Many creative writing classes and manuals will stress the importance of the first sentence, that it must grab the reader’s attention. Even Hemingway espoused this fallacy. But the first sentence is never enough.
Yes, it must grab the reader’s attention, If it doesn’t the reader will go elsewhere. There are plenty of options — but if the second sentence is flaccid, all will be lost. The second sentence fulfills the promise of the first.
But it is the third sentence that seals the deal. The third sentence assures the reader that the writer is authentic, that they are worth listening to, that they have something to say and have the command of language to say it with flair and authority. They can be trusted.
After that the writer will be ‘in full swing’. The reader will be committed; will go along for the ride.
John Malone 
Love how you take your own first sentence advice so seriously in this piece. 😉 Three sentence strikes, and you’re out, huh?
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🙂 Yes; this post burst from me just as you read it:)
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“The flaccid will be sentenced
to a comfy armchair purgatory!”
~ Frivolous Hemingway
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🙂 yes, David: beware of the flaccid phrase 🙂
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I don’t always get to a third sentence… Eeeek!! 😜🖤
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Lol ; yes, your nifty little poems rarely make it to the third sentence; their brevity and sharpness are their twin virtues 🙂
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I certainly hope so! 😉🖤
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And never forget the imporance too, of the final sentence, to leave something of worthin the readers mind.
A good piece here, John, thank you.
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true, Carolyn — although a reader who is disenchanted by the time they reach the fourth sentence will rarely venture any further 🙂
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I must admit I was expecting a courtroom drama!
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Lol ; I’ll pay that 🙂
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We went along for the full ride, down to the last paragraph, John. You almost made each paragraph a run on sentence, then at the last second put in that . And started a brief one. Good one John. I’m not such a big Hemingway fan even though he’s a home town boy.
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thanks; glad you enjoyed it: I enjoy Hemingway’s stories, not so much his pronouncements on writing 🙂
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thanks, Don 🙂
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I like sentences which challenge my thinking…..
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good on you, Don; same here 🙂
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you needn’t . Don; it’s just me speaking off the cuff
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and btw FCS is always worth a visit; I’m off there now checking out your latest posts 🙂
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Golly gosh, I hope you don’t get lost in the first sentence….or bogged down in the complexity of my writes… I try to keep them family-understandable. Poetry the ordinary people can understand…….
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you do a bloody good job, Don — and you know what? you’re getting better! you’re growing an audience ! you’ve learnt some tricks on the way 🙂
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Has taken a while…wasn’t it the Pied Piper who played and all those interested tagged along behind? My audience is not rats though……
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no, your audience, Don, is composed of discerning readers who enjoy a good chuckle and occasionally a side-splitting laugh 🙂
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Thankyou….
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I believe in the States that three sentences automatically gets you jail time!
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Lol ; it works the opposite in writing 🙂
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Ah, right!
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sometimes I only have one sentence, what happens then?
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: then, Beth, that sentence must carry all the weight ! but you needn’t worry: ) I reckon you have mastered the technique of communicating effectively 🙂
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not always, but I have my moments…)
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you do a very good job, Beth; and yes, we all have our moments 🙂
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As an outsider, stirrer, excentric writing anarchist I reject all conventions of “how to do” things. Liking to read s Chinese philosophy, it starts all very banal and unasumeing and offering the paradox at the end. It is the freedom to break all the rules that I find most attractive in the art of writing and with art in general. However, I will take on your advice, because even anarchists do not reject a possibility to improve their toll set.
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that’s very big of you, Michael, thanks 🙂 it’s not exactly a convention , more an observation I’ve formed over the years from reading articles that ‘drew’ me in and drew me up in their world;
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coming from the academic side of writing I have still trouble putting some beauty into my words and less rationality. So I am still acquiring a bit of style by reading those who are on the creative writing path.
on a second note, I realise my glasses are insufficient to notice my spelling mistakes, I meant to say toil and not toll. some part of the aging process can be irritating.
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don’t worry; I make typos and don’t notice till too late 🙂 I was pleased with that post: it was forceful and logical though that doesn’t mean its views cannot be contested —
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“I write down all the sentences and then I put them in good order so people can follow along. Then I break the whole thing into paragraphs. It’s no big deal, it’s just how I roll.”
—The Space Bar Cowboy
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that sounds as good a process as any; it was just me sounding off on my high horse 🙂
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We like to think about writing, it is such a strange activity! I’m being goofy as usual 😉
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stay goofy 🙂 we need more goofiness in the world 🙂
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awesome post ! your first three sentences were quite hooking indeed !!
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thanks poorvi; that post was written with white-hot passion —
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