Opening Lines
Just call me Ishmael, I suppose.
Once upon a time, there was a cliché.
The opening line of a book is important for one of many different reasons. It either sets the tone for the entire narrative, introduces characters or settings, poses a philosophical question, generates existential doubt, paints a beautiful picture, or a combination of many of these things.
In this post, I want to look at a few examples of opening lines and explore exactly what job they are doing and how effectively they are doing it. Because I am working on a fantasy novel, I chose books in said genre, just to keep it in the family.
“In these dungeons, the darkness was complete, but Katsa had a map in her mind.” - Kristin Cashore, Graceling
Lovely, yes? Trying to establish the mood surrounding the setting and introduce a character and a bit about that character - all in 15 words.
Pithy first sentences are common - trying to hook a reader with more than a few words is difficult. This next one tries just that, actually.
“The man billed as Prospero the Enchanter receives a fair amount of correspondence via the theater office, but this is the first envelope addressed to him that contains a suicide note, and it is also the first to arrive carefully pinned to the coat of a five-year-old girl.” - Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus
Fabulous book with dark, creepy undertones. These undertones are set up right here with the first lines involving a suicide note and a child in the same breath. From the onset, readers are left thinking that something awful has either already happened or will happen. Intrigue!
But yes, quite a big paragraph to be just one sentence. Let’s go back to pithy!
“Rain fell that night, a fine, whispering rain.” -Cornelia Funke, Inkheart
Those of you that know me know that I love the Inkworld Trilogy and that Funke has a special place in my heart. But, objectively, what a great opening line, right?
Personification hits most of the time, but here, it hits even more resoundingly. This short and soft sentence just begs to be whispered, just like the rain that is being personified. There is a quiet and a mystery to the sentence that primes readers for the magic and wonder that is to follow.
One more, I promise - with dialogue this time!
“‘I’m going to die, aren’t I?’ Cenn asked.” -Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings
Who is Cenn? To whom are they posing this question? And why? So many questions and ideas come to mind when I read a line like this. And, it happens so quickly. I read so fast, and it is always a delight when the evocative and thought-provoking capabilities of the writing are able to keep up with my reading.
What I mean is - writers are limited to so many words and sentences and paragraphs and pages. We blow through them within minutes and hours, but days and weeks and months and years of suffering went into writing them. For every page that I have written within a few minutes, there is a sentence that I battle with for multiple weeks!