The Important First Line

Picture: David Sillitoe

We've all heard about the importance of a novel's opening line so I've had a quick look through some of my favourites and scoured the internet for some handy tips.  Yes, I know.  I really shouldn't be worrying about minor details at such an early stage but I'm a worrier, what can I say.

Taking notes from my own collection, some are certainly more memorable and well crafted than others, they all go someway towards setting the tone of the novel in those first tentative moments before the reader decides whether they are going to engage with the book or not.  One of my personal favourites, A Christmas Carol, "Marley was dead: to begin with." Dickens excellently introduces the concept that all is not what it seems and that anything, even the most inconceivable notion, is possible on this night.

"The drought had lasted now for ten million years, and the reign of the terrible lizards had long since ended." opens Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, covering in one simple sentence an immeasurable timeframe.

I was recently captivated by the opening lines of Julian Barnes's The Sense of an Ending, which managed to surmise the memories that were to be explored by the protagonist over the first half of the novel, sparse yet intriguing and technically not just one sentence (but I don't care).

Sometimes the simply whimsical really hooks me in.  Neil Gaiman's Stardust begins with, "There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire." Simple yet compelling, Gaiman set the tone of his magical fairytale perfectly.

I've had a brief look around the net for anything that might help me conjure a cunning and crafty first sentence.  I found a great article by Christopher Jackson at Fuel Your Writing which I found really helpful and informative with some great examples of opening lines.  The Guardian's Books Blog also offered up an article from 2007 by Guy Dammann, What's your favourite first line?, which while a little dry provides some brilliant examples.  If that's not enough, try this comprehensive list of opening lines from Stylist as they list their favourite 100 opening lines.

As for my opening sentence, well, it's still under construction and probably won't be finalised for quite some time.  This is what I have so far, comments welcome as usual:

"Jurian stood sharply, accompanied by the creaking groans of countless troubled souls who had warmed the same part of the ageing wooden pew."