer to where your favorite opening line came from; I'm right there with you in really wanting to know more. 🙂
I get that anticipatory tingle when acquiring a nonfiction book! Sometimes, all it takes is the title and the back-of-the-book blurb.
Most of the fiction that warrants my keeping it hasn't been read in quite a while, and most of it is packed in a storage unit. But authors I will repeatedly read (all deceased, most out of print now) include Nevil Shute, Kenneth Roberts, Ruth Moore, and M. M. Kaye. They are all masterful storytellers.
Sally, it's handy that nonfiction gives you that anticipatory tingle -- there are sure plenty of nonfiction books as well as fiction published every year! And what a treat seeing your favorite authors...that's a fun journey back through time.
Oh I love how this resonates, and you've chosen classics we all know. As you said, didn't remember the lines but the sense of each book springs vividly alive on a mention.
Because I can't follow instructions this is the opening and closing line from a favourite series- The Queens Thief by Megan Whalen Turner: "I didn't know how long I had been in the King's prison."
Series closing line:"Nothing more than that.And everything else left up to you."
Moya, great job on choosing favorite opening & closing lines -- nothing wrong with making them from a series instead of an individual book. And my DIL will be thrilled to hear that you mentioned The Queens Thief; she's always said that's her favorite of all time.
Hi Laurie, great post as always! 🙂 I can’t think of any particular beginnings or endings that have stayed with me longer than the next book I pick up. But when I reach the final page and let out that little “ohhhh” sigh, I know the author absolutely nailed it.
Chris, what a wonderful description of how good it feels to reach the end of a book where the author absolutely nailed it. I wonder if writers get extra joy out of that from sheer appreciation of the craft, or if non-writers get every bit as satisfying an experience...but suspect there's no way to find out, drat it.
Hi Laurie,
I have loved the opening and the closing of The Beast Takes a Bride by Julie Anne Long. I keep re-reading the book. In fact, I loved it SO much that I bought the print book (I originally bought the ebook). The opening was fun and different: the heroine's in jail over a "misunderstanding" with a carriage. Then, her estranged husband comes to get her out. I usually don't read romances where the couple is already together, but this may have changed my mind. As for the ending, it reminded me of Meet the Earl at Midnight's ending! Angsty and all. 🙂
Happy Fall to you!-Gina
Gina, thanks and happy fall to you too -- I bet your scenery is gorgeous right now! Hurray for the possible mind change about romances where the couple's already together; I love those because the stakes are SO much higher. And picturing one of those stories in your voice is lovely to anticipate...
This was really hard. I read so much, nothing specific jumped into my head. But then there was one of CE Murphy's Walker Papers books. Those are urban fantasy, so the romance was a very slow build across the series, and the main character was in a dire situation, and the skeptical, reserved love interest literally came screeching in to help her, I think driving HER beloved car. I don't think the book ended on a complete cliffhanger with that moment, but I was freaking giddy with joy at the fulfillment of all my wishes. LOL
Natalie, what's not to love about the fulfillment of all our wishes? And you've got me curious about the Walker Papers series; this is the first I've heard of it but now I've gotta go check it out...thanks for what sounds like a great recommendation!
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Denise, talk about a classic — I think that might be one of the top 10 openings of all time, known even by people who’d never dream of reading a historical romance. (Although the movies sure didn’t hurt!(
It’s probably a cliche to say it, but a book I have LOVED for both its opening and closing is A Tale of Two Cities. It has such a lovely beginning that practically everyone in the world knows by heart, and the last line makes me cry to repeat it. Both the beginning and the ending resonate with the heart and sacrifice of the story and does the most important thing that a book can do—it makes me FEEL!
Wonderful blog post! So glad to have read it!
Brenda, you just made A Tale of Two Cities our most frequently cited book...and that honor IS well deserved! Good observation on how both sides reveal the sacrifice and heart of the story; that's a great example of bookends (which are always optional, but nice to have).
Beginnings:
“Our dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley.”
-Uprooted, Naomi Novik
“A sea of mist drifted through the cloud forest, soft, gray, luminescent.”
-Shards of Honor, Lois McMaster Bujold
Endings:
“It doesn’t matter now whether she’s coming for you, the hiding is enough. You win when no one finds you, even if they’re not looking.
