Writer's Aid discussion

Hi, I'm not sure where to ask this question but I am hoping this is the right spot. I have been wondering a lot about what makes or breaks a book. Besides how the cover looks, a lot of people credit the opening line to encouraging or discouraging them to continue to read.

I am taking a poll to see what authors and reviewers consider their favorite first lines. I am curious to find out if there is a similarity between them.

If you could please- write your favorite first line of a book down, along with the title of the book. But most importantly, WHY. Why did this line catch your attention, why do you love it.

If you have time, maybe there is an opening line you have read that was just horrible and you want to comment on that. Feel free to add both. But please add why you loved/hated this specific first line.

I really appreciate this, Thanks!!
Jessie

I've moved this to the folder 'Writing'.

This is indeed a topic that needs to be discussed. Different people have different tastes, so only a general strategy can be developed considering all types of readers. For instance, many readers who love young-adult are always looking out for romance, but that is not always the case. Personally, I enjoy young-adult as long as it does not have too much romance. So there are controversies everywhere.

The example I have to answer this right now is from a book I candidly did not enjoy very much - Shatter Me. The story opened with this line which made it interesting:

"I've been locked up for 264 days.

It made me wonder who the character is, why were they locked up there, why haven't they been let it, what impact did the imprisonment have on the character, and most importantly - what is going to happen next?; it's inquisitiveness that made me like it. Even though the rest of the book did not intrigue much, I still like this quote. A paragraph that I found interesting was from the head moderator, Tinath's story,

"I HATED a lot of things. I hated those cheesy, annoying, completely cliché and fake accents on movies and shows. I hated people who assumed they knew everything and everyone. I hated people who couldn’t own up to their own mistakes. And luckily for me, my father fell into pretty much every category of things I loathed."

It was catching because of the way or was written. There are plenty other first lines that I liked, but I don't have the exact extracts from those books. And, of course, the opening sentence of my favourite book, To Kill a Mockingbird.

The lines which I disliked.... Generally the first lines I didn't like are from fiction books I rate 1 stars. Shall We Tell the President?, Catch-22 are the examples which come into my mind, but again, I'm afraid I don't have the exact extract. However, those lines failed to establish any sort of inquisitiveness and was rather prosaic. It lacked what I term for my poem convenience, the "pulling effect". The first line needs to be something that can make you smile, or make your jaw drop, or perhaps make you curious. Hence, if the story starts off with: "Paul flipped the pages of the file," I personally wouldn't be very excited for the rest. Although you can question this sentence as to what the file was about, why he was flipping it, whether it was boring, was it forced, what was the cause of the action etc., it's like a plain sentence.

However, once again, it varies for person to person. This is my opinion, and someone else can say something contradictory. Perhaps if you get more opinions, you might be able to come to a general conclusion on this topic.

Thank you for your input!! I love it!

There are many types of first lines. One thing I've noticed is that modern audiences don't want to wait around for things to happen like they used to do in older novels. If you want to get your audience curious, then maybe you could start with dialogue between two characters, and then move on to the explanation as to what is happening. Hope this helps :)

For what makes me want to read the book is the cover. Then the summery. Then the first few chapters.

"The sublime moments in life are like the first push of light against the lip of a mountain."

This is from Richard Wagamese's One Native Life. I'm a BC girl and mountains are a part of me. That light Wagamese talks of is familiar, like an old friend, and I felt immediately connected and inspired.

Holly wrote: "There are many types of first lines. One thing I've noticed is that modern audiences don't want to wait around for things to happen like they used to do in older novels. If you want to get your aud..."

I agree. The first line is the hardest to write. From my experience you have to tell as much information as possible and leave a hook. Oh, and don't forget to keep it short. Readers don't have time anymore and they are picky.