Once upon a time and other great beginnings

What makes an engaging opening line?

Art by Agnes (Author)

When I started writing this post, I wasn’t sure exactly what I would write. I just had this idea of compiling some opening lines I’d loved and trying to figure out why I loved them. I grabbed a few of my favorite books and copied out the first couple of sentences for each. And lo and behold, I discovered some of my favorite books don’t have great first lines.

So I expanded the search. My shelves are eclectic, and there’s a mix of books I’ve read and books I haven’t. My Kindle has an even less curated mix, with a few samples thrown in. Even so… when I started writing out their first lines, something happened: I started to find patterns!

Most of the opening lines I came across could be organized in the following categories

• Once upon a time
• A day like any other
• First times
• Truth and straightforward statements
• Name introductions
• Jumping right into the action
• Thought-provoking statements
• Setting descriptions
• Some special mentions

Disclaimer: I could have made dialogue a separate one, but often felt the dialogue took straight into the action or comfortably fit into the thought-provoking category. I also read articles that suggested “death” might be a good category. Apparently, a lot of books start with the death of someone, but I didn’t have too many of those on my shelves.

I should also note I’m not claiming these are all great opening lines, rather, I’m simply sharing some trends I’ve observed across genres and publication dates that I found interesting.

Once upon a time

A classic! Very common among children’s stories but making plenty of appearances in adult novels. Perhaps it works because it has been used so many times, it’s like settling into a favorite sofa, comfortable and familiar.

• Once upon a time, before the whole world changed, it was possible to run away from home, disguise who you were, and fit into polite society ― Alice Hoffman, The Rules of Magic
• There was once a boy named Milo who didn’t know what to do with himself- not just sometimes, but always. ― Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
• Once upon a time — more like 15 years ago, actually ― I lived in a privately run dorm for college students in Tokyo. ― Haruki Murakami, Firefly
• Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered that she had turned into the wrong person. ― Anne Taylor, Back When We Were Grownups

Opening lines that start with “A day like any other”

Like once upon a time, these first lines hold a promise. The day starts out like any other, but it won’t end like one. Something is going to happen to make it stand out. It started as always; it was a day like any other until… there’s always an until ;)

• Joseph’s morning began like any other, seated at his small yellow metal table imported from Rome, the destination of his yearly writing sabbatical. ― John Szabo, This Thing We Call Love.
• It began the usual way, in the bathroom of the Lassimo Hotel. ― Jennifer Egan, Visit from the Goon Squad
• When I left my office that beautiful spring day, I had no idea what was in store for me. ― Wilson Rawls, Where the Red Fern Grows

Opening lines highlighting first times

Marking the first time something happened usually brings a mix of nostalgia and hope: it’s an invitation to remember firsts and a promise of more to come.

• On a warm night in early July of that long-evaporated year, the Interestings gathered for the very first time. — Meg Wolitzer, The Interestings
• Bobbi and I first met Melissa at a poetry night in town, where we were performing together. Sally Rooney — Conversations With Friends
• In the spring of her twenty-second year, Sumire fell in love for the first time in her life. ― Haruki Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart
• I still remember the day my father took me to the cemetery of forgotten books for the first time. Carlos Ruiz Zafón ― The Shadow of the Wind
• I was nineteen years old the first time I saved Stella Bradley’s life ― Anna Pitoniak, Necessary People
• Victoria’s world shook for the first time on the day Caitlin Somers sashayed up to her desk, plunked herself down on the edge, and said, “Vix…” ― Judy Blume, Summer Sisters

Opening lines with truths and straightforward statements

Some books start with a statement. When I was putting together these opening lines, it made me think of books about writing where renowned authors encourage writers to tell the truth; even in fiction, especially fiction. Anne Lamott, Elizabeth Gilbert, Neil Gaiman, and Stephen King, to name a few, write wildly different stories, and yet, on this point, they are all aligned: tell the truth.

“We writers (…) have an obligation to our readers: it’s the obligation to write true things, especially important when we are creating tales of people who do not exist in places that never were — to understand that truth is not in what happens but what it tells us about who we are. Fiction is the lie that tells the truth, after all.” ― Neil Gaiman

“… good writing is about telling the truth. We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are.” ― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

It seems many authors share this view. Some opening lines will come out and tell you: this is the truth.

• Here’s a true story. Simon, my editor, and I had been meeting to talk about how to put together this book you’re reading right now. ― Ali Smith, Public Library
• I’m not a bad guy. I know how that sounds- defensive, unscrupulous — but it’s true. I’m like everybody else: weak, full of mistakes, but basically good. ― Junot Diaz, This is how you lose her
• 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
• You’ll think I’m making this up, but it’s true: my first memory is of cars. ― Jenson Button, Life to the Limit

Others confidently share a fact or statement.

• Sarah talks too loud. it’s a problem ― Rumaan Alam, Rich and Pretty
• People think I’m smaller than I am ― Alexandra Chang, Days of Distraction
• When I was seven, I found a door ― Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January
• Ever since my mom died, I cry in H Mart. ― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart
• As most New Yorkers have done, I have given serious and generous thought to the state of my apartment should I get killed during the day. Sloane Crosley ― I Was Told There’d Be Cake

Opening lines with name introductions

For most writers, name matters. I haven’t seen the statistics, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the baby names websites get at least as many visits from writers as they do from parents-to-be. Does the name’s meaning say something about the character? Does it accurately reflect the character, or is it a contradiction we want to play with? Does it lend itself to nicknames?

