10 of the best opening lines
So I was playing around with a few ideas for a piece of flash fiction and I began thinking about the importance of opening lines. This is mine (for now, at least): "What is the best type of gun for, I type into Google and the autocomplete suggestions are: a woman to carry, home defense, concealed carry, and deer hunting." As for the flash fiction, watch this space, and as for the opening lines, read on to see how it's done:
1. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger (1951)
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."
2. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde (1890)
"The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn."
3. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath (1963)
"It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York."
4. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
"I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975."
5. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier (1938)
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."
6. Gentlemen and Players, Joanne Harris (2005)
"If there's one thing I've learned in the past fifteen years, it's this: that murder is really no big deal."
7. Nemesis, Agatha Christie (1971)
"In the afternoons it was the custom of Miss Jane Marple to unfold her second newspaper."
8. Strange Fits of Passion, Anita Shreve (1991)
"On my book tours, I am often asked a number of questions: Did he really do it? Do I think that she was justified? Did they do it for the money or for love?"
9. Ulysses, James Joyce (1922)
"Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed."
10. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien (1937)
"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."
What are some of your favourite opening lines of literature (either that you've read or written)?
1. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger (1951)
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."
2. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde (1890)
"The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn."
3. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath (1963)
"It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York."
4. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
"I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975."
5. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier (1938)
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."
6. Gentlemen and Players, Joanne Harris (2005)
"If there's one thing I've learned in the past fifteen years, it's this: that murder is really no big deal."
7. Nemesis, Agatha Christie (1971)
"In the afternoons it was the custom of Miss Jane Marple to unfold her second newspaper."
8. Strange Fits of Passion, Anita Shreve (1991)
"On my book tours, I am often asked a number of questions: Did he really do it? Do I think that she was justified? Did they do it for the money or for love?"
9. Ulysses, James Joyce (1922)
"Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed."
10. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien (1937)
"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."
What are some of your favourite opening lines of literature (either that you've read or written)?
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