Opening Lines
Ah, the opening line, my nemesis. There’s immense pressure on that first sentence, and the blank page is so… intimidating. Opening lines need to set the tone for the story and offer a glimpse of the inciting incident, just enough that the reader wants to continue reading.
Take Franz Kafka’s opening line from Metamorphosis. It’s surprising, telling, and a great example of a story starting in the right place:
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.
Jane Austen’s first line of Pride and Prejudice is playful, critical, and informative of the time period:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
But opening lines can also be simple, sharp, and to the point like Elizabeth Tein’s Code Name Verity:
I am a coward.
The trouble is that it’s hard to write a brilliant opening when you don’t know where your story’s going. It’s a Catch-22 (which, BTW, has a great opening line: It was love at first sight). It seems that the only way to start is to know where the story will end. Perhaps then the first line should be the last one written.
What are some of your favorite first lines?
What I’m reading: The Forest for the Trees by Betsy Lerner (analysis of the writer’s psyche + inside scoop on the publishing industry = intriguing)
What I’m listening to: Royals – Lorde
One of my favorite opening lines is from a funny romance, Trust Me by Jayne Krentz.
“You’re a woman, miss Wainwright. Give me your honest opinion. Sam stark paused briefly to drink from the glass of brandy in his hand. “Do you think it was the prenuptial agreement that spooked her?”
Miss Wainwright is the caterer for the wedding where the bride was a no show and Stark is the groom, a wealthy, slightly geeky, entrepreneur.
That’s a hilarious opening line! It makes me want to read the book!
Do you think they wrote those opening lines after they had written the ending? Does that break the rules?
I love that Royals song!
So much of writing is re-writing that I think more often the not the first line is written after the ending, or at least after the main plot has been established. You bring up an interesting question as to if that’s breaking the rules… If it is, I’m guilty of it 🙂
[…] engage the reader, introduce the tone of the story, blah blah blah (I posted about opening lines here)–but closing lines are just as […]