When you break from behind the tree it’s because you want to. It’s the first breath after a long dive. Branches snap under your feet and the world is hotter and brighter. ‘Ready or not, here I come. Here I come. Ready or not.’”
-Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell
I love your post and it's sparked up the old writer brain! Lately, I'm attracted to the subtle and immersive with the tension of the hook coming...beautiful or funny gets me too. But I keep thinking about, "by the time you read this, I shall be dead." (PD James). Someone else mentioned that in the comments and now I'm ready to rewrite the opening of my current wip!
Anna, those two beginnings are a wonderful illustration of hooking people through events or through setting...both can be powerful! And that Fangirl ending has me curious about what preceded it; I'm betting it has an equally intriguing opening. 🙂
So many wonderful, and diverse choices here! (And many I would've chosen myself). Had to scour my Kindle for some original ones, but found a few:
Beginnings: (I love juicy, suspenseful prologues for the anticipation, but single, haunting lines tell me this will be a complex character I might get lost in. It's a toss-up!)
One-liners:
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."-- 1984. I include this one because, I'm embarrassed to say that for a long time it didn't click that Orwell was talking about military time-- oh dohhh! At first it chilled me to imagine a government altering time, but the "real" purpose is so spot-on.
"The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation." - A Secret History, Donna Tartt. I love this for all the unanswered questions, but also a hint that the main characters might be ethically challenged.
"The first person I met in England was an hallucination."-- The Alice Network, Kate Quinn. (I dare anyone not to keep reading after that 🙂
Juicy Prologue scenes:
The Briar Club, Kate Quinn. A crime scene on Thanksgiving day, with two corpses, is described in great detail. The author describes the reactions of seventeen people, most of whom live in the home where the murders were committed.
Endings: I'm a goldilocks when it comes to conclusions-- don't like 'em too happily-ever-after, but don't like overly ambivalent either. Sadly (imho), a lot of novels have left me vaguely unsatisfied. Some that I remember leaving me thinking but in a good way (and brought the story full-circle!):
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey-- One of the only books I read where the death of a central character was almost a relief. After the Chief smothers McMurphy he breaks out of the institution, finally reclaiming himself.
"The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off."-- Catch-22, Joseph Heller. To me, the imagery encapsulates the story perfectly.
Anita, wow, your ending quote was one I almost used in the list of "greats" -- when I had too many words, that was the quote I trimmed but we're sure on the same page there. And I like your distinction between compelling lines and compelling prologues; there's a lot to be said for grabbing readers instantly AND for luring them in more slowly!
I love romantic suspense and one of my favorite Christian romantic suspense authors is Dani Pettrey. From "The Shifting Current":
Death. It permeated her hair, her skin. She wanted to crawl out of it, but there was nowhere to go.
No way could I put it down after reading THAT! I recommend anything from Dani. I've never been disappointed.
Lori, now you've got me eager to check out Dani Pettrey. I know you're a first-lines connoisseur -- your own "Harper had never felt so...old" from Love's True Calling has stayed with me for ages! -- so anything you recommend is something I automatically expect will be fabulous. 🙂
Oh, wow! Thank you! I'm so touched that you remember that line. 🙂
This was rich reading. It brought back "Bacl Hearts in Battlesea" and some others I didn't know I remembered. Glad you have a major birthday. coming up and looking forward to celebrating you on that date.
Lisa, thanks for the birthday wishes -- and, wow, what a kick to think of Black Hearts in Battersea again! I remember that as the first childhood book in which "bad" things happened, and how startling it was that a happy ending wasn't guaranteed...fabulous suspense.
Thanks to everybody who shared favorite openings and/or closings, along with a lot of great observations about both! With comments from 30 people, I fed that number into random dot org and it drew #20 which is Sally Chetwynd — congratulations, Sally, and your class invite to the GroupsIO loop is coming right up!
I love reading your articles here on WITS! Know you're in the middle of a class, so write me back later, dear Laurie! Mystery conferences? Consider Malice Domestic 38, April 24-26,2026 in Bethesda, MD. Your chance to see so many dear Guppies and me! Now off to duties as BOD Author Liaison for the conference: reading short stories for our anthology Mystery Most Senior!
Beth, that sounds like a. fun conference -- good luck with all the preparations!