The First Sixteen Lines

Sixteen.

That’s the number of lines of text appearing on the first page of a book. After the book jacket blurbs, it’s that first page that must compel the reader onward or the book is put back on the shelf.

There is a site that critiques those first lines; it’s called Flogging the Quill and it’s done by Ray Rhamey and commenters.

Two months ago I sent FtQ the opening to my WIP–Into Dark Woods. My opening is now up for the world to see. I can’t look quite yet.

Published by Norm Benson

My name is Norm Benson and my Lowdermilk manuscript is out for beta review. This is the story of Walter and Inez Lowdermilk, an American couple who came to see soil erosion as a threat to civilization. Their pursuit of land conservation carried them from China and the Dust Bowl to Palestine, where their ideas about reclaiming the land helped build the case for the creation of Israel.

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