I thoughtI had readthat quotein LawrenceBlock's book, TELLING LIES FOR FUN &

PROFIT. I couldn't find it there,though. Doesn't matter. BecauseI di<lfind somcother

extremelyusefuladvicein chapter24, "opening Remarks."such as:

"GETTING THE STORY N'IOVING. The worst thing aboutthe openinrsof mosrstoriesb1,
new writersis that thev takemore tinre gettingstar-ted
thanan old Stutiebaker
on a cold
morning."

"ln a sensc.of course,urostefl'ectir,eopcnin{s do scvcralthin{rsat oncc.

f'hcv sct the actiorr
uoing, set the tone, and establishthe problem..."

" . . . v o L l ro p e n i n gh a s t o b e g r i o d - r t r t l t e r c s t o l ' t h e s t r t r r ' \ l o l i ' t

l l r v e I c h a n c cL r c c l u s c
notrody'll stick around to rcaclit."

"Wcll. oPe:nittgs are alwavs inrportunt. Writcrs of non-fictiou arc rvcll a.uvlrrc
of the
llllpoftanccol'gctting things ol'f to ri sooil start. In a straightnc$,sst()rv,the lead
is literally
everything.crnbodvingin a sentcnceol' t\\,o the who-rvhat-\\,hcre-when-ivhv-hou' of it all. In a
m a g a z i n ea r t i c l ct h c l c a d i s n o l e s sv i t a l . . . "

"But o"'erthe yearsI've rarelybeentrrlr/anvthingaboutrvriringtechniquesthat ha.sdoneme

nrucltgood. The outstartding erxccption
is this one prcccpt.u,hichI'nr goingto suyaguinto
lesscnyour chancco1'fbrgctting it.
Drn't beginot tlrcbeginrr.itr.g."

Great advice. I can't praiscthis hook Iiighly cnoush. It's fantasticl Iriek 1p i.rcopv urd rcucl
it. You'll kccp it around fioni no',',on as a refcrence. And lt a risk of uoing ol'f on a tangcnt...
don't make the mistakeof ignoring the arh,'iccof othcr top rvrilers(cspcciallysomt:oneas
intcrcrstiltg
itntl talentcclas Blttck)just bccausethe-vtlon't u,ritc ltlvcrtisiltg cgpv. Slrc, yuu
shoLrldbc rvary and selectiveof what vou read. [Jut BIock's book is labulous.ilitlr tons ol'uselul
advice that will make yott a far better. far more productive, ricirer anclrnore satisfied
{c()pv)wnter.

Also- if you havesomeextratime, readhis book: SuchMen Are Durtqerous.Halbertsaveme

a signedcopyto readyearsago...andit n,aswcll worthwhire.

Here's Your ExerciseFor This Chapter:

Pick up a Reader'sDigest andcopy down the lst sentence
of everyarticle... look for
successfulformulasthat repeatagainand again

I n T e s t e t l A d v e r t i s i n g M e t h oJdosh,n C a p l e s s a i d t h a t h e d i d t h i sa. .n. d h e r e ' s w h a t h e f o u n d :

a intemtptineIdeas...a srartlingstatement
or noveltwist
a Shocker
a News
a
Quotation

Chapter5-9