3 Grabbers. Vote on your Favorite Now

“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” I am sure you know the opening of “A Tale of Two Cities.” It is famous, as so many first lines are. Great first lines grab your attention. Any reader of “Pride and Prejudice” can recognize “…a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”.” So, why do I quote these today?

Experts say I have to grab you with my first line or be prepared to lose you as a reader. Openings are ranked (on one list the above rank 9 and 2, in case you wondered). This week I started the fourth book in the Beguiling Bachelor Series and the opening is eluding me, so I am obsessed with opening lines and how they set a story in motion.

Stories fully formed

It Is a strange phenomenon for me. Since I began writing, my books have flowed from my head. Seriously, fully formed chapters are there when I wake up, rattling around in my brain, desperate to get out and into my computer. They are yelling so loudly that I cannot fully function until I get them on paper.

A short story is rattling there now and I am arguing with it daily. I beg it to wait while I finish “Besotted,” but it keeps showing up every day, but just the first chapter. Which is interesting, since It is the first chapter of “Besotted” that is so elusive.

Obsessed with Openings

I have written three different opening chapters for “Besotted.” So far. I have left breadcrumbs in three novels revealing Tyler’s love for Regan and his inability to take action, so you know I have been forming this story for quite a while. Tyler, like all my bachelors, is successful, well educated, handsome and confident. Why would he be unable to approach Regan, even after all this time?

Clearly, that is the story. Why has he assiduously avoided an entanglement and what happens once he makes a move – assuming of course that he does? It’s a pretty good assumption on your part that he will, since I write romances with happy endings.

The Grabber

With all those hints, you can guess that the fully formed story of Tyler and Regan has been waking me for some time. You would be right – except the first chapter from which the story will flow. That first chapter has not yet shown itself. Or perhaps I should say it has shown itself a bit too often.

Some writers actually skip around and write the end or middle, then go back to create the beginning. In fact, my prologue for “Bedeviled” (available soon) and the opening elevator scene for “Bedazzled” were written after I had completed those books. Still, I favor writing in an orderly fashion, from start to finish. But I am struggling with how to start this story. I need a grabber.

What is a grabber? It is my “Call me Ishmael,”  the line that creates the setting and launches the story, all in one or two sentences. The grabber by definition is  the start that grabs your attention and makes you want to keep reading. It is crucial.

Three is not One

I have written three – yep, three – opening chapters for “Besotted” with three different grabbers (at least I hope they are grabbers).

Three first chapters, each launching the story of Tyler and Regan. Here’s the dilemma: each takes the novel in a different direction. This is an issue for me as a writer, and since it delays the story, it is a problem for you if you are waiting to follow my bachelors.

Regan kicks off one version of chapter one, Tyler launches the other two. I like them all. I must choose one and keep moving forward with that story line until it converges about four or five chapters from now, with the story it would become with any of these beginnings, the story that has been rattling in my head for months. It’s time to commit to one and move in that direction knowing that if it doesn’t feel right, it will land in the trash and I will start all over – frustrated and with days or weeks wasted.

So while I write this post, I am contemplating which direction to go, which beginning to work from, how to develop my story.

Which Grabber Grabs You?

Without giving away the grabber, or the story, I am sharing the three different openings so you can help me decide which to use. Just enter your vote in the comments section below by choosing option A, option B, or option C. Your votes should be just what I need to feel good about leaving two of these three behind.

Option A

Picks up where “Bedazzled” left off: Tyler is determined to make his move on Regan and plotting his approach only to discover she is dating someone new.

Option B

Tyler and Regan are out, and yet again he fails to make a move. Regan, assuming that he is disinterested, gives up on him and resolves to find someone new.

Option C

Regan shares a sexy kiss with a new love interest and Tyler chooses that moment to intercede. 

Did you Vote?

As you can see, all of these options move the story to the eventual tale of Tyler working to establish a romantic relationship with Regan. In all scenarios she will have a competing relationship. But where to start, where to place my grabber? That is the question. How do I grab your attention quickly and set the stage for our lovers?

Only a few more days and the opening will be set…get your voice heard now. Vote!! Note: There is no electoral college here. Your vote will be the final vote tally!