starfishstar: (Default)
starfishstar ([personal profile] starfishstar) wrote2017-05-22 10:03 am

...And Then the Murders Began

The all-day book talk about the best recent YA was indeed excellent! Hats off to anyone who can talk for 7 hours about books and make it fun. :-) I heard about a ton of books, of course, but also she presented various fun resources for teachers and librarians. One of my favorites was Recovering the Classics, a project that encourages people to make (and sell!) beautiful, creative book covers for classic literature, instead of the drab covers they tend to get shoved into. (Re-covering...get it? Pun??) So basically, fanart, but cool to see it celebrated and promoted in a mainstream context. And omigosh, so beautiful.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I'm not on Tumblr, but I occasionally visit, and there I recently stumbled across the suggestion that "The first line of almost any story can be improved by making sure the second line is, 'And then the murders began.'" (via copperbadge)

Excellent! This is great to do with any classic book, of course, but also fun to do with your own stories. Here are a few of mine:


Sirius' jaw dropped. And then the murders began.

Watching Dover disappear into the fog behind the ferry rail, Remus felt some constriction deep in his chest ease, just a fraction, for the first time since the news had reached him. And then the murders began.

Tosh flashed that disarming little smile Jack was quickly learning to associate with a stroke of even more brilliance than usual on her part. And then the murders began.


And the terribly appropriate...

“Which is more powerful, do you think, love or magic?” Albus asked, bending a leafy bough out of the way as he followed Gellert through the sun-dappled woods that dotted the hills outside Godric’s Hollow. And then the murders began.


It's fun! Dooooo iiiiiiiit.


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