Choosing a Favorite First Line....

[alfreda89]

Only one? Is always my cry.

Here twenty-two authors offer up first lines that were and are important to them.

Do you have a favorite?

Comments

[aberwyn.livejournal.com]

"For a long time I used to go to bed early."

Opening of SWANN'S WAY. I love it because it sets the tone of the book, but mostly because it takes such a risk. A lot of would-be readers have shut the book right there, fooled into thinking someone falling asleep is boring.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

"This year the Ribieros' daffodils seeded early, and they seeded cockroaches." - Janet Kagan, "The Loch Moose Monster"

In just one sentence she does more world-building than I can easily analyze, as well as grabbing the reader's attention with both hands and yanking hard. I defy anyone to read that opening line and not want to know what comes next!

[pameladean]

A.S. Byatt's Possession. "The book was thick and black and covered with dust."

Peter S. Beagle's A Fine and Private Place. "The baloney weighed the raven down, and the shopkeeper almost caught him as he whisked out the delicatessen door."

And a new favorite, from Hillary McKay's Saffy's Angel. "When Saffron was eight, and had at last learned to read, she hunted slowly through the color chart pinned up on the kitchen wall."

P.