Writers say that one of the hardest parts of writing a novel is coming up with an opening sentence that appropriately leads the reader into their story. Here are some opening sentences from some great books:
"Now what I want is Facts."
~ Hard Times (Charles Dickens) ~
"Call me Ishmael."
~ Moby Dick (Herman Melville) ~
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
~ Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy) ~
"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 Austen) ~
"Towards the end of a sultry afternoon early in July a young man came out of his little room in Stolyarny Lane and turned slowly and somewhat irresolutely in the direction of Kamenny Bridge."
~ Crime and Punishment (Feodor Dostoevsky) ~
"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. "
~ One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) ~
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."
~ Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone (J.K. Rowling) ~
"Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy."
~ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis) ~
Do these not make you want to read the whole story!? I thought it might be fun to grab the nearest book or the one you're reading and put the opening sentence in the comments section. The Priest doesn't count!
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3 comments:
This is from the book that is literally the closest within reach on our computer desk:
"Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
~ The Portrait of a Lady (Henry James) ~
This isn't a novel, but it's the closest book to me and a really funny one at that. The Girlfriend's Guide to Toddlers opening line reads:
"Mother Nature really is so damned smart to give you your child in infant form first: There might not be quite so many takers if she were handing out toddlers."
This is the closest book to me & the one that I'm currently reading:
"Stephen King couldn't come up with a worse nightmare: On August 20, 2002, my daughter started middle school. Public middle school."
~ The Power of Teachable Moments by Jim Weidmann & Marianne Hering
(I know, I know... it's actually the first two sentences, but I had to put in that short second sentence.)
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