First lines with author Cecilia Ryan

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Cecilia Ryan

Do you consider the first line to be an important part of a story? If so, why?

I do think first lines are important. A good first line sticks with you and you can recall the joy you got out of a whole story from that one line. A really good first line sets the whole tone of the story and gives an expectation not necessarily of what’s to come, but how it’s going to be handled.

Do you find first lines easy to come up with, or challenging? Do you have a technique, or a ritual, that you go by to make it easy?

Almost without variation, I start a story from the first line. I’m not sure that’s actually a technique, but I think it helps that my first impression of the story – the first line that comes to me – will be identical to the reader’s. I don’t craft my first lines. I don’t alter them unless it’s because of a spelling mistake or a name change. I just write them down and if they suck, I delete them and do something else, because that story isn’t ready yet.

What consequences, if any, do you think there are in having a badly written first line?

Forgettability is the consequence of a weak first line. Your first, best chance to have a quotable, memorable line in a story is the very first one. I’m not saying it’s the total death of a piece of fiction if the first line isn’t anything special, but I think a good foundation is important to any piece of prose, and whilst one might argue that the foundation is the plot or the outline or whatever else, from a reader’s perspective, the foundation is the beginning