Craft Chat CRAFT CHAT: Setting

[Carol Rose]

SETTING​

According to the multiple sites and blog posts, the definition of setting is the time and place in which a story happens.

Your story’s setting is going to be closely related to your chosen genre because of reader expectations in that genre. It’s a good idea to read a lot in your chosen genre so you can see what’s selling. Because whether you agree with it or not, what is currently selling is, for the most part, what readers of that genre want.

Your chances of signing with an agent, or selling a book directly to a publisher, increase if you give readers what they want within your chosen genre. Once you have some books under your belt and a following, you can push those expectations a bit and hope your readers follow you.

So, if setting means letting readers know the time and place for your story, how do you do that without going down the rabbit hole of too much exposition? Or, without adding a long prologue to set the mood or tone?

Setting doesn’t have to be outlined for readers using long, descriptive paragraphs or pages. When we talk about letting readers know the time and place for your story, we’re also talking about grounding our readers in the Big Five: Who, What, When, Where, and Why.

This doesn’t mean you have to outline absolutely everything in the first paragraph, but the sooner you ground your readers, the easier it will be to pull them into the head of your POV character. Once you do that, they will empathize with that character. And once they do that, you’ll have them hooked. They will keep turning pages to find out what happens next to that character.

You can accomplish establishing the setting with one or two lines for any genre.

Before I give you some examples, I’m not saying you must accomplish setting in one or two lines. I’m merely suggesting that you don’t have to spend pages and pages, or even paragraphs and paragraphs letting your reader know where and when they are.

We all know this one…

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.

This, of course, is the opening two lines of 1984. What did Orwell accomplish with these two sentences?

The time of day, the fact it’s not our known world (clocks don’t strike thirteen in our world), the mood, and the POV character. With only two lines, Orwell established the setting for the book to come, and grounded us in the Who, Where, and to a certain extent the When. Or at least, the fact that this is not our When.

As the chapter goes on, Orwell grounds us further in the When, as well as the What and Why. But he accomplished setting – the time and place for the story - with only two lines. He also hooked us. We want to know what happens to Winston because we’re already intrigued.

Let’s look at another well-known example…

The Salinas Valley is in Northern California. It is a long narrow swale between two ranges of mountains, and the Salinas River winds and twists up the center until it falls at last into Monterey Bay.

I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer—and what trees and seasons smelled like—how people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odors is very rich.

This is the opening of East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Quite a different opening than 1984, but it still gives us the setting – the time and place. We have the Where, the Who (although we don’t yet have a name for our POV character), and we have the When. The POV character is in contemporary times looking back on his own life.

It’s also very descriptive. Steinbeck uses the senses to recreate memories for the reader. We’ll get to description in another Craft Chat post, but as you can see, setting and description are often closely related. In the opening lines of 1984, Orwell used description of the senses as well.

But first let’s see dissect one more example of an opening that gives the reader setting, and this time grounds the reader in each of the Big Five. I made this one up.

Sally swore out loud as her boot heel caught in a storm drain grate on Charles Street. She was already late for her interview, and she really wanted this job. Landy Pharmaceuticals would pay her enough to get out from under the mess she and her sister were in. And that meant they both just might get to live a while longer.

We’ve accomplished the definition of setting in that we have the time and place. It’s a contemporary story. We know this by the tone and language, so we have the When. We also know it’s an urban setting because of the mention of a job interview and storm drain grates, so we have the Where. We have the Who – Sally. We also have the What and Why. She and her sister are in big trouble and need money, or they might end up dead.

And we accomplished all that with only four sentences in which the stakes are high. Sally needs this job or she believes she and her sister might die. Readers will want to know what happens next. Will she get the job? What is the job? Will this job really will save Sally and her sister’s life? Who might kill them and why? What did they do or not do?

The setting of your story not only lets readers know the time and place it happens. It also grounds them in at least a couple of the Big Five. It sets the tone and mood of the story. It lets them know what to expect from the story. And it paves the way for a transition into further grounding, letting them know what the stakes are, and pulling them in with a hook that keeps them reading.

