It's pretty obvious to every writer (or it should be) that you want to keep the reader turning pages. Many times, we as writers focus on ending chapters with a punch, to keep the reader thinking, "I'll read just one more chapter and THEN I'll put the book down."
But it's equally as important to consider those first lines in a new chapter, where the story picks up. Not every chapter should simply continue where the last left off. A good story has ebb and flow, a dance, so to speak, a weavjng in and out of certain plottings, with the writer deciding that pace and intensity.
And those first few lines have to captivate the reader's interest.
As some examples, here are the beginning lines from the chapters I've completed so far in
Before the Blood.
“Hurry, sir, oh please,
hurry!”
He paused again,
then reluctantly shut the accounts book. The third floor east wing was the last
place he intended to step, but he supposed he must, if only to silence her
persistent grating cry. So, the infant could die? So the mother could die? Well, what was that to him?
(Before the Blood, Prologue)
The man in the long
frock coat and extra-wide cravat had stared at her with peculiar steadiness all
night, almost as if goading her to notice him. His defiant confidence intrigued
her and caused those sneaky peeks to see if he was still watching.
(Before the Blood, John’s Story, Chapter 1: One Magical Christmas)
Down,
down,
down,
down
(Before the Blood,John’s Story, Chapter 2: Tasting Immortality)
John never practiced
while his father was in the house, and only rarely when he was in town, but
John bided his time, waiting for Abbott's departure for a long bank meeting, or
even longer business trip, when he could seize the drawing room and fill it
with compositions in progress.
(Before the Blood. John’s Story. Chapter 3: Keys to Heaven)
"You fired Helsby!"
(Before the Blood John’s Story. Chapter 4: Maid to Order)
John woke
well before dawn. Quickly and quietly, he washed, dressed, and then strode to
the kitchen for a quick breakfast of bread and milk while the coffee boiled
before heading to the barn and hitching a horse.
As he rode out to
the Widow Holloway's farm, last night's conversation with Papa Everett swathed
him like early morning mist on the verdure, a filmy presence he could not
shake.
(Before the Blood, John’s Story, Chapter 5: Post-Graduate Studies)
If John had
been any other young man, he would have rejoiced at the circumstances to which
he had returned home.
(Before the Blood John’s Story Chapter 6: Shedding the Cocoon)
"Come
in!"
The heavy door
opened, and the ruddy face of Alfred Jackson poked into the room. Virgil
Gundersmith, in checks and white cowboy hat, stopped fiddling, but Ebenezer "Benny"
Brown, sequins sparking in the lamplight, coolly kept each ball orbiting above
his head.
(Before the Blood, John’s Story, Chapter 7: Music Halls and Garbage Cans)
It took over five
years, but John's feverish reworking of elaborate compositions to include
melodic refrains, monitoring audience response, and rewriting pieces after
midnight for the next day's practice finally produced results.
(Before the Blood, John’s Story, Chapter 8: One for the Memory Books)
Although
Falconer Cremmins was a hard man, and possibly a conniving murderous one, as unproven rumors of arson spread throughout
Queens, he also proved to be witless at business. In the year after Dana Hewes'
death, attendance steadily dwindled at the music hall until Cremmins was forced
to close its doors.
(Before the Blood, John’s Story, Chapter 9: The Contract)
Shivering, John
pulled the musty quilt over his head, but instead of soothing him back into
sleep, the pattering rain reminded him that he had drunk far too much, far too
many hours ago. With a groan, John kicked off the covers and staggered down
hall to the communal water closet.
(Before the Blood, John’s Story, Chapter 10: Crossing the
Rubicon)
War.
It's all Metta knew. It's all Metta had
ever known.
(Before the Blood Kellen’s Story Chapter 1: Ashes)
In later years, Kellen Weschler would
tell it like this: The only door that ever opened to him was the womb, and even
that was to spit him out into a cruel world where everything good, bad, and
indifferent was denied him.
(Before the Blood Kellens Story Chapter 2 Forbidden Fruit)
Kellen married Catarin in May, enlarged the family hut in
June, and baptized his first son, Allecke, in July.
Ten months
later, the Wechslers welcomed their first daughter, Marige, into the world. Three
more sons (Jurgen, Otto, Hilmar) and three more daughters (Eugell, Alheit, and
Leveke) arrived one after the other. During that time, death also claimed
Marige, Otto, and Eugell. After that, Kellen stopped noting the children's
appearance or disappearance and let Catarin do the naming and tracking.
(Before the Blood, Kellen's Story, Chapter 3: The Vision)
"Kellen!"
He ignored
the voice and kept sharpening the blade.
(Before the Blood, Kellen's Story, Chapter 4: Beaten Down)
"Wailing, wailing. Everywhere, wailing."
(Before the Blood, Kellen's Story, Chapter 5: Black Death)
"Come
on, Kellen, we'll be late for the theater."
"In a
minute, Margaret!"
(Before the Blood, Kellens Story, Chapter 6: Angel or Demon?)