• My legal name is Alexander Perchov. ― Everything is Illuminated
• Call me Ishmael. ― Herman Melville, Moby Dick
• There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it ― C. S. Lewis, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
• My name is Eva, which means life, according to a book my mother consulted to pick my name. ― Isabel Allende, Eva Luna (opening line translated by yours truly)
• His full name was Mr. Harutsama Matsumoto, but I called him ‘Sensei.’ Not ‘Mr’ or ‘Sir,’ just ‘Sensei.’ Hiromi Kawakami ― Strange Weather in Tokyo
• Copper is in his second year of high school. His real name is Honda Jun’ichi. Copper is his nickname. ― Genzaburo Yoshino, How do you live?
• The boy’s name was Santiago ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
• My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name Susie. ― Alice Sebold, The Lonely Bones

Opening lines jumping right into the action

• It was too late to pretend he hadn’t seen her. ― Adelle Waldman, The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.
• Selden paused in surprise. In the afternoon rush of grand central station his eyes had been refreshed by the sight of Miss Lily Bart. ― Edith Wharton, House of Mirth
• She had to tell Jack. ― Fiona Davis, Lions of Fifth Avenue
• A girl is running for her life ― V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
• He woke to the feeling of rough ground beneath him and the stench of mortal blood. ― Alexandra Bracken, Lore
• Her husband is almost home. He’ll catch her this time. ― A.J. Finn, The Woman in the Window

Thought-provoking starters and statements to spark curiosity

I feel like these are the first lines we read twice. They can be questions, short remarks, or more elaborate observations.

• Competence can be a curse. ― Min Jin Lee, Free Food for Millionaires
• A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead. ― Graham Greene, The End of the Affair (1951)
• In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my head ever since. ― F. Scott Fitzgerlad, The Great Gatsby
• It was a story that made sense. An old story, but one that felt truer for it. Young love goes stale and slackens. You change, and you shed what you no longer need. It’s just part of growing up. ― Anna Pitoniak, The Futures
• Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more: or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question. ― Julian Barnes, The Only Story
• It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. ― George Orwell, 1984
• I may have found the solution to the wife problem. ― Graeme Simsion, The Rosie Project

Opening lines with setting descriptions

Not sure these are the most notable or memorable first lines, but it feels pretty natural to start the story by setting the scene, an echo of the theatre perhaps.

• On the pleasant shore of the French Rivera, about half way between Marseilles and the Italian border, stands a large, proud, rose-colored hotel. ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night
• The third floor of the SoHo office block smelled of instant coffee and disappointment ― Lauren Berry, Living the dream
• Princeton in the summer smelled of nothing, and although Ifmelu liked the tranquil greenness of the many trees, the clean streets and stately homes, the delicately overpriced shops and the quiet, abiding air of earned grace, it was this, the lack of a smell, that most appealed to her, perhaps because the other American cities she knew well had all smelled distinctly. ― Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, Americanah

Some special mentions (?)

Some sentences struck me as particularly original or different, at least from my random (and by no means exhaustive research). I probably could have included them in some of the categories listed above but they had elements I thought were interesting to call out: the narrator directly addressing the reader, the focus on a single word, the list format, Murakami’s combination of action, setting and the thought-provoking idea that there is a certain type of music to cook a dish, and Rhimes’ truth that tells the reader it may be a lie all felt like interesting choices.

• You’re about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought.
• “Later!” the word, the voice, the attitude. Call Me by Your Name
• I remember in no particular order:
  A shiny inner wrist;
  Steam rising from a wet sink as a hot frying pan is laughingly; tossed into it;
  Gouts of sperm circling a plughole, before being sluiced down the full length of a tall house;
  A river rushing nonsensically upstream, its wave and wash lit by half a dozen chasing torch beams;
  Another river, broad and grey, the direction of its flow disguised by a stiff wind exciting the surface;
  Bathwater long gone behind a locked door. Julian Barnes — Sense of an ending
• When the phone rang I was in the kitchen, boiling a potful of spaghetti and whistling along with an FM broadcast of the overture to Rossini’s ‘The Thieving Magpie,’ which has to be the perfect music for cooking pasta –Haruki Murakami, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
• I’m a liar — Shonda Rhimes, A Year of Yes

Last thoughts on first lines

I usually write the first lines last. Or at least, I’m very likely to tweak them in the final edit. I understand first lines matter, but a) when I start drafting, I seldom know exactly where I’m going, and b) I fear the pressure of a solid first line would be crippling if I gave it too much thought at the beginning.

Naturally, a little digging will yield a world of tips and best practices. I found a masterclass solely dedicated to first lines:

“The first lines of a novel or short story must grab the reader’s attention, enticing them to continue past the first page and continue reading. The first sentence provides you with an opportunity to showcase your writing style, introduce your main character, or establish the inciting incident of your narrative.
Oftentimes, potential readers will glance at the opening sentence in a bookstore or on an online sample page in order to decide if they want to buy the book in the first place, so a great opening line may be the difference between a bestselling novel and a good story that languishes in obscurity.”

No pressure! While I agree that first impressions matter, I’m more likely to judge a book by its cover (I know, but it’s the truth), the blurb, and even the ending rather than the first line. And as I mentioned, some of the books I’ve loved didn’t have particularly strong starts, and something still made me read on.

Which type of opening lines do you prefer? Do you have favorite opening lines to share?