The start of a novel can make or break a book for me. It has to grab my attention with the very first line. As everyone today, I am too time poor to hang around hoping the book will get better. Am I too harsh? If an author has not put everything into their opening sentence then where is the respect to the reader? But here lies the problem, what makes a good first sentence? Every reader has different taste and I know what I like and if the writing is good, I’ll stick around and give the book a fighting chance.
I recently attended a talk by the author Alexander McCall Smith. McCall Smith discussed the importance of a great opening line. He then delighted us with one of his favourites from The Tower of Trebizond by Rose Maccauly.
“Take my camel dear,” said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass.
Has the reader curious. No?
My favourite is a little more subdued, from the master himself, Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. Whenever I read this I wonder whether Dickens sweated over every word, rearranging, rewriting, putting in a comma and then removing it again or was he hit by inspiration and it flowed in one sitting. Here it is, for your pleasure.
“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”
My son wanted to add his favourite, it’s the opening line of J.R.R Tolkien’s The Hobbit
“In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit”
What is your favourite opening sentence?
bookgirl 
I have to admit, I can’t go past Ann Pearlman’s The Cookie Club opener of, ‘I am the head cookie bitch and this is my party.’ Mostly because I love the fact that a woman would call herself a cookie bitch. But I recently can across Timur Vermes’ Look Who’s Back, which starts, ‘It was the German people, the Volk, which surprised me most of all.’ How many questions does that raise? Brilliant!
Very interesting quotes. I like it when the brain has to think at the start of a book.
Reblogged this on Sophie's blog….
I hope your readers enjoy. Cheers
I love The Tale of Two Cities sentence, and like you often wonder how much effort Dickens had to put in to his work in general. He worked to such tight deadlines it’s hard to believe he had time for rewrites and edits, and somehow the words just flow – but so brilliantly it’s equally hard to believe they just came to him in a rush…
Of course, my other favourite is Austen – ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’
I love any quote from Austen. It always reminds me of Countess Grantham from Downton Abbey. Here’s a quote from her.
“I don’t dislike him, I just don’t like him, which is quite different”
Haha! Very true! 😀
FictionFan quoted one off my faves, and you already got the other with that marvellous Dickens one
“I had a bad fright that morning.” First line of Losing Nelson by
Barry Unsworth. You won’t stop reading.
I never got around to reading this, i do love anything to do with Horatio Nelson, so maybe i should make time.
‘We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.’ — from FEED by M. T. Anderson
Like that one Megan very Douglas Adams 🙂
My favorite is here – ‘EACH OF US IS BORN INTO GENIUS. Sadly, most of us die amid mediocrity. I hope it doesn’t upset you that I reveal this closely held belief so early in our brief time together. But I need to be honest.’ – from The Leader who had no Title.
That’s a beautiful quote.
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” – George Orwell, 1984. Sheer genius.
Great quote, it makes you think, question and curious to read on. Though i found the novel tortuous at school.
I love The Hobbit first line too. SD
Good taste 🙂