《How to Write Stories People Will Love》Question 70: Opening lines
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asks: What if I already have everything I need for a book, but I can't start it. I've been told you can start a first sentence with an onomatopoeia or speech, but what else could I start my first sentence with?
There are many different approaches one can take. Here are a few ideas. If anyone would like to offer other ideas, feel free to chime in!
suggests: You could start with a simple sentence. Just a sentence so simple that it makes the readers intrigued. Like, "I'm breaking up with you", could just explain that the girl's boyfriend is ditching her.
Thanks 2sdaylover! The trick to this method is to make the sentence unexpected. I recently read a book that started with, "Four things went through my mind when I died." It proceeded to list those four things, but it's an odd way to start a story because you don't expect the main character to be dead. Other intriguing statements that could work:
- Cats on the internet are why I am alive today.
- Instead of being hit by a bus, Jane was hit by a divorce.
- Liver and onions... Sunday dinner or torture method?
The sentence could be a hint of upcoming events. This also falls into the "intriguing statement" mentioned above, but the added foreshadowing makes it even more compelling. I'll try to make up some examples:
- The world wasn't supposed to end like this.
- No one told me learning to drive would be hazardous to my health.
- The day my father went insane was the day I started hearing voices.
Something that reveals a sliver of what the main character is like can reel a reader in because they want to uncover more pieces. In my story, Sember, I open with, "When a girl can make a pair of pants burst into flames with her bare hands, people tend to be afraid of her." You learn two interesting things about this girl in one sentence. I'll make up a few more examples:
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- The only thing Biggun loved more than his axe was his mother.
- Although pizza delivery wasn't my life-long ambition, it does have its perks.
- People liked to say the wizard was older than dirt, but who knew how old dirt really was?
2sdaylove's example above also fits here. Opening with "I want to break up with you" is an oh-snap moment that makes readers want to find out what happens next. This method is a little trickier because the reader isn't acquainted with the characters yet. If you have a full blown conversation with a whole bunch of characters we don't know, it's easy to lose interest. This is why the conversation needs to be revealing, not mundane. Some examples:
- A character tells his friend about a strange encounter he had, which hints at the existence of vampires.
- The police interrogate a suspect, revealing tidbits about the crime.
- Two friends talk about the hot new teacher that just started at their school.
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