First Line of a Book

[ellekaldwin]

I’ve been thinking a lot about first lines of novels, short stories, or really anything. They can be an instant hook, or a tasty little preview of the opening paragraph that locks in the tone. But I also feel like that puts so much pressure on me to nail the perfect first line, the one that conveys exactly what I want it to, right away.

I always think about Sally Rooney’s Normal People, which opens with: “Marianne answers the door when Connell rings the bell.” It’s such a simple sentence, but it immediately hints at the dynamic between them and the kind of story you’re about to get.

Another favorite of mine is C.S. Lewis in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” How clever is that? It’s funny, effortless, and it tells you everything you need to know about him, without actually telling you anything beyond his name.

Anyway, I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but I’m curious: what are your favorite opening lines or passages? And do you think first lines are as important as people say they are?

 

[Madman Starryteller]

For me openings aren't very important. I did not begin reading Hyperion for the first line, I can't even remember it. I pick books based on genre, mostly. I pick books that I have already read a little about or whose blurb/backside text interest me. I like knowing what I'm going to get in the full package (without spoiling anything). And I'm very picky, because I'm an iceberg snail slow reader.

Interesting thread, I do wonder what people will answer. And I also wonder how important the first line is to the general consumer?

Edit:
Since openings aren't important to me, personally, I also don't tend to overthink them in my own writing.

It's also important to note that people have widely different opinions and preferences, so a line that may work for one person, may be a bad thing for another. One has to find the middle ground or be confident about what they want to write.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

The perfect first line is a kind of game that either one enjoys playing or one does not. Witness over 40 years of the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest. The run, alas, ended last summer, but it was glorious while it lasted. I have too many favorites to list, including one by our own JLT, but the link to past winners is HERE

I do care about opening lines, not only for novels, but for each chapter of a novel, and for every feature article I've ever written. If a story starts with any version of waking up in the morning or the sun rising in the east, I immediately wonder if the rest of the book will be equally mundane and unimaginative.

Favorite first lines from books I've read:

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. George Orwell, 1984 (1949)

He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea (1952)

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York. Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (1963)

It was a pleasure to burn. Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle (1948)

When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. Frances Hodgson Burnett

Favorite first line from a book I intend to read because I like the first line:

It was the day my grandmother exploded. Iain M. Banks, The Crow Road (1992)

 

[Hammer]

I am an opening lines advocate; it will either draw me in or I'll walk on by. Lots of opening lines on the first three sentences thread. Write a few. See what people think.

I was given a card game for Christmas - someone picks a card which displays the title of a novel - you either know the opening/closing line or make one up and then players decide which it is - points for knowing, points for fooling. I have yet to find the right people to play it with, but am looking forward to it immensely!

 

[Naomasa298]

Call me Ishmael.

 

[Banespawn]

A lot of writers definitely try way too hard on opening lines. Most of them end up having the same issues.

The only thing an opening line really needs to do is get you to read the second line. It needs to pique the reader's interest. To that end, I have always been an advocate of hooking the reader with the information I give them rather than the information I leave out.

It was the worst day ever.

I see so many opening lines like this in unpublished works. Pure hyperbole that tells us absolutely nothing. That line could be the beginning of a million different stories. Give me a line that will make me want to read your story.

Ash fell from the sky.

That's the opening line of Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson. It's simple and effective. Ash falling from the sky isn't a normal occurrence. I need to keep reading to find out why.

 

[sierraromeobravo]

Call me Ishmael.

100%!! This is my favorite first line.

I'm not sold that the first line will make or break the story, but I do know that a first line can enhance it! I love the ones that catch you off-guard. 1984 is a great example with the clock striking 13.

 

[Dogberry's Watch]

I picked up a book recently that I wasn't sure about until I read the first line and it was such a shock that I, like others, immediately had to "Well, what's this all about, then?"

"When we were eight, Dad cut me open from throat to stomach." from Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy. This book ended up being one of my favorites I read last year.

My dad gave me a mug for Christmas with several famous first lines. So things like Dickens, Salinger, Kerouac, Camus, Pynchon, etc, etc. I have it at work to think of happier times.

 

[Louanne Learning]

I want to begin with a shout out to @ellekaldwin who is one of my most favourite writers - her entries into our Jade Empire roleplay blow me away.

Now, about first lines.

I cannot write a story until I have the first line. It must be a hook. I can spend an hour thinking about it. When it comes to me, it's a real a-ha moment. Then, I can proceed.

