30. You can’t possibly not read on to find out why. Think of something else and it will be over. Well it’s a world we all wonder about so Rubenfeld has our attention immediately. 28. “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.” – Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis. And he leaves curious about what it is that’s wrong. “When the guy with asthma finally came in from the fire escape, Parker rabbit-punched him and took his gun away.” – Richard Stark, (Donald Westlake) The Mourner, 31. first line generator / novel first sentence / how to start a story / first line of a movie / starting a novel / story starters. I even tore out the first three pages of one of my favorite novels – The Poisonwood Bible – when I came to re-read it. 19. This opening line makes it clear that farce is in force. If a writer’s too busy trying to out-weird their own opening, then the story will suffer and become unreadable. So many questions and all from just one sentence. One last point – the opening sentence of Der Prozess is composed entirely of puns of judicial phrases and terms. It’s also risky because the reader must immediately care about these characters. I’ve just submitted this twice. She wondered where they came from. Not A car crash. Sean sat in the corner, a moldy blanket over his head, sobbing. “I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time.” – Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Shadow of the Wind. “I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice – not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.” – John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany. Good story openings make us want more information. —Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow (1973) 4. I don't feel I was particularly honest when it came to Dora. 21 classic opening lines in books 21 classic opening lines in books First thoughts that last in our memory from Jane Austen, Hunter S. Thompson, J.K. Rowling, Ray Bradbury, others The first cardinal rule of opening lines is that they should possess most of the individual craft elements that make up the story as a whole. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. 29. The first line can be a beast to get right whether you’re composing a dating profile or drafting a workplace pitch – but when it comes to longform fiction, the stakes are vertiginous. “Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu.” – Ha Jin, Waiting, 10. Does your first sentence hook the reader?… And you believe him? And yes, Kafka’s first line of The Trial is a classic. She could hear things again now, the horn from an ocean steamer leaving the docks. That is, something to keep the reader interested and make him or her want to read more. ‘Without his having done anything bad.’ Really? The best opening to a crime novel since Donald Westlake. The first lines of novels set the tone for the story to come. “An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story,” he said. Strange how she couldn’t hear anything. She never said more than she needed to say but it was always enough to keep the reader asking why. Georgia Toon is the only name you'll ever need to remember. She watched his big boots stamp away, he shoved her ma aside, little Liam was still screaming at him. Overblown, overdone, Hemingway’s eyes would have bled. “It’s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Last night I dreamt I was with Lambert again. She got tired of crawling, so she lay there and waited for the next stripe. “I, Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus This-that-and-the- other (for I shall not trouble you yet with all my titles) who was once, and not so long ago either, known to my friends and relatives and associates as “Claudius the Idiot,” or “That Claudius,” or “Claudius the Stammerer,” or “Clau-Clau-Claudius” or at best as “Poor Uncle Claudius,” am now about to write this strange history of my life; starting from my earliest childhood and continuing year by year until I reach the fateful point of change where, some eight years ago, at the age of fifty-one, I suddenly found myself caught in what I may call the “golden predicament” from which I have never since become disentangled.” – Robert Graves, I, Claudius. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. She heard the slap of the belt, realized he must still be hitting her. 36 First-Line Song Lyrics That Will, Quite Frankly, Never Be Topped ... we asked the BuzzFeed Community to share songs that have absolutely iconic opening lyrics, ... "This is a story … She’d had the strap enough times; if he didn’t beat her with the buckle end, there’d be no harm done. It can also simply tease and perplex us with a statement that doesn’t immediately reveal much. First to feature today is a poem entitled Resilience by Zoe Neirizi. Whether you've planned the perfect story or are suffering from writers' block, you still need to write that first line. M. Banks, the competition between them story opening lines wast write your own students to really themselves! Or not thirteen. “ – George Orwell, 1984 got a backhander for it the aim of writing... Sink. ” — Dodie Smith, I story opening lines the Castle and up close she smell... It was a pleasure to burn. `` called it, some kind of powder they d... 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