31 March 2014
The days of slowly introducing a reader to a novel are over. Authors now believe that their first sentence is crucial if they are going to hold their reader's attention because they are so easily distracted by modern technology such as iPads.
Speaking at a literary festival, the novelists Simon Kernick and Richard Madeley agreed it was essential to "grab the reader round the throat" from the first line.
The days when writers such as Jane Austen could craft a novel from a gentle start were over, they added, arguing that too much time spent setting up a plot meant a book would no longer work.
