Posted on 04/05/2023 8:34:50 PM PDT by Saije
A good first line is not always necessary because who stops reading after one sentence? But it can be extremely useful in building expectations for the style and characterisation that will follow. While book jackets can indicate a broad genre, that line can define the subgenre.
The opening may establish the tone, character, location, era or season but it can also pull a reader into the realm of the story that follows, and often into the head of the protagonist or into an alternate reality. When we open a book, we are ready to embark on a journey. The starter pistol should propel us forward. In my experience, a great opening will also raise questions that needs to be answered. Who or why or how or indeed, wtf?
In my own work, I like to set the opening line in the aftermath of a major event. I write first-person narratives and the reaction of the protagonist to this event should give the reader a good indication of the type of character... To demonstrate, here are some of my favourite openings by other writers.
1. Breakfast Wine from There Are Little Kingdoms by Kevin Barry
"They say it takes just three alcoholics to keep a small bar running in a country town and while myself and the cousin, Thomas, were doing what we could, we were a man shy, and these were difficult days for Mr Kelliher, licensee of the North Star, Pearse Street."
A whole world and three distinct characters have been created in this one sentence. Our narrator is aware of the fact that he is an alcoholic, but does Thomas know that the narrator is? Does he know that he is? Where is poor Mr Kelliher going to find a third alcoholic to keep his doors open?
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
lol
“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
Sounds like Cleveland.
“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Four shots ripped into my groin and I was off on the greatest adventure of my life…”
“Call me Ishmael”
"The Jebel Es Zubleh is a mountain fifty miles and more in length and so narrow that its tracery on the map gives it a likeness to a caterpillar crawling from the south to the north."
From Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace (New York: Harper, 1880).
I agree.
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.“
100000% Agree!
The greatest opening line of the greatest book ever written:
In the beginning....(Genesis 1:1)
"Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tide-water dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair, from Puget Sound to San Diego."
That isn’t fiction.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams.
Awesome five book trilogy!
“MARLEY was dead: to begin with.”
I always loved that opening line. I think I liked it a lot because my Dad always used “Dead as a door nail.” It took me until high school English Lit to understand where Dad got it from.
LOL
Yes!
It’s from The Guardian. Expect the communist point of view. Yeah no real classics in the list at all. Worthless article.
Was that GEORGE COSTANZA’S line from Seinfeld????
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