Can you prolong the opening and ease slowly into setting? Can you ease slowly into grounding your reader? Yes, of course you can. But this post is meant to show you that it is possible to accomplish all this with only a few powerful opening lines.

Okay. Your turn! Let’s talk about it, but please read THIS POST first for some basic guidelines. This discussion will stay open until Tuesday morning, 7:00 AM EST, March 12, 2019, after which it will become read-only.

 

[Deleted member 604]

I shall roll the dice first

Everyone knows this one, It does not need a introduction...

Chapter 1: A Long-Expected Party

When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.

Bilbo was very rich and very peculiar, and had been the wonder of the Shire for sixty years, ever since his remarkable disappearance and unexpected return. The riches he had brought back from his travels had now become a local legend, and it was popularly believed, whatever the old folk might say, that the Hill at Bag End was full of tunnels stuffed with treasure. And if that was not enough for fame, there was also his prolonged vigour to marvel at. Time wore on, but it seemed to have little effect on Mr. Baggins. At ninety he was much the same as at fifty. At ninety-nine they began to call him well-preserved ; but unchanged would have been nearer the mark. There were some that shook their heads and thought this was too much of a good thing; it seemed unfair that anyone should possess (apparently) perpetual youth as well as (reputedly) inexhaustible wealth.

The words in bold are the ones that hooked me as a reader. As a writer I love how J.R.R.TOLKIEN effortlessly and casually eased the setting with the characterisation. And he accomplished that with so few words, remarkable. I think that knack is what makes him one of the best writers even today.

 

[Carol Rose]

Yes! Excellent example.

 

[Deleted member 604]

PART 1: JANUARY 1976

CHAPTER ONE
​

On those cloudy days, Robert Neville was never sure when sunset came, and sometimes they were in the streets before he could get back. If he had been more analytical, he might have calculated the approximate time of their arrival; but he still used the lifetime habit of judging nightfall by the sky, and on cloudy days that method didn't work. That was why he chose to stay near the house on those days.

This is one of my most-liked books - I Am Legend By Richard Matheson

It's a tough one, this regarding setting, it's very simplistic and it's one I would say opening-wise, using weather is an exception because it serves a much deeper and effective purpose. And again the words in bold are my hooks that makes me want to read on and they might not necessary be yours anyway I don't want to stray off the topic. And I'm sure 'Hooks' is something @Carol Rose will discuss here in the future.

We get the time in which the story happens before the chapter even starts, but we don't get much else regarding the setting afterwards. All we get really is a street and a house and the writing beyond the first paragraph doesn't give much else away setting wise.

Is that enough just a street and a house? And being mindful this is a mixed genre of SCI-FI and HORROR.

Any Thoughts Writers?

 

[Tim James]

I quite like this opening paragraph for depicting both the setting and the time in plain but riveting words, and alluding to the general tone of the book.

It is cold at six-forty in the morning of a March day in Paris, and seems even colder when a man is about to be executed by firing squad. At that hour on 11th March 1963, in the main courtyard of Fort d'Ivry, a French Air Force colonel stood before a stake driven into the chilly gravel as his hands were bound behind the post, and stared with slowly diminishing disbelief at the squad of soldiers facing him twenty metres away.

The time and place and weather are all given explicitly and plainly, and yet the paragraph is full of melancholy and menace.
In case you hadn't recognised it, it is the opening of Fredrick Forsyth's The Day of the Jackal, a book that is full of menace.
Although in truth, this opening does nothing to tell us about the central character of the book: the Jackal. You don't get to meet him for another 36 pages or so.
But that is often the style of the dark thriller that Forsyth did so well. In fact in The Day of the Jackal, you never get to know the real name of the Jackal at all or his background. He is an elusive, shadowy figure with one thing on his mind: the perfect kill.

 

[yanapuma]

"The final dying sounds of their dress rehearsal left the Laurel Players with nothing to do but stand there, silent and helpless, blinking out over the footlights of an empty auditorium. They hardly dared to breathe as the short, solemn figure of their director emerged from the naked seats to join them on stage, as he pulled a stepladder raspingly from the wings and climbed halfway up its rungs to turn and tell them, with several clearings of his throat, that they were a damned talented group of people and a wonderful group of people to work with."

