Opening Lines discussion

I have so many but I would have to say my favorite comes from my favorite book of all time, Great Expectations:

"My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip."

Have you ever tried to say his name? Philip Pirrip? LOL. I'd shorten it to Pip, too.

My opening line to my novel is:

“Hey, David, you made the headlines again.”

Nice One. I wonder if his first draft had it as, PiPi...(on second thoughts, no)

Your novel's opening line would make me read on.

Both of your first lines would make me read on too - I'm also a huge fan of the good first line, and I've been working on a Top Ten of my favorites as a blog post as we speak! :)

I've always been partial to Anna Karenina: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

For the rest, you'll have to check out the blog! I promise to let you know when it posts... ;)

Please do! I'll pop over and have a looksie! :)

Here's one of my favorites From Monsters of Men, Written by Patrick Ness:

"War," says Mayor Prentis, his eyes glinting. "At last."

I've written one book, and it's being published by Tate Publishing, but I like my opening line for my second book better (just started working on book 2).

"A whisk of water splashed upwards as a light blond-haired boy sloshed through muck and water as he refused to look back."

nice!

I love a good opening line! I know I have some stored somewhere, but right now the first I could think of was the one from The Kite Runner:

"I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975."

I haven't written a book like most of you guys (great opening lines!) but I can give you the one of the book I am reading at the moment, Tomorrow When the War Began:

"It's only half an hour since someone - Robyn I think - said we should write everything down, and it's only twenty-nine minutes since I got chosen, and for those twenty-nine minutes I've had everyone crowded around me gazing at the blank page and yelling ideas and advice."

Quite long, but I actually kind of like it. Now, question, what is essential in a opening line for it to become a candidate for your favourites?

For me, an opening line has to be intriguing - I don't mind if they are long or short, but they have to make me want to know more and give me a feel for the book. But that hook has to be genuine - nothing is worse than a great opener followed by a boring/blah story... I also like a good teaser or bit of a precursor of things to come. And if I laugh out loud at the first sentence, well, that's a virtual guarantee that I will keep reading!!

@ Anna, when I read, the opening line has to do one of two things, it either has to go for imagery or needs to provide an immediate reaction. Word choice has a lot do to with that. Though I WOULD NEVER claim to be the best or even great at writing, there's a definite difference in the phrase "droplets of water cascaded down to the window sill" and rain ran down to the windowsill."

I agree with both of you. It definitely has to hook me and get me interested, and has to be well written. Yet I always watch out for purple prose, which I just dislike to no end. Sometimes an author can actually use too many words to make me visualise or to explain something that could have been just as well written with just a couple of fewer... eloquent words. And yes, a funny opening line is always a good start!

Jill Elizabeth wrote: "For me, an opening line has to be intriguing - I don't mind if they are long or short, but they have to make me want to know more and give me a feel for the book. But that hook has to be genuine -..."

Good point.

Jill Elizabeth wrote: "Both of your first lines would make me read on too - I'm also a huge fan of the good first line, and I've been working on a Top Ten of my favorites as a blog post as we speak! :)

I've always been..."

Good idea--let me know when it's up.

I finally got my post on opening lines written - hope you enjoy it and possibly even find some new books! :)

http://blog.jill-elizabeth.com/2011/0...

I got a book by a NYC literary agent, Noah Lukeman who talks about first lines, first paragraphs and if he get past that --he may read on. It's called: The First Five Pages. Worth a look.