Write the First Sentence Last

Yesterday I finished editing Sugar Shack. I’ve got about 100 pages of corrected proofs I need to type into the document and then its done. Or maybe it isn’t. I keep coming back to my first sentence, my first scene, and it just doesn’t quite pop like the second scene. I’m thinking about taking it out or switching them.

This is a story about two sisters who are nothing at all alike. Scene #2 sister is a comic character. She’s funny but she doesn’t know it. She’s got a lot of energy and writing her story was so much fun. Many of my antics in my 20s and 30s got a make-over for her character. She’s also one of those characters who steals every scene she’s in…and she tried to steal the entire show.

While the other sister is more level-headed, she’s equally stubborn, and would not be pushed off the page. She holds her own, except in that first scene. The first sentence is underwhelming, no matter which way I write it. The scene has tension, but it’s too quiet. So that’s what I’m going to work on today. My first sentence and my first scene.

I still expect to have this up for sale on Kindle within a week or two. It is so close. Just not quite there yet.