This is the opening of one of my favourite novels Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates ... it has to be one of the most excruciating openings ever penned ... in 'The final dying sounds' they are 'silent and helpless, blinking' ... in the 'empty auditorium' with its 'the naked seats' ... he 'pulled a stepladder raspingly' ... 'with several clearings of his throat' ... he tells them they are 'a wonderful group'

 

[RK Wallis]

And a different style still doing the same thing:

Amara rode atop the swaying back of the towering old gargant bull, going over the plan in her head. The morning sun shone down on her, taking the chill out of the misty air and warming the dark wool of her skirts. Behind her, the axles of the cart squeaked and groaned beneath their loads. The slave collar she wore had begun to chafe her skin, and she made an irritated mental note to wear one for a few days in order to grow used to it, before the next mission.

Butcher, Jim. Furies Of Calderon: The Codex Alera: Book One (p. 3). Little, Brown Book Group. Kindle Edition.

Who: Amara
What: What is the slave collar for? What is she doing? What is this mission? What is their role is she talks of a next mission?
Where: the language is fantasy, in particular 'gargant'
When: it's the morning, and what I love, we know how that makes her feel.
Why: Why is she pretending to be a slave?

There's also a sense of movement toward something.

I loved the idea of this book before I read it. This book was written on a dare. Some young newbie writer complained to Jim Butcher that there were no original ideas. JB said, 'it's not about original ideas, they don't make a story'. The newbie writer said 'prove it' and JB said, 'ok, give me two known ideas'. The newbie writer said, 'combine the Roman Empire and Pokemon'. This is the result and a bestselling series.

 

[Carol Rose]

PART 1: JANUARY 1976

CHAPTER ONE
​

On those cloudy days, Robert Neville was never sure when sunset came, and sometimes they were in the streets before he could get back. If he had been more analytical, he might have calculated the approximate time of their arrival; but he still used the lifetime habit of judging nightfall by the sky, and on cloudy days that method didn't work. That was why he chose to stay near the house on those days.

This is one of my most-liked books - I Am Legend By Richard Matheson

It's a tough one, this regarding setting, it's very simplistic and it's one I would say opening-wise, using weather is an exception because it serves a much deeper and effective purpose. And again the words in bold are my hooks that makes me want to read on and they might not necessary be yours anyway I don't want to stray off the topic. And I'm sure 'Hooks' is something @Carol Rose will discuss here in the future.

We get the time in which the story happens before the chapter even starts, but we don't get much else regarding the setting afterwards. All we get really is a street and a house and the writing beyond the first paragraph doesn't give much else away setting wise.

Is that enough just a street and a house? And being mindful this is a mixed genre of SCI-FI and HORROR.

Any Thoughts Writers?

I love openings like this because, as you say, they contain a hook. And yes, HOOK is something we'll discuss in a future Craft Chat post, although I should be fair and say that what hooks one reader won't hook another, so that should be an interesting discussion.

But back to your example, I love this opening because it's about a street and a house. It sets the tone of the story to come.

 

[Carol Rose]

I quite like this opening paragraph for depicting both the setting and the time in plain but riveting words, and alluding to the general tone of the book.

It is cold at six-forty in the morning of a March day in Paris, and seems even colder when a man is about to be executed by firing squad. At that hour on 11th March 1963, in the main courtyard of Fort d'Ivry, a French Air Force colonel stood before a stake driven into the chilly gravel as his hands were bound behind the post, and stared with slowly diminishing disbelief at the squad of soldiers facing him twenty metres away.

The time and place and weather are all given explicitly and plainly, and yet the paragraph is full of melancholy and menace.
In case you hadn't recognised it, it is the opening of Fredrick Forsyth's The Day of the Jackal, a book that is full of menace.
Although in truth, this opening does nothing to tell us about the central character of the book: the Jackal. You don't get to meet him for another 36 pages or so.
But that is often the style of the dark thriller that Forsyth did so well. In fact in The Day of the Jackal, you never get to know the real name of the Jackal at all or his background. He is an elusive, shadowy figure with one thing on his mind: the perfect kill.

