grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

on writing First Sentences

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In a recent article with The Atlantic, Stephen King describes the first line of a book as the reader’s invitation to begin the story.

“…a really good first line can do so much to establish that crucial sense of voice—it’s the first thing that acquaints you, that makes you eager, that starts to enlist you for the long haul. So there’s incredible power in it, when you say, come in here. You want to know about this. And someone begins to listen.”

My friend and writing mentor Pat Carr says the first sentence is a promise to the reader— a promise of what’s to come. The first sentence sets the story’s mood and tone.

The first sentence is a promise of what's to come...

What pressure! That first sentence is often a stumbling block to the second sentence.

I’ve been studying first sentences to test this theory. Here are the openings lines to a few of my favorite books… (in no particular order)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. (A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens)

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

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

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

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is when I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. (Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger)

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. (The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway)

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. (Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austin)

All children, except one, grow up. (Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie)

The terror that would not end for another twenty-eight years, if it ever did, began so far as I can know or tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain. (It, Stephen King)

When Augustus came on the porch the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake—not a very big one. (Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry)

He understood what they were thinking and saying: Old man that he is, what’s to become of him? (To Dance With the White Dog, Terry Kay)

“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug. (Little Women, Louisa May Alcott)

I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. (The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini)

At the first gesture of morning, flies began stirring. (Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier)

At sundown, when they led him to the chair, Nail Chism began to understand the meaning of the name of his hometown, Stay More. (The Choiring of the Trees, Donald Harington)

What’s your favorite first book line?

Cold Mountain - On Writing First Sentences

 

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

P.S. The opening line to wildly popular Fifty Shades…

I scowl at frustration at myself in the mirror. (Fifty Shades of Grey, E. L. James)

hmmmm. Not much of a promise.

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Comments

  1. Great subject for a post! I love that you have a photo of the first page of _Cold Mountain_. I was so stunned by that book that I could not read another for two weeks; I dissected it over and over in my mind every day during that time and no room existed for anything else.

    But, my favorite first line is from Anne Tyler’s _Back When We Were Grownups_. “Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.” I heard Garrison Keillor read it on The Writers’ Almanac, ran to the library and picked up the book, and had finished it before the end of the day. I’ve never been grabbed like that before or since.

  2. The first one is always the hardest. I have been writing (for my own pleasure) since I was in high school…no one has ever read any of my stuff for this reason! I am NEVER satisfied with that first sentence, it can make or break ya!

  5. You sure have the wheels turning now! This made for a fun quiz with Tom. He got several of them right. I loved Dancing with the White Dog but I didn’t remember the opening sentence. Your mom is right on!

    • I debated whether or not to even include the titles and authors but definitely wanted to give credit. It really is interesting to go back and see if the first line of a book that I loved promised what the story was about. I think To Dance with the White Dog succeeded!

  6. At sundown, when they led him to the chair, Nail Chism began to understand the meaning of the name of his hometown, Stay More. (The Choiring of the Trees, Donald Harington)

    Donald Harrington is my favorite writer, hands down.

  8. My husband always talks about how great the first sentence is to the Dark Towers series by Stephen King. “The Man in Black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed.”

  9. I am always struck by brevity. I read a short story once that begaain with the line “It began with the killing of the kittens”. I also remember a first line from a book that wasn’t that good…but the first line was a doozy -“There was a face on my shoe” ( It opened at the scene of an airplane crash). both lines are morbidly fascinating…what does that say about me???

  10. Your article is super, as is your list. I had forgotten about Fahrenheit 451 – great line, and I just finished The Kite Runner ( found it on a used book shelf) , and loved that line, as well. Good job.
    Lauralew, I never heard of that, but after reading the line, I think I must get it!

  13. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post. In addition to real-life humor blogs, I’m currently trying to write short stories and other fiction. It is clear that I could learn a lot from you.

    As for my favorite first line:
    ‘When farmer Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth spread till they were within an unimportant distance of his ears, his eyes were reduced to chinks, and diverging wrinkles appeared round them, extending upon his countenance like the rays in a rudimentary sketch of the rising sun.’ (Thomas Hardy – Far From the Madding Crowd).

  14. Your mentor said it well. I really like that. I always remember a teacher in HS sending back papers because she didn’t like our starts

  15. Here are a few of mine:

    Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.
    – Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

    Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?’
    – Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

    As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.
    – Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

    Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin.
    – A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

    In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
    – J.R.R. Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien), The Hobbit

    The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us.
    – H.G. Wells, The Time Machine

    • And if you extend it out one more line, this is my favorite:

      My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered.
      ― Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones

    • Couldn’t we all? 🙂 I’ve done posts on first sentences, myself. My absolute favorite one turned out to be a misremembered one. I thought it was “Barton had to pee.” But it turned out I had condensed what was actually said down to the essential information: the main character had to go potty. 🙂

  16. Great exercise on first lines. I like several of the books you mentioned but would be hard pressed to choose my favorite. I’m trying to take that first line advice to heart, but it’s always a challenge to getting started. Thanks for sharing.
    A couple of books you didn’t mention include:
    “When I was little I used to think of ways to kill my daddy.” ELLEN FOSTER by Kaye Gibbons and
    “I’d just caught my breath after the shock of my husband’s sudden passing when his last legacy showed up on my front porch.” MISS JULIA SPEAKS HER MIND by Ann B. Ross

  17. I have this book called What If? by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter. One of the first exercises in the book is to write a first sentence every day. Just a first sentence. No requirement to go any further.

    I found it very useful for the several years I did it.

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!