• tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    12·
    7 hours ago

    “Zbijgl, my old fart, my favmamort n n n n number is 183442356742255214676213566873225566333543”

    https://www.workableweb.com/_pages/tips_how_to_write_good.htm

    How To Write Good

    Lesson 1 - The Grabber

    The “grabber” is the initial sentence of a novel or short story designed to jolt the reader out of his complacency and arouse his curiosity, forcing him to press onward. For example:

    “It’s no good, Alex,” she rejoined, “Even if I did love you, my father would never let me marry an alligator.”

    The reader is immediately bombarded with questions, questions such as “Why won’t her father let her marry an alligator?” “How come she doesn’t love him?” and “Can she learn to love him in time?” The reader’s interest has been “grabbed”!

    • Nils@lemmy.ca
      3·
      6 hours ago

      Wow, thanks for the link, I bookmarked it. When it mentioned it was a satirical article, I was not expecting a masterclass. 😅

      Michael O’Donoghue was a writer and editor – as well as an author, playwright, radio writer, filmmaker, satirist, scribe, essayist and commentator. He was an editor and writer at the original National Lampoon, and a writer on Saturday Night Live in its early years.