Opening Sentences

[Bisky]

I'm alittle obsessed with mine. Mostly because they are important for me. But ONLY when I read the occasional Urban Fantasy or the likes. If its too cheesy, I imagine the whole book will be like that.

I think I -might- have cracked A Dance With Fury's.

Do you have a favourite opening sentence of a novel? What is it?

Or do you have one you've written you are particularly proud of?

Do they even matter to you?

[Carl]

I think they're huge. My default is to the classics.

"Call me Ishmael." Moby Dick
"It was the best of times..." A Tale of Two Cities

[Bisky]

It was the best of times... Epic beyond proportion :3

[Ken]

Absolute favourite (and somewhat unusual for me and for some of the genres we talk about in this thread...)

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

[Michael]

YES! Pride and Prejudice. A source of many a kickin' sentence.

[Bisky]

Oo I like :o

[Nicole]

This was all a dead drug addict’s fault.

-From my ebook Winner's Curse. It took a few tries and critiques to get it right.

“So he is getting better?” Cass asked the physician.

-From my ebook (in editing right now) The Duchess' Ring. It makes you suspicious immediately.

[Robert]

First sentences are everything. They hook the reader better than anything else can.

As long as the second sentence is worth reading...and the third...

My favorite opening line of an SF novel comes from John Varley, Steel Beach: "In five years, the penis will be obsolete."

Got my attention...

[Bisky]

LOL! :p yes... quite haha

[Kay]

I really like this one from Carol Berg's Flesh and Spirit:

"On my seventh birthday, my father swore, for the first of many times, that I would die face down in a cesspool."

That duology is one of my favorite fantasy series.

[Bisky]

That is a really nice one :]

[Nicole]

Kay wrote: "I really like this one from Carol Berg's Flesh and Spirit:

"On my seventh birthday, my father swore, for the first of many times, that I would die face down in a cesspool."

That duology is one of..."

THANKS, DAD!

[Carl]

Nicole and Kay: lol!

[J. David]

My favorite opening sentence of mine is from the short story "Rudy With One Hand":

"He was the cruelest son of a bitch who ever lived."

I dare ya not to keep reading after that! Haha!

[J]

Cruelty intrigues me, J. David.

I'm such a bad person xD

[Bisky]

I have a vision of you walking around ants nests with a magnifying glass now :p

[Michael]

Love that this discussion ranged from Jane Austen to John Varley!

Here's another: Every happy family is alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.