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THE FIRST SENTENCE IS THE WORM ON THE END OF THE HOOK
by David E. Meadows , 2005

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT MILITARY.COM, August 4, 2005

The first sentence and first paragraph are the most important parts for a writer. It is where the reader decides whether to give you a chance to entertain her or him, or bypass your writing in favor of another. It is where you sell your book, article, or short story.

You must hook the reader in those first few words. If you are writing a book, the reader you want to hook is an agent or editor. If you are writing articles and short stories, then the reader, most times, will be the editor.

Think of agents and editors as picky readers with little time to waste reading. But, both make decisions on the few words he or she reads that determines whether your efforts are accepted, or is crammed back into the Self-Addressed Stamped-Envelope (SASE) you sent, along with some preformatted rejection slip for your collection. If you see your SASE envelope returned, then it’s a rejection slip. If you see a nice envelope with the agent or editor’s postage on it, then most likely it’s a request to see your work. Finding someone who appreciates your writing and willing to see it published is only the first step on a long road most times dotted with rejection.

If you have a hard time accepting rejection, then writing is probably not a career for you. It took me nine-years to have a book accepted for publication and by then I had one of the greatest rejection slip collections in the nation. I was contemplating wallpapering a small bathroom in 1999 on the back porch of a house build in 1916 when Penguin accepted my first manuscript. It ended my hobby of collecting rejection slips.

So, you become one of the fortunate few with a letter or email from an editor or agent who loved your query letter and is now asking to see your writing? Congratulations. It’s the first of many cuts along the way to becoming published. Don’t go on a spending spree. Asking to see your work doesn’t mean you’ll get the article, story, or manuscript published. But, you are one step closer.

Editors and agents are business people who deal with writers. Agents weigh their impression of your works against their opportunities to sell it. Editors weigh your works against the opportunity of their publishing house making a profit on your works. You write because you enjoy doing it. They represent you, or buy your writings, because of a business case.

You have to increase the odds of them wanting to publish you. Begging and whining doesn’t work against the dry facts of a business case. You can increase the odds of becoming a published writer by increasing the time they spend reading your stuff. The longer they read, the more they are enjoying something in your efforts that appeal to them personally and helps make a business case.

If an agent believes he or she can sell your writing, then you’ll be represented. If an editor believes your writing will help increase the revenue stream for his or her publishing house, then you will be published.

Ernest Hemingway said the best advice he ever received on writing was when he was a fresh, young journalist and it was from his first editor, who told Hemingway:

(1) Use short sentences

(2) Make your paragraphs short

(3) Use vigorous English

(4) And, always be positive; never negative

There are other things a writer needs to know. Your writing has to be professional and your submissions must look profession. If you can’t spell, then you need to know how to use ‘spell check’ on your word processor and how a dictionary works.

For a dynamic, exciting writer, misspellings may be overlooked, but you will never be a dynamic, exciting writer unless you know grammar. Someone once said that knowing grammar was important for the writer so the writer would know when it’s acceptable to violate the rules.

Good luck. Keep writing. And, keep those emails coming. Remember, you can’t get published if you ain’t writing.

Cheers, David E. Meadows

David E. Meadows / SixthFleet.Com David E. Meadows Washington D.C. E-Mail readermail@SixthFleet.Com