Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Beth Groundwater made me burn my dinner

This was the subject line on a recent message to the Sisters in Crime "Guppies" email loop. The message text is below:

"If you're looking for an example of a killer opening, I thought I'd share that Beth Groundwater's first chapter made me forget that I was cooking dinner tonight. True, I almost always have a book in my hand, much to my partner's chagrin, but I don't usually forget when it's my turn to cook ;)

As I begin to query agents I'm still questioning my opening scene, and always hear the advice "start at the last possible moment where your book can possibly begin." I think Beth's opening achieves this wonderfully. I haven't gotten too far in the book yet, so you better not disappoint me, Beth! "

There's nothing an author likes hearing better than "you kept me up at night" unless it's "you made me burn my dinner"! Thanks for the praise, fellow Guppy, and I hope I can return the favor when YOUR novel is published someday soon.

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