This time it happened with fire.
—Amy Hempel, “Pool Night”
Okay, this is a pretty interesting sentence, but how about some context, you say? Well, there isn’t any context because this is the first sentence. That’s what makes this sentence so intriguing. It’s the very beginning of the story. “This time” implies we were there for the first time (or any others there may have been). We’re thrown into this story in the most jarring way possible, as if we accidentally opened the door to a meeting between a client and her psychotherapist and heard something we weren’t supposed to.
What a brilliant, modern opening to a story.
The next “regular” TBS, I’ll start with another opening line by a much less modern author, but one famous throughout the world.
Next week: NOTHING! This Beautiful Sentence is taking October off for NaNoWriMo prep month. Every day in October will be a post dedicated specifically to the challenge of writing to win NaNoWriMo. Yes, I said every day next month, so Tuesdays and Thursdays won’t be off days for the site next month. You can’t take a day off when you’re trying to write a novel in a month, and neither will I in October.
For November, This Beautiful Sentence will be slightly different. Instead of focusing on other authors’ words I’ve found beautiful, for NaNoWriMo month I’ll be pulling out four of my favorite passages I’ve written during previous NaNoWriMos. When you’re rushing to write 50,000 words in a month, a lot of that material isn’t great, but every once in a while something bright shines through the pile of rubble.
This Beautiful Sentence will be going back to normal on Wednesday, December 4th. The quotation will be by a mystery author. Not an author of mysteries, but an author who is famous throughout the world who you’ll have to guess about!
See the index for what’s been posted and what’s to come.
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