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Is anyone else obsessed with writing good clinchers (besides @ingridrd 😉 )? The first thing I do when I get a new book is read the clincher sentence and judge whether it’s a good clincher or a bad one. Does anyone else do this? Or is it just me?
Also, while we’re on the topic of clinchers, how important do you think they are? Do you think that you should write a clincher, even if it’s not a true one? Sorry, that probably didn’t make sense. Let me give an example.
Let’s say your novel clincher was “The black clouds loomed overhead, dark and menacing; I could almost smell evil in the air.” But later, you find out that the MC is a little boy pretending that he’s being attacked by vicious dark clouds…or something like that. The reader would probably be disappointed with the clincher and possibly feel like he or she has been cheated. I think there’s a name for what I’m trying to say. Hopefully that makes more sense.
So do you think a novel has to have a clincher, even if the clincher sentence is kind of…a teaser?
Some of the best authors (like Jane Austen) begin their novels horribly, but if you get past the beginning, then you realize that the novel is an amazing work of literature.Some of the best authors (like Jane Austen) begin their novels horribly…
What?! @gretald I think the beginning of Pride and Prejudice is one of the very best opening sentences of all time! ‘It is universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife’— what’s left to be desired? 😛
Oh well. To each his own.I do think it’s important not to cheat the reader of their expectations. The only possible circumstance in which I would make an exception to that rule is if the first sentence is being used to showcase a character’s personality. For instance, one of my novels begins with something along the lines of ‘The wasp hovered fifteen feet and three inches above the center of the floor, equidistant from all six walls and twenty feet from the blue tiles of the ceiling.’
At first glance you might think the story is about a wasp— but when you read further, you realize that you are inside the MC’s head experiencing his boredom with a council meeting and his second-nature obsession with mathematics. He’s calculating the likelihood of himself and the wasp colliding given the dimensions of the room and the relative speed at which the wasp is moving.
Don’t ask me how someone like me is going to write such a math geek. If you figure it out, let me know. 😛I love clinchers, though I must admit I’ve never heard them called that. But if you ever have to step DOWN from a clincher to reach reality, you’ve gone overboard and your reader probably won’t like it.
@kate-flournoy Oh! I’ve never read Pride and Prejudice, so I can’t judge that one, but the opening of Northanger Abbey is pretty dull. It’s a fantastic book, though (except for the beginning). 🙂
I love clinchers, though I must admit I’ve never heard them called that. But if you ever have to step DOWN from a clincher to reach reality, you’ve gone overboard and your reader probably won’t like it.
Interesting. That’s what I’ve always called them. Yeah, I definitely agree with you. If the clincher (or whatever you want to call it…the thing-a-ma-jigger 😉 ) is set up to disappoint the reader, that’s not good, obviously.
As far as good books with good clinchers go, the first book in the Wingfeather Saga (@zoe-wingfeather get over here! We’re talking about the Wingfeather Saga! 😛 ) has a GREAT clincher. 🙂Do you mean hooks @gretald? That’s what I’ve always heard them called (though there are many names for everything). You mean some sort of exciting first line/paragraph that really catches people’s attention, I assume.
I guess I’m not obsessed with them, since, of the two books I’ve ever written, my novella started off with a setting description (but I think a decently engaging one) and my Edwin Brook story had such a lamentable opening that I had to totally rewrite it as well as skipping a few minutes ahead in the story.
I do have some opinions on them though. I think they can be great, especially since some people are addicted to them. I like them myself when they are done well, though I tend to be a bit sceptical of them. Often they’re just a short change that either deceives you, makes you keep reading even though the rest of the story is super boring (starship troopers!!!!! *angry scowl*), or get you focusing too much on the plot when the characters need a little more introduction first. Another problem is that the author might start in an action scene ant then have the character have these memories about their back story so that the reader knows where they are coming from. That can work, but it can easily lead to what I call POV telling (e.g. “I just couldn’t believe she had died. Why did I have to go through this!” *cough cough* Telling.)
If you can avoid those problems though, they’re relly great. My one pet peeve is when authors have something really bad happen in a dream, and then the character wakes up and things are just fine. Now I have actually encountered one or two dream openers that I really liked, but the reason was because the dream was actually important and you could tell that pretty much right off.