Maybe you will read on from any first line, but it'll be with curiosity if the first line grabs you. At least, for me.

I'm the person who goes into the book store and opens up a whole bunch of books and gives them one line to draw me in.

First line doesn't do it? The book goes back on the shelf.

One of my favourite first lines (from an 18th century novel whose title escapes me!) - is -

You will not like me.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

I can spend an hour thinking about it.

You can get a great first line IN AN HOUR?

Bitch.

 

[Homer Potvin]

I always find my first line a few pages in months after I've written it. Cut/paste.

 

[Naomasa298]

I think I only ever came up with a good first line once, and that was five years ago.

 

[ellekaldwin]

For me openings aren't very important. I did not begin reading Hyperion for the first line, I can't even remember it. I pick books based on genre, mostly. I pick books that I have already read a little about or whose blurb/backside text interest me. I like knowing what I'm going to get in the full package (without spoiling anything). And I'm very picky, because I'm an iceberg snail slow reader.

Interesting thread, I do wonder what people will answer. And I also wonder how important the first line is to the general consumer?

Edit:
Since openings aren't important to me, personally, I also don't tend to overthink them in my own writing.

It's also important to note that people have widely different opinions and preferences, so a line that may work for one person, may be a bad thing for another. One has to find the middle ground or be confident about what they want to write.

I think you're right in that people need to be confident about what they want to write and not put too much pressure on the first line. I'm the kind of writer where I'll rewrite a single sentence over and over until it's perfect but 'perfect' is an arbitrary measure that I'll never be able to reach. Anyway thank you for sharing your perspective!

 

[ellekaldwin]

The perfect first line is a kind of game that either one enjoys playing or one does not. Witness over 40 years of the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest. The run, alas, ended last summer, but it was glorious while it lasted. I have too many favorites to list, including one by our own JLT, but the link to past winners is HERE

I do care about opening lines, not only for novels, but for each chapter of a novel, and for every feature article I've ever written. If a story starts with any version of waking up in the morning or the sun rising in the east, I immediately wonder if the rest of the book will be equally mundane and unimaginative.

Favorite first lines from books I've read:

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. George Orwell, 1984 (1949)

He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea (1952)

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York. Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (1963)

It was a pleasure to burn. Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle (1948)

When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. Frances Hodgson Burnett

Favorite first line from a book I intend to read because I like the first line:

It was the day my grandmother exploded. Iain M. Banks, The Crow Road (1992)

Thank you for sharing those examples! Orwell was a master at those powerful opening lines that grab the reader immediately. Another author that I think is Ursula K. Le Guin and Kurt Vonnegut. Also thank you for sharing that there's a whole contest about this! I snorted into my tea while reading some, especially the one from 2020: "Her Dear John missive flapped unambiguously in the windy breeze, hanging like a pizza menu on the doorknob of my mind." Lisa Kluber, San Francisco, CA.

Amazing.

 

[ellekaldwin]

I want to begin with a shout out to @ellekaldwin who is one of my most favourite writers - her entries into our Jade Empire roleplay blow me away.

Now, about first lines.

I cannot write a story until I have the first line. It must be a hook. I can spend an hour thinking about it. When it comes to me, it's a real a-ha moment. Then, I can proceed.

Maybe you will read on from any first line, but it'll be with curiosity if the first line grabs you. At least, for me.

I'm the person who goes into the book store and opens up a whole bunch of books and gives them one line to draw me in.

First line doesn't do it? The book goes back on the shelf.

One of my favourite first lines (from an 18th century novel whose title escapes me!) - is -

You will not like me.

You're always so kind about my writing, but I'm only as good as my fellow role players! The story would be nothing without you!

I do the same thing sometime and go through books and read the first lines. I'll do that and maybe read the last line haha and try and imagine how the book ends.

 

[ellekaldwin]

I picked up a book recently that I wasn't sure about until I read the first line and it was such a shock that I, like others, immediately had to "Well, what's this all about, then?"

"When we were eight, Dad cut me open from throat to stomach." from Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy. This book ended up being one of my favorites I read last year.

My dad gave me a mug for Christmas with several famous first lines. So things like Dickens, Salinger, Kerouac, Camus, Pynchon, etc, etc. I have it at work to think of happier times.

What a first line that is! That would grab me too and I'm adding that book to my TBR list.

 

[Mogador]

I think I only ever came up with a good first line once, and that was five years ago.

That'd make a great first line.