First things first: Cryptozoology for Fun and Profit, my horror/comedy novel releases today! Small town vibes? Creepy-crawlies? Wry humor? What's not to like.
Check it out here: https://books2read.com/cryptoprofit
As I like to do when one of these endeavors claws up through the muck to reach the light of day, here's the original first line of the very first draft:
"Shorn corn stalks scraped at Helen's legs as she ran."
Versus the first line as it appears in the published novel:
"Helen ran as if her life depended on it."
While the first attempt's corn stalks firmly rooted our opening scene in a definite place, it was just too clumsy. There's weird slant rhyme, "shorn corn," that makes it difficult to scan. It's also wordy (what first draft isn't?).
The revision pares it all away: Here's Helen. She's running. Keep it simple, stupid. There's also the bonus easter egg of "as if." Helen ran as if her life depended on it. What at first reads like simple idiomatic usage, turns out to be a clue: Helen ran as if her life depended on it because she's (mostly) acting her final girl part in this opening scene.
The date on the first page of the handwritten first draft of Cryptozoology for Fun and Profit is Nov.7, 2022. Not a bad turnaround, from two notebooks full of scribbling to a published book in a little under four years.
Hope you enjoy.
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