What a great first line! And yes, this is a fantastic book. This opening also sets the mood and tone of the story to follow. And this is one perfect example of being able to forstall the WHO quite successfully.

 

[Carol Rose]

"The final dying sounds of their dress rehearsal left the Laurel Players with nothing to do but stand there, silent and helpless, blinking out over the footlights of an empty auditorium. They hardly dared to breathe as the short, solemn figure of their director emerged from the naked seats to join them on stage, as he pulled a stepladder raspingly from the wings and climbed halfway up its rungs to turn and tell them, with several clearings of his throat, that they were a damned talented group of people and a wonderful group of people to work with."

This is the opening of one of my favourite novels Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates ... it has to be one of the most excruciating openings ever penned ... in 'The final dying sounds' they are 'silent and helpless, blinking' ... in the 'empty auditorium' with its 'the naked seats' ... he 'pulled a stepladder raspingly' ... 'with several clearings of his throat' ... he tells them they are 'a wonderful group'

Again, we have an opening that gives us setting so uniquely, with emotion and great uses of senses!

 

[Carol Rose]

And a different style still doing the same thing:

Amara rode atop the swaying back of the towering old gargant bull, going over the plan in her head. The morning sun shone down on her, taking the chill out of the misty air and warming the dark wool of her skirts. Behind her, the axles of the cart squeaked and groaned beneath their loads. The slave collar she wore had begun to chafe her skin, and she made an irritated mental note to wear one for a few days in order to grow used to it, before the next mission.

Butcher, Jim. Furies Of Calderon: The Codex Alera: Book One (p. 3). Little, Brown Book Group. Kindle Edition.

Who: Amara
What: What is the slave collar for? What is she doing? What is this mission? What is their role is she talks of a next mission?
Where: the language is fantasy, in particular 'gargant'
When: it's the morning, and what I love, we know how that makes her feel.
Why: Why is she pretending to be a slave?

There's also a sense of movement toward something.

I loved the idea of this book before I read it. This book was written on a dare. Some young newbie writer complained to Jim Butcher that there were no original ideas. JB said, 'it's not about original ideas, they don't make a story'. The newbie writer said 'prove it' and JB said, 'ok, give me two known ideas'. The newbie writer said, 'combine the Roman Empire and Pokemon'. This is the result and a bestselling series.

Isn't that fantastic? Such a great fourth line. It brings the previous three together in a way that reaches out and grabs the reader by his or her own throat. Can't you feel the collar as you read it? You're not expecting it, and then BAM.

 

[Nikky Lee]

Here's my submission from Donna Tartt's A Secret History. This book gripped me from the first paragraph and did not let me go, and it's not a genre I usually read so doubly well done on Tartt's part.

The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. He'd been dead for ten days before they found him, you know. It was one of the biggest manhunts in Vermont history - state troopers, the FBI, even an army helicopter; the college closed, the dye factory in Hampden shut shown, people coming from New Hampshire, upstate New York, as far away as Boston.

Who: No name, but we know they were witness to a death
What: A death and a manhunt. What happened to Bunny? How did Bunny die? What does this narrator know, but isn't telling us?
Where: 'you know' puts it as modern-ish. I would guess 90s (pre internet). Located in the in Vermont.
When: Spring time via 'snow melting'
Why: Why was Bunny dead? Why couldn't they find him? Why is the narrator holding back details?

 

[Deleted member 604]

I love openings like this because, as you say, they contain a hook. And yes, HOOK is something we'll discuss in a future Craft Chat post, although I should be fair and say that what hooks one reader won't hook another, so that should be an interesting discussion.

Agreed and I look forward to that one, I shall keep my eyes peeled.
For example - I might like Marmite and you might not.

 

[Carol Rose]

Agreed and I look forward to that one, I shall keep my eyes peeled.
For example - I might like Marmite and you might not.

Not easy to find that here. I've never even tasted it.

 

[Deleted member 604]

It sets the tone of the story to come.

