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Secrets Behind Great First Sentences: Routines of Iconic Writers

This post reveals secrets of some famous authors in tackling the blank page and often crafting high impact opening lines to novels and other manuscripts

Do rituals get you to a writing, or otherwise productive, frame of mind? You’re not alone. Today’s post looks at the quirky ways some famous writers began their books. How they faced their blank page and ‘got into’ a writing rhythm to get the job done.

This post reveals secrets of some famous authors in tackling the blank page and often crafting high impact opening lines to novels and other manuscripts
A little book of bigtime author secrets

After reading a book I bought years ago at a fundraising table in the foyer of the YWCA on Hornby, I began to share some of my own quirky starters and writing sparks. The book, which is still in my library, is called “Secret Lives of Great Authors.” It’s a fun, gossipy read. It was more thrilling to me than People Magazine of the day. Fittingly, I was there for the Y pool, where other local writers I knew also swam between drafts of their work to balance all our hours at a desk.

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