Starting with a bang

Brought to you by Robert Rich, editing assistant

This post is vital to you accomplishing everything you’ve set out to do.

Have I got your attention? Good. The first line of a novel, short story, or poem is the most important facet of your work. Before the internet became so pervasive, the primary hook for a piece of writing was the way it was presented—the cover. Even if the content of the book was the most profound, life-changing text ever penned, a mediocre cover could greatly hinder its opportunity to reach people. Readers would skim through books, but the cover and the blurb on the dust jacket were the most important elements. This means that often the person responsible for a book’s success wasn’t even the author, but instead the designers and editors who created the cover images and summaries.

Fortunately for writers, the power is back in their hands. The single most important development for writers in disseminating their work is undoubtedly the internet, and more specifically, Amazon. The popular web site boasts a feature that allows shoppers to look inside books as they’re browsing them on the site. They can’t skim the whole book, but they can read the first few pages, so that first line is more important than ever.

With this in mind, let’s look at some of the most memorable, and not so memorable, first lines in literary history.

The Best:
1. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk: “Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler’s pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die.”

Chuck Palahniuk is one of the premiere postmodernist authors of our generation. He champions a style full of shocking events and short, choppy sentences. With Palahniuk, there’s no beating around the bush, no string of unnecessary adjectives cluttering what would otherwise be a worthwhile sentence. He drops you in the moment, and as far as first lines go, Fight Club’s introduction certainly isn’t going to turn you away. That’s a great thing, because if you’ve read it, you know the rest is just as good.

2. Desperation by Stephen King: “Oh! Oh, Jesus! Gross!”

Let’s not forget the importance of dialogue. When done right, dialogue provides a way for easily digestible information and beats the heck out of long-winded paragraphs of technical explanation. In the case of Desperation, a rather lengthy novel, all it takes is three energetically offered statements to make the reader decide he or she will stick around and give the book’s 500-plus pages a chance.

3. 1984 by George Orwell: “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

Yes, this is an obvious choice, but there’s a reason this is one of the most famous opening lines in history. With one eerie sentence, Orwell sets the stage for this classic dystopian novel, marking the world as both recognizable and startlingly altered.

The Worst: (presented without commentary because, let’s face it, when a line’s bad, we all know it)

1. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski: “While enthusiasts and detractors will continue to empty dictionaries attempting to describe or deride it, ‘authenticity’ still remains the word most likely to stir a debate.”

2. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer: “My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down.”

3. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson: “Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love.”

Okay, now it’s your turn. Disagree with my choices? Baffled that something was left off? Want to stick up for Stephenie Meyer? Now’s your chance. Ready, set, go!