@Carol Rose, Very interesting , How so?
The tone in a story demonstrates a particular feeling - So do you think Richard Matheson sets the tone through setting? Is that what keeps us reading in this instance? Seeing as the power of the Five W's are shall I say, a little sparse. Deliberate perhaps? And as I have already mentioned it's one of the most simplist of openings, I have come across both as a vivid, all-rounded reader and writer - when it comes to setting, word choice, sentences and structural sense.

 

[Deleted member 604]

Not easy to find that here. I've never even tasted it.

Granted

 

[Carol Rose]

@Carol Rose, Very interesting , How so?
The tone in a story demonstrates a particular feeling - So do you think Richard Matheson sets the tone through setting? Is that what keeps us reading in this instance? Seeing as the power of the Five W's are shall I say, a little sparse. Deliberate perhaps? And as I mentioned it's one of the most simplist of openings I have come across both as a vivid, all-rounded reader and writer - when it comes to setting, word choice and sentences and in a structural sense.

The feeling I get from this opening is that the story will be kind of low key and meandering, and there's something about the opening that intrigues me.

I don't know if his not giving us the Big Five right away was deliberate or not. Not sure how many authors even think about that when writing their opening lines. It's one of those things I was always taught to think about, but not sure how much it's stressed elsewhere.

That being said, I don't think it's absolutely necessary for an author to hit all the Big Fives in the opening lines, as we've seen from several examples in this thread. And I definitely don't mean to suggest they have to when they establish setting, only that it's possible to hit a few while establishing setting. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Deleted member 604]

there's something about the opening that intrigues me

Me too
The fact Robert Neville is never sure when sunset comes, it makes me question the cloudy days and wonder are they abnormal? How bad are they? If he struggles to see the sun which in our everyday lives, is impossible not to see. And then next, something was always in the street that shouldn't be, before he made it back home, to his house, to his safe-haven and why was there such a need for him to get home.

I don't think it's absolutely necessary for an author to hit all the Big Fives in the opening lines

Just enough to grab us but just take our hand so to speak and start to take us somewhere? Not take us somewhere entirely as Matheson has done. Possibly suggesting he has intentional held back the five W's solely for that purpose
Matheson you crafty bugger LOL, Brilliant writing really.

 

[Barbara]

Not easy to find that here. I've never even tasted it.

Now I know what to get you for your B'day.

That being said, I don't think it's absolutely necessary for an author to hit all the Big Fives in the opening lines,

Actually, that's something I've been thinking about. I'm thinking that if the 'who' is super strong and compelling (and the voice too), I'm fairly patient in waiting to find out more detail on the wider setting. It might actually make me more curious to not have all the answers. If the emphasis is fully on the 'who', and done well, it can make me want to follow that person and find out more. (Am I making sense or am I typing Swissglish? No idea. It's Friday.)

To me character setting is primary; physical setting is secondary. I like being straight in someone's head. Being confronted with the complex psychology of a well developed protagonist can take me far. Especially if they're flawed or damaged in some way. I'm less bothered about where or when it happens. I'm more bothered what happens to whom. For me, when I get too strong a picture of 'place' in the first paras, the first page and/or premise have to be as hot as fresh cakes and totally chocolatey if I'm going to read on. So, when a story starts with a sunset, I feel like saying 'Try harder, thank you.'

Also, if a beginning is too busy answering all the 'W's, it can become too laden with images or info, and become too rich and a bit of an overload. It can make it hard to get into it.

 

[Carol Rose]

BWHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! my birthday is in October, just so you know. Plan early for the overseas delivery and all that.

You're making perfect sense. As we've seen in several examples here already, hitting only one or two of them is enough to pull a reader in, IF the hook is there and the opening is strong. Of course, that can be subjective, too.

I adore the opening, for example, of To Kill A Mockingbird, but I know a lot of people who think it's too meandering and boring. But what you say about being pulled into a character as opposed to place or time is exactly what I love about it. We are squarely in Scout's head, and we have a total sense of who she is by the end of the second paragraph.

When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem's fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury. His left arm was somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh. He couldn't have cared less, so long as he could pass and punt.

When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out.

