How to write a great first line

"First impressions are the most lasting"

- Proverb - 

Let’s talk about your opening lines - it’s like the first time you introduce yourself to someone, those early impressions make such a difference.

Get off on the wrong foot and you’ll spend the rest of the conversation (paragraph/ page/ chapter/ book) trying to win them round.

You probably wouldn’t introduce yourself by telling someone everything about you, but you also want to appear interesting and enthralling.

In just the same way an effective first line sets the tone for everything that comes next.

The dusty manuscript

First lines have always been an obsession of mine. I collect them in an old notebook and crow when I find a good one. I know exactly when my fixation started, I was seven and I found my father’s dusty manuscript in a box in the boiler cupboard.

His novel ‘Never crave the rose’ is a beautiful story about the Bronte sisters, told by the man who outlived them all - their father Patrick. I have loved this line since I was a child:

“One more step and I can rest.”

BOOM.

Instantly the reader is intrigued - who is this person? What journey are they on? Where are they going? It’s so simple and yet so effective at drawing us in and making us ask questions.

The clocks struck...thirteen

There are so many famous opening lines, but for the record here are a few of my favourites:

• “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

• “The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new.”

• “There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.”

• “The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.”

• “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”

• Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”

The most edited part of a novel?

All of these great first lines have one thing in common - they don’t tell us much but they do tantalise the reader...they set us thinking, make us want to read more. Some of them give an insight into character, place, tone or themes but they do nothing more than tease.

If you’re anything like me, the first sentence of your book will be one of the most heavily re-written lines in the whole book.

I went back through my earlier drafts of The Secret to Being Tiresome to see which first lines I had used. It’s amazing how different the lines became as the story progressed through the different edits.

Here they are...see what you think...

1st draft: I know people will think I say this in jest, or indeed decide I am a bare-faced liar, but I really do remember the exact moment of my birth.

2nd draft: It started with a grave. Nothing special, just a crooked grey stone wearing a shabby coat of age and moss.

3rd draft:  “These are our stories, every word is true...” continued the woman with a dramatic flourish.

Fun fact - each of the ‘lost’ first lines still appear in the book, in fact in the first few chapters.

Crafting a cracking opening line

Here are some top tips for crafting a killer first line:

• Study openings that you love - what makes them effective?
• Don’t waffle, a strong first line is short, sweet and to the point.
• Drop a breadcrumb -  don’t give them a loaf. You want to whet their appetite.
• Reflect the style/ themes of your novel - if you start off the book as you mean to go on your reader will already be along for the ride.
• Get their attention - intrigue, beguile, shock or confuse them. Make ‘em laugh if you like.

How do you start a novel? What first lines inspire you?