You want to write a novel, and you have a great idea, but you’re not sure how to start. Everybody knows that first line, that first sentence, is extremely important. It has to be right.
If you’re stuck because of the pressure of crafting the perfect opening line, you’re not alone. And neither is your angst misplaced.
I was reading the blog of one of my favorite authors, Jerry Jenkins, this morning when I ran across this post. I have read it before, but sometimes I think we all just need a refresher. If you’re like me, you have so much information being thrown at you, you can’t possibly retain it all.
Most great opening lines fall into one of four categories.
- Surprising
Fiction: “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”- George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-four
Nonfiction: “By the time Eustace Conway was seven years old, he could throw a knife accurately enough to nail a chipmunk to a tree.”-Elizabeth Gilbert, The Last American Man
- Dramatic Statement
Fiction: “They shoot the white girl first.” – Toni Morrison, Paradise
Nonfiction: “I was five years old the first time I ever set foot in prison.” – Jimmy Santiago Baca, A Place to Stand
- Philosophical
Fiction: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Nonfiction: “It’s not about you.” – Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life
- Poetic
Fiction: “When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon. -James Crumley, The Last Good Kiss
Nonfiction: “The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call ‘out there.'” -Truman Capote, In Cold Blood.
This link will take you to some more great opening lines, and one of Jerry Jenkins’s blogs. Here’s a list of famous openers.
Hope this helped!
Jan R
This is always the hardest part, but also one of the most exhilarating. There is nothing better than it. But always think three moves ahead as well. It has to be the hook, there are no two ways about it.
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Thanks for sharing! And thanks for stopping by 🙂
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The first line of Anna Karenina really stuck with me, I’ve seen it in real life many times.
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Thanks for stopping by! That first line really does matter 🙂
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Reblogged this on Valerie Ormond's Thoughts On… and commented:
Some thoughts for NaWrNoMo friends…and others!
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Thank you! And thanks for stopping by 🙂
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Thank you! And thanks for stopping by 🙂
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Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
Interesting find by Jan 👍😃
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Thanks!
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Welcome 😃
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