How I Write a Novel Opening

By Molly Noble Bull

Are you a hard-to-please reader? I am.

When I enter a bookstore and find a book that looks interesting, I read the first line on page one. If it captures my interest, I read the first paragraph. If I am still not bored, I read the first page. If I am hooked, meaning that I have the desire to read page two, I buy the book.

I do the same thing when writing a novel, but as a new writer, I often wadded up page one and threw it in the trash. But I finally learned to leave my poorly written page one behind and write page two and beyond, knowing that page one would be written some time in the future—perhaps after writing The End.

A beginning hook is a must in all my novels—one sentence that makes the reader want to read more. The first paragraph wins second place in the reader interest category with the entire first page placing third. I make the first sentence of my books a sort of headline designed to grab reader interest quickly. 

If not a headline, I write the first line of a dialogue. But the first line of that dialogue MUST be provocative. It must cause the reader to want to read more in order to find out what is going on in the story.

Below are some examples of openings.

Headline 

.   She'd seen him again.

The Rogue’s Daughter by Molly Noble Bull, Zondervan Publishing House in 1986. 

.   Someone was coming. 

When the Cowboy Rides Away by Molly Noble Bull, Elk Lake Publishing 2015

.   It was now or never.

Brides and Blessings by Molly Noble Bull, Love Inspired 1999

.   Monsieur Etienne Gabeau wasn’t his real name.

Gatehaven by Molly Noble Bull, Creation House Publishing 2013

Dialogue

.  “I’m not one to go without a woman for long, missy.”

The Winter Pearl by Molly Noble Bull, Love Inspired 2004

.   “Why didn’t you tell me we were going to have to cancel our honeymoon trip, Merrily?”

For Always by Molly Noble Bull, Zondervan Publishing House 1986

.   Death to Jews, she read. Death to all Huguenots! 

The Secret Place by Molly Noble Bull was first published by Tsaba House Publishing in 2007 under the title of Sanctuary.

Here is the first line of my upcoming novella titled Too Many Secrets.

.   “Looks like the stage from San Antonio pulled in across the street.”

Too Many Secrets is an inspirational western novella and part of The Secret Admirers Romance Collection. Set in the Texas hill country in 1882, Too Many Secrets is one of nine novellas by nine different authors to be published by Barbour Publishing in May 2017.

I would like to propose a challenge. Write a beginning hook of only one sentence for either a prologue or a chapter one and post it at the end of this article as part of your comment. I will comment on it.

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Molly Noble Bull has published books with Zondervan, Love Inspired, Tsaba House, Westbow Press, Creation House, Elk Lake Publishing and Hartline’s White Glove, and she might be called a genre jumper because she enjoys writing books and stories in several categories. Her newest work is a novella titled Too Many Secrets, Part of The Secret Admirer Romance Collection via Barbour Publishing, and it will be published in May 2017. Sanctuary won the 2008 Gayle Wilson Award in the inspirational category and also tied for first place in The Winter Rose that same year. The Overcomers: Christian Authors Who Conquered Learning Disabilities is a non-fiction book written by Molly and four other Christian authors, including Margaret Daley, and it was published by Westbow Press in 2011. The Overcomers was entered in the Women of Faith contest and was a finalist in that contest out over six hundred entries. Gatehaven, Molly’s Gothic historical, won the grand prize in the 2013 Creation House Fiction Writing Contest as a manuscript out of thirty-five entries, and it was published in trade paperback and as an e-book in March 2014. When the Cowboy Rides Away was published by Elk Lake Publishing in 2015. The western recently won the 2016 Texas Association of Authors contest in the Christian Western category and was also a finalist in the 2016 Will Rogers Medallion Awards in the Inspirational category. Hartline Literary republished Sanctuary in 2016 under the new title of The Secret Place, and later in 2016, Hartline republished The Rogue’s Daughter, another of Molly’s Christian western romances first published by Zondervan in 1986. Molly’s social media links are Website: www.mollynoblebull.com  Blog: http://writersrest.blogspot.com

Facebook: Molly Noble Bull  Twitter: Mollyauthor Amazon: http://bit.ly/mollynoblebull

Do You Line-Plot?

By Molly Noble Bull

A published author once told me that my stories were weak because I didn’t know how to plot, and she was right. I didn’t—until I learned to line-plot. In a nutshell, a line plot is the plot for an entire novel in one sentence.

Yep. I said one sentence.

To be honest, that sentence is often very long.

Here’s how it works.

Part One of a line-plot

.   Names the viewpoint character.

.   Introduces the opposing character.

.   Tells the viewpoint character’s goal.

.   Part One ends with the word because.

Why because?

The word because forces the author to develop a major conflict so strong it seems impossible to resolve.

Part Two of a line-plot

.   Part two tells why the major conflict cannot be resolved by answering the because question—telling why the viewpoint character cannot reach his or her goal.  

Now, let’s write a line-plot. It can be fun once you get the hang of it.

There are several genres to choose from when writing a plot in one sentence. Besides the romance novel, there are westerns, science fiction novels, thrillers and more, and in each plot there are always two sides—the good guys and the bad guys.

At first, I had a hard time understanding how there could be two sides in a sweet romance. Romance novels are stories about love. Right?

Wrong.

All novels are about conflict. Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl. Without conflict, there is no story. So let’s start with the romance novel and name our viewpoint character.

Let’s call her Laura Ames. 

.   Laura is our main/viewpoint character. The story is told through her eyes.

We also need another character, Rob Branson.

.   Rob is our opposing character.  

Now, Laura tells her goal.

.   Laura’s goal is to have Rob in her future.

.   Though Laura and Rob have feelings for each other, their romance can never end happily ever after BECAUSE . . . .

.   Unknown to Laura, Rob is engaged to Susan, Laura’s older sister.

Plot in one sentence.

College freshman, Laura Ames, is honored when her secret crush from high school, Rob Branson, starts showing an interest in her after she joins the university debate team, but her dream of a future with Rob can never end happily BECAUSE unknown to Laura, Rob is engaged to Susan, Laura’s older sister.

Part Three of a line-plot tells how the story ends—tells how the major conflict is resolved. In a romance, Laura and Rob would somehow get together. But in a mainstream novel, they might go their separate ways.

Remember the published author that told me my plots were weak? Well, now she insists that plotting is one of my strongest points as a published novelist. Maybe line plotting will work for you, too.

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Molly Noble Bull is a multi-published, prize winning author and a native Texan, publishing novels with Zondervan and Love Inspired. In 2011, Molly collaborated with four other authors to publish; The Overcomers; Christian Authors Who Conquered Learning Disabilities. Her Christian Gothic historical, Gatehaven, won the grand prized in the 2013 Creation House Fiction Writing Contest as a manuscript, and it will be published in trade paperback and as an e-book on March 4, 2014 and at a temporarily reduced price for the ebook release. Turn on your sound. Click below to see and hear Gatehaven’s sort of scary, one-minute book trailer.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRa4h167wHU&list=UUSud14a5OCxl_vBBb1IAf7Q&feature=c4-overview    Contact info:Website: www.mollynoblebull.com

Blog: http://writersrest.blogspot.com Facebook: Molly Noble Bull 

Twitter: Molly Noble Bull @ Mollyauthor