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*slams down telephone*
*buys plane ticket*
*flies to here*
*slams down door*
dID I HEAR THE WINGFEATHER SAGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
yes.
the wingfeather saga ends horribly. but the clincher is amazing.
by the way have you finished the series @gretald? if you have i have a lovely piece of fanfic for you to read *insert sneaky face*I’m assuming that clinchers are catchy first sentences. If so, I really enjoy them. I love picking up a book just to see what the first sentence says. Rick Riordan has some of the best first sentences. Like ‘The Friday before winter break, my mom packed me an overnight bag and a few deadly weapons and took me to a new boarding school.’ But, though I don’t think the first sentence has to be that catchy, I do think the story should draw the reader in the first few paragraphs. And, in my own books, I do tend to try to write a catchy first sentence.
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
I have to say I’m a little obsessed with clinchers as well (but I didn’t know people called them that).
No, I don’t think clinchers (if you are, in fact, referring to catchy first sentences) are necessary. But they definitely spark the reader’s interest. I agree what @kate-flournoy said about cheating the reader’s expectations, and her exception in doing so.
And @Daeus also made some good points. Especially about starting with a dream sequence where something really bad happens, and then the character wakes up and all is well. As I recall, the trilogy The Door Within started that way, and I didn’t really like it. Batson did do a pretty good job keeping me reading though. But for me it seemed like you got sucked in the action too fast. It was like a jolt, (SPOILER ALERT) what with the MC just about brutally dying from the very start. Now that I think about it, it should’ve been easy for me to tell that it was only a dream… but that’s enough rambling. 😛So yes, I think clinchers can be important, but not always. That’s my two cents. 🙂
Interesting. “Clinchers” is what my English teacher always called them, but I guess we’ll go with “hooks.” 😉
That can work, but it can easily lead to what I call POV telling (e.g. “I just couldn’t believe she had died. Why did I have to go through this!” *cough cough* Telling.)
@Daeus Ohh, yes! Great point. I remember my first book I tried to start (I never finished it)…and the first sentence included POV telling. *shudders* And as far as dreams go, I completely agree with you. It annoys me when books start that way and also when they end that way. Alice in Wonderland, for example, is a good book, but it ends with all Alice’s adventures having been a dream. I didn’t like that.I love picking up a book just to see what the first sentence says.
@Hope Yes, me too! Glad I’m not the only one who does that. 😉 😛 Rick Riordan does have some great clinchers (“Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.”). I take it you’re another Percy Jackson fan?
@faithdk I agree with you. If the clincher…hook sentence is set up to disappoint the reader, then it’s better not to have any hook at all. 🙂@zoe-wingfeather I’m almost finished. I haven’t had time to read because of school, but I’d love to read your fan fiction after I’ve finished the book!!! 🙂
@gretald Ah yes, Percy Jackson. I just finished reading The Hidden Oracles and I liked Magnus Chase too, but I still think Percy is my favorite. Rick Riordan is such a good writer…It’s just too bad he’s not a Christian writer. 😉
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
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@gretald yesssssss
the wingfeather saga needs a bigger fandom tbh :/@Hope Yeah, he is a great writer. 🙂 Was Magnus Chase good? Have you read the second Percy Jackson series, and if so, did you like it?
@zoe-wingfeather I know, right?!?!@gretald I really enjoyed Magnus Chase, though it was different. The Norse gods aren’t quite as polished as the Greek ones. 😉 I did read Heroes of Olympus. The writing was good, but I felt like it was too long. So many things happened, but it took forever to get somewhere. Also, since Riordan isn’t a Christian, the lifestyle and morals of minor or side characters aren’t always what I’d prefer.
Changing topics, @zoe-wingfeather, I’ve read the Wingfeather Saga and really like it!
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
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*Squeezes into conversation edgewise*
I don’t have much to add, other than I also don’t like when writers fool the readers with a hook that doesn’t lead up to anything substantial (though I don’t believe I’ve run into many hooks like that, except one in the second Wingfeather book. Apologies. I still love the series 🙂 )
@Daeus Are you referencing the opening dream in dreamlander? That hook was awesome.@zoe-wingfeather I agreed the last book in the Wingfeather Chronicles ended horribly.
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