Horton Hears a Hook Hop!

That's not a hook, Horton!

Kimberly Zook over at Book Nook is doing a Hook Hop. Say that ten times fast and you've got yourself a Dr. Seuss sequel. It's a great idea, and here's how it works if you'd like to join in. Post a hook from any one of your works-in-progress on your blog (all genres accepted).

But what's a hook?
Your hook, dear Horton, is your opening lines, between one and five sentences.

Beginning, Middle, and End Blogfest

Meadows's fix for saggy middles: Blow it up!

Fellow writer-blogger Kate Larkindale is running a Beginning, Middle, and End blogfest. A pretty great idea, since beginnings get a lot of attention among writers in the blogosphere; endings a bit less -- and middles? Least of all. And we do know that middle-of-the-novel sag tends to be a major problem for some writers (not naming any names). See Jodi Meadows's middle-fix tricks here.

I'm not sure how much you can tell from single lines, but it would be cool if one's first, exact middle (check your page count, divide in half, put finger on midpoint), and last line could tell the whole story of a novel. Here's the trio from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy:

How to Write A Killer Ending, Part 3

A billion of him typing in a room would certainly generate a killer ending.

We're talking about last lines in fiction that resonate. That final sentence can seem truly satisfying when it chimes with or against the novel's opening. A reader may not get it consciously, but on some level the line stirs a memory and feels just right. We've come full circle on the wheel, the ride is over.

Here's an example from a YA novel I'm reading now, A Long, Long Sleep, by Anna Sheehan. The premise: a Sleeping Beauty tale set in the distant future. Rose has been asleep in a stass tube for sixty-two years. The opening line:

"I'd try to hold on to my stass dreams for as long as I could."

The line sets us up: We know that Rose is very comfortable in dream-mode; you can feel her clutching at sleep, refusing to relinquish herself to life.

Now the last line of the book, and I don't think I need a spoiler alert here:

"But if nothing else, I am wide awake."

It's possible to guess what happens to Rose, in the broad sense, isn't it? Her live wakefulness is exactly opposite of where she started, refusing to get up and face the world. Her eyes are open physically, emotionally, and intellectually. hold on to my dreams >>>>>>>>>>wide awake.

You can do this too -- Last lines are fun!
Here's another example, from Scott Spencer's novel, A Ship Made of Paper.

"Beginnings are always messy."

John Galsworthy said that. It's as true of the first blog post as it is of most endeavors: starting a novel, overhauling a career, sorting out a new friendship. Galsworthy should know -- in his grand opus, which snagged him a Nobel prize, he managed to juggle dozens of main characters over many generations; The Forsyte Saga seemed to go on forever, like life -- not the individual life, but the sprawling mucky whole of it.

(that's Galsworthy, above, contemplating another messy beginning)