The first line of your novel may be its most important element. A great first line grabs readers and makes them want to read more. Here are some tips on making great first lines.
When someone picks up a book in a bookstore or begins reading a sample of a book online, the first sentence they read sets the tone for the rest of the novel. That first line, that first sentence, can grab readers and make them want to continue. The first line of a novel is a portal to a new world. The reader may have some idea of what that world is like if the novel is a sequel or part of a series. But for most novels, readers encounter new characters, new locations, and unexpected situations.
While books do not succeed or fail according to their first lines, having a strong first sentence to greet readers and welcome them into your world is always an advantage. And we tend to remember powerful first lines long after we’ve finished novels.
Great first lines
It’s worth looking at some great first lines to understand why they are effective.
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
Thus begins George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel 1984. The sentence begins with a banal phrase about the weather and ends with something out of the ordinary, something that makes the reader stop and think. This sets the tone for the entire novel, telling the reader that things are different; very different. What could be more different in a society than the way that they count time?
Mother died today. Or maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure.
The first line of Albert Camus’ classic existential novel The Stranger, is simple and sets the tone for the entire novel, which is written in a non-literary style. It suggests that the protagonist, Meursault, is out of touch with life. His indifference will later be cited in court when he is tried for the murder of a man on a beach.
A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now.
The first line of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Gravity’s Rainbow sounds apocalyptic and describes the V–2 rockets launched against London during World War 2. The novel goes on to examine the technology, paranoia, and corporate conspiracy centered around the development and deployment of the V–2 rocket, but that screaming remains memorable as it evokes the pain and horror of war.
Here are some other famous first lines; many will be familiar:
“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
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
“Call me Ishmael.” Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
“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
How to craft an effective first line
An effective first line of a novel must elicit the curiosity of readers and must make the readers want to finish the paragraph, the page, and the chapter. It should present an element that serves as an entry point to the story and ask a question, something that makes the reader curious. With 1984, the clock striking thirteen makes readers ask, “Why? How?” In Pride and Prejudice, readers are told that there will be a single man who needs a wife and want to know more about him, and who he will marry.
When Dickens speaks of the best of times and the worst of times, then goes on for 119 words in his opening sentence, readers are shown a series of contrasts, then, near the end of the long sentence, he says, “the period was so far like the present period,” which prompts readers to wonder what exactly is similar to the present period, 1859, the year when the novel was serialized.
First lines are a great way to introduce a character, as in Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones: “My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” Not only does the reader immediately know what the narrator is, but learns that this girl is dead, which can pique the interest of readers.
The first line of a novel can also introduce a unique narrative voice. Noir fiction, such as that of Raymond Chandler, establishes its voice from the very first words of all his novels. The Big Sleep opens with, “I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be,” a sentence that establishes the snakiness of the protagonist, Philip Marlowe.
Great first lines don’t always appear in first drafts. In many cases, authors go back and add text to the beginnings of their novels during revision, or cut out whole sections, even chapters. A first line needs to be mulled, weighed for its power and energy, and crafted like poetry. Orwell’s first draft said, “It was a cold day in early April, and a million radios were striking thirteen.” Adding “bright” doesn’t change much, but having a million radios strike the time might have seemed too strange to grab the reader. Changing that to “clocks” renders the sentence ordinary, highlighting the oddness of the number thirteen being used to tell time.
Many authors spend a long time on their first lines, while others are good at coming up with those entry points. You probably won’t create a great first line from the get-go, though some people do come up with a wonderful first line before they have even worked out their plot, and use it as the launch pad for their story.
Your first line can foreshadow, introduce characters, make readers curious, or surprise them. It’s important to try to make your first line enticing enough so readers to want to know more.
Kirk McElhearn is a writer, podcaster, and photographer. He is the author of Take Control of Scrivener, and host of the podcast Write Now with Scrivener.