Many people choose a book based on its first few sentences or even the first line. One of my favourite first lines is 'It was 7 minutes to midnight.' (Mark Haddon, Curious incident of the dog in the night time). I love it because it's such a simple sentence and yet it's so precise. I also like how he writes the number '7' (rather than the word), which hints at the narrator's obsession with numbers.
Trying to come up with a killer first line is, well, liable to kill you! But I think often simple is best, as with Haddon's example.
I've yet to come up with my killer first line. In fact, now that I've decided to include a prologue, I'm not even sure where my first line is! Here's the current first line of the prologue:
'Do you ever think about it? About what happened back then?'
And here's the current first line of chapter 1:
Tash twisted the small silver mirror in her hand.
So how far away am I from 'killer' status? I'd like to know what anyone out there thinks.
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3 comments:
love the first line of the prologue, sounds mysterious and even a little bit sinister!
Chapter 1's first line with all the 's' sounds is effective but perhaps not killer!
Love your first lines - very intriguing. What did happen back then and what's the silver mirror got to do with it? Questions I want answered.
One of my favourite books at the moment is DBC Pierre's 'Vernon God Little' Here's his first line...
"It's hot as hell in Martirio, but the papers on the porch are icy with the news."
Good luck with your studies - you're a very brave and by default a very very "clever" girl. I'm sure that clever writing will be falling out of you in no time!!
Thanks Jackie,
that DBC Pierre line is one of my favourite openers, too.
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