 

[Barbara]

I quite like this opening below.

Is this an unusual way of setting a scene? Or am I that unwide-ly read?

It's from John Dies at the End, by David Wong. From the prologue (uh-oh, a prologue).

Solving the following riddle will reveal the awful secret behind the universe, assuming you do not go utterly mad in the attempt. If you already happen to know the awful secret behind the universe, feel free to skip ahead.
Let's say you have an axe. Just a cheap one, from Home Depot. On one bitter winter day, you use said axe to behead a man. Don't worry, the man was already dead. Or maybe you should worry, because you're the one who shot him.

 

[Carol Rose]

I don’t know if it’s unusual but it made me laugh and want to keep reading!

 

[Barbara]

I don’t know if it’s unusual but it made me laugh and want to keep reading!

I haven't read it yet, but an unexpected person told me about it. I think the protagonist is high as a kite on soy sauce for much of it.

 

[yanapuma]

BWHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! my birthday is in October, just so you know. Plan early for the overseas delivery and all that.

You're making perfect sense. As we've seen in several examples here already, hitting only one or two of them is enough to pull a reader in, IF the hook is there and the opening is strong. Of course, that can be subjective, too.

I adore the opening, for example, of To Kill A Mockingbird, but I know a lot of people who think it's too meandering and boring. But what you say about being pulled into a character as opposed to place or time is exactly what I love about it. We are squarely in Scout's head, and we have a total sense of who she is by the end of the second paragraph.

When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem's fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury. His left arm was somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh. He couldn't have cared less, so long as he could pass and punt.

When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out.

Love this book .. great opening ... so much revealed of what is about to come ...

 

[yanapuma]

Another opening I adore .... and what an opening .....The Butcher Boy by Pat McCabe, who in one novel invented a new very Irish genre ... Bog Gothic ...

"When I was a young lad twenty or thirty or forty years ago I lived in a small town where they were all after me on account of what I done on Mrs. Nugent. I was hiding out by the river in a hole under a tangle of briars. It was a hide me and Joe made. Death to all dogs who enter here, we said. Except us of course."

 

[Emily]

Am I making sense or am I typing Swissglish? No idea. It's Friday.

Ms @Barbara : PUT DOWN THE VODKA.

I LOVED To Kill a Mockingbird, I reread it again recently and enjoyed it, even more, the second time.

I thought this was a good first line (from Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng): “Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer; how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.” (Made especially intriguing because there was a short (don't tell Peter) prologue of sorts, as though an ad from a magazine, detailing what life in Shaker Heights was like (a Utopia of sorts!))

 

[Leonora]

Another opening I adore .... and what an opening .....The Butcher Boy by Pat McCabe, who in one novel invented a new very Irish genre ... Bog Gothic ...

"When I was a young lad twenty or thirty or forty years ago I lived in a small town where they were all after me on account of what I done on Mrs. Nugent. I was hiding out by the river in a hole under a tangle of briars. It was a hide me and Joe made. Death to all dogs who enter here, we said. Except us of course."

Wow, that's so Huckleberry Finn!

 

[Carol Rose]

Love this book .. great opening ... so much revealed of what is about to come ...

Exactly!

 

[Carol Rose]

Another opening I adore .... and what an opening .....The Butcher Boy by Pat McCabe, who in one novel invented a new very Irish genre ... Bog Gothic ...

"When I was a young lad twenty or thirty or forty years ago I lived in a small town where they were all after me on account of what I done on Mrs. Nugent. I was hiding out by the river in a hole under a tangle of briars. It was a hide me and Joe made. Death to all dogs who enter here, we said. Except us of course."

I love that! So atmospheric.

 

[Carol Rose]

Ms @Barbara : PUT DOWN THE VODKA.

I LOVED To Kill a Mockingbird, I reread it again recently and enjoyed it, even more, the second time.

I thought this was a good first line (from Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng): “Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer; how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.” (Made especially intriguing because there was a short (don't tell Peter) prologue of sorts, as though an ad from a magazine, detailing what life in Shaker Heights was like (a Utopia of sorts!))

Very intriguing!