Everything hinges your first paragraph. A well-crafted first paragraph can convince a reader to buy your book or a magazine subscriber to read your article.
To celebrate the art of the first paragraph and our new SoundCloud page, we are proud to present the first installment of First Graf Friday–your chance to listen to stories from around the world, all read by their authors.
Our first installment is embedded below. Our readers shared everything from mysteries to memoirs to paranormal romance to literary fiction. Click on the square “MB” comment icons on the player to locate a specific author.
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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
This past spring, I participated as a mentor in our local writers guild’s Sheldon Oberman Emerging Writers Mentor Program. The program was named after Sheldon Oberman, a Winnipeg writer who is well known for his childrens’ books. Oberman died in 2004 but his legacy lives on in the mentorship program and his wonderful childrens’ books, a few of which I’ll feature in this post. Although my encounter with Sheldon Oberman was primarily through the legacy of the mentorship program, my children were familiar with his books, having encountered them at their school.
The White Stone in the Castle Wall illustrated by Les Tait (Tundra Books, 1995) is the story of a poor little boy named John Tommy Fiddich, who with his white stone, considers himself “sometimes lucky, sometimes unlucky.” Set at turn-of-the-century Toronto, the book is also about the building of one of the city’s most famous landmarks — Casa Loma — and its eccentric owner, Sir Henry Pellat.
The Always Prayer Shawl illustrated by Ted Lewin (Boyds Mills Press, 1994) is about a Jewish boy named Adam. When Adam is a boy (and it is a time when eggs were got from chickens, heat from chopped wood, and rides in wagons pulled by horses), he receives a special gift from his grandfather — a prayer shawl. His grandfather, a rabbi, tells him that although “some things change, some don’t.” He tells him that one of the things that will not change is his name, Adam, and he gives Adam a prayer shawl. Adam carries that prayer shawl with him all through his long life until many decades later he is able to give it to his grandson, Adam, when he is an old man.
TV Sal and The Game Show from Outer Space illustrated by Craig Terlson (Red Deer College Press, 1993) is about a girl sucked into a TV by TV station aliens. This delightful story about TV addiction pokes fun at both parent and child. I especially relate to Sal’s Mom who suggests to her TV watching daughter, “Would you like to do something different, dear? Come out with us to look at the fog.” I’m always nagging my children to get outside more. It is while Sal’s family is out for a walk that Sal finds herself in that alien TV world and can’t get herself out.
Sheldon Oberman’s books are a delight and pleasure to read. Hope you can find copies in your bookstore and library!
