Starting Over ~ Fingers on the Keyboard

GRAB ‘EM AND DON’T LET GO…        

That’s the advice authors get about snagging the reader’s attention with the first lines of their stories. Coming up with just the right first sentence is one of the reasons authors stay up at night. If you don’t catch a reader’s attention immediately, she’ll put the book down. You’ve worked hard to bring this baby into the world, and she’s just about ready…she’s almost ready…but…oops! What about that very first line? Is it strong enough, evocative enough, exciting enough to urge the reader to the second line? A third? How about a full paragraph? Better yet, the complete first page.

That’s quite a job and a lot of responsibility for the first line of a story.

Just for fun and some thought, take a look at some of the most famous first lines in literature and see if they pull you in. Some are very short and pithy:

Call me Ishmael.  – Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851)      Three words. Probably the most famous first line of all. It catches our attention because this fella is talking directly to us. “Hey, you guys. You can call me Ishmael, and come on over. Have I got a story for you!” Is his name, itself, important? Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar, a woman who lived with the family. Hagar and Ishmael were sent away after Sarah finally gave birth to Isaac. Some scholars say this is important.  But… others question if Ishmael is even the narrator’s real name. We never find out. So maybe we should call him Stanley.

Movie poster for Moby Dick, starring Gregory Peck.

Elmer Gantry was drunk. – Sinclair Lewis, Elmer Gantry (1927)   So what? There could be a hundred drunks in town. Curious minds want to know why Gantry was important enough to be singled out. And, oh my God, we sure find out. 

Mother died today. – Albert Camus, The Stranger. (1942)    Ah…a day of change. What happens next?

Some first lines are quite long:

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. – Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)

Yeah, yeah. I know.  No one ever keeps on going after the first two phrases. But the man really did set the stage: England and France, 1775. And because he set that stage, he promised you a story, a big story, about people and events and the choices made. What greater contrast than hope and despair?

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. – J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye (1951)  

Wow! That’s Holden Caufield, talking in his own voice. Telling it like it really is. His personality and style is directly in your face–whether you like it or not. This is one of the best known openings in American fiction.  

And some first lines are right in between, a medium length. Here’s one to make you romantics out there smile:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. – Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)    Is it really universally acknowledged? Or just in the mind of Mrs. Bennett who wants to marry off a daughter to a wealthy man?  She’s shown us her goal and set up the story for us to enjoy.  It is universally acknowledged, by the way, that Jane Austen is considered the mother of the romance novel.

Here’s a recent one reflecting more current times:

I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974. – Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (2002)    Born twice. First a girl, then a boy. If that doesn’t raise your curiosity, I don’t know what will.

And finally, these two openings from contemporary women’s fiction captured my attention. No explanations needed:

I never wanted to be a mother. – Emily Giffin, Baby Proof (2006)

Here is one way to say it: Grief is a love story told backward.—Bridget Asher, The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted (2011)

First lines set the stage, the tone and the story.  During the next few weeks, I’m going to introduce you to the authors and opening lines from an anthology called CELEBRATE! This volume is a collection of short stories highlighting several American holidays in different seasons of the year. The stories involve romance, family and second chances. They provide happy and hopeful endings.  Also guaranteed to put you in a feel-good mood.

Who are the contributing writers? They are five authors of On Fire Fiction, including moi!  You’ll be able to enjoy brand new stories, never before published anywhere. The collection will be available on October 1^st  for 99 cents at all on-line retail outlets.  The price is small, the enjoyment large.

Do you have any favorite opening lines from stories you’ve loved? Let me know.

POST A COMMENT AND YOUR NAME WILL BE ENTERED INTO MY AUGUST CONTEST. Prizes are a choice of one of the selections below–all written by On Fire Fiction authors– as well as a $25 gift certificate to Amazon or BN. Your choice.