Many books, especially in the sci-fi/fantasy categories, have a teaser just inside the front cover. The teaser is usually no more than a couple of paragraphs taken from a pivotal point in the book. Unlike the excerpt in the "Novel Info" tab, a teaser does not have an opportunity for explanation: the purpose is not to give a description of the book, but to catch attention.
Has anybody come up with a scene they could use as a teaser, yet? (Remember, no more than a couple paragraphs at most.)
Here's mine (so far):
Hallyk's voice was soft. The painful sincerity in his voice and his eyes caused her heart to ache. Rhysa knew what he said was true. She wanted to let the words, his voice, his eyes convince her. She found herself gulping her water. Finally she gave a cautious nod and said, "That's not all, is it." She made it a statement.
Hallyk shook his head and took a large swallow of amethyst liquid. "You belong with House Korolevsko. You feel it. You are not scared of me or my father, as you are with most men. You feel the safety of home. We share similar blood, you and I. Not the same, but similar." He smiled wryly, "Don't worry. I'm not going to tell you we're siblings, or even cousings. Nevertheless, we are the same in some ways." He sighed heavily and lowered his head to stare into the bright purple remnants of his drink. When he lifted his head and looked into Rhysa's eyes, slitted pupils stared at her from red-gold eyes.
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"The ships hung in the air in much the same way that bricks don't." --HHGttG
"Does this game have a safe word?" --Rob Balder
61,545 / 50,000
nov. 11, 2009 - 06 14
I love Honey and Hester and I was sitting outside with them one evening and they were teaching me signs for things and Honey caught a big moth on her arm. Hester ran away shrieking and did not come right back. Honey brought it to me, making up a sign for it because she didn’t know the sign for 'moth' but wanting to show off to me anyway. She doesn’t like to admit she doesn’t know something. She made this sign and took it into her hand and offered it to me. I took it by its wings and admired it as one must a gift of any kind and then ate the meaty part and thanked her for it. I thought that she had brought me food. It isn’t polite to refuse a gift or to forget to say thank you for it. She taught me a sign for something which no one else on the planet would recognize but in turn I taught her that there is a whole world of food out there she can obtain for herself.
----------She brought me another one and watched, fascinated, as I ate it also but the next one she ate herself and I got no more after that. Hester saw some of this and when Honey was next hovering over the porch light, waiting to spring on the next moth which settled and ran to tell on us and I had to admit that Honey learned this little kind of hunting from me.
I don’t really know what was so bad about this. She is allowed snacks.
A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.
61,545 / 50,000
nov. 11, 2009 - 06 20
And you can see that I am editing very little.
----------A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.
35,313 / 50,000
nov. 12, 2009 - 12 54
Those are both great. I don't have any such little section in mine yet that I would want to post here.
The funny thing is, you startled me with your subject because my opening scene is a prologue or in the parlance, a 'teaser'. In this case it involves a character on a fishing vacation in the 1960's, and then I switch to cover Secret Service agents in the 1870's and won't bring that character up again for a little while yet.
When I get to that point, or somewhere in the area, is when I'm sure I'll have this kind of teaser.
----------Silver
Team Lushguin
2009 - The Night of the Descendants
“You’re pure, gallant and cheeky; but I’m unbearable, insufferable and intolerable.”
72,477 / 50,000
nov. 12, 2009 - 13 56
Heh. I thought about using "Bait" as the subject, but chose "Teaser" instead. I knew about the other usage, hence the explanation. I hope to see yours at some point.
----------"The ships hung in the air in much the same way that bricks don't." --HHGttG
"Does this game have a safe word?" --Rob Balder
50,132 / 50,000
nov. 13, 2009 - 01 13
Now that you mention it, I think I do.
"Why are we wasting our time on this imbecile?" Kaleb asked hotly. "He has nothing to offer us and nothing to threaten us with. If you know what's good for you, 'Dragon,' you'll turn around now while you still have a tail to tuck between your legs." Erick's response came suddenly, taking even Gerrard by surprise as a wave of blistering heat lashed out at Kaleb, sucking moisture from his body and scorching his skin, blasting the young Novitiate into unconsciousness.
Gerrard's eyes turned from their normal shade of sky-blue to something far more intense, literal coronas in his suddenly furious face. "That was a mistake, Renegade Scion. I am Provost Gerrard Bluemantle the Totembane, Adept Premier of Teir'Agarde, Master of the First Thaumatugical Circle. And I am not so easily overcome." A nimbus of azure light surrounded him as he raised his hands quickly, as if throwing something straight up. A burst of white light exploded in their midst, as if the ground itself had momentarily turned into a second sun. A surge of air followed in its wake, slamming into the Elemantalists from below and sending them careening into the sky. "-Thomas, see to Kaleb!-" Gerrard thought as he leapt, his zephyr forming underneath him to carry him in pursuit.
----------I answer to mcrog, mark, rook, markie, markiemark, marcus, marcuscus, cuscus, marco, marco polo, maestro, oh tall one, senor tanaka, senor fantastico, but I prefer mark or rook.
50,000 / 50,000
nov. 16, 2009 - 17 31
Yay teasers! Love them! Hug them! Shower them with more editing than the rest of the story, because after someone's hooked, who cares if it's good or not (just kidding... please don't shoot me)?
* I never really knew just how much I knew until I tried to catalog it all, and I knew that I had only hit the tip of the iceberg so far. I began thinking of as many was as I could to make change for a dollar and I must have gotten near two hundred before I finally abandoned that futile pursuit.
----------I tried the door handle, only to find that it held fast. I beat my fists on the wood and shouted for someone, anyone, to let me out, but in vain. I kicked the door, screamed, even threw my chair at it in desperation. Exhausted from my little outburst, I picked up the chair, sat back down, and waited some more. Searching for some other fruitless pursuit to keep me busy, I concentrated with all of my might on the chair opposite me. I threw all of my mind at it, willing it to move, but, sadly, my skull held the power fast. I attempted another assault, throwing my entire being into the struggle, when suddenly, the dam broke, and I felt a torrential amount of energy leave my body in a stream, and, to my great surprise, the chair slid backwards almost three feet and clunked against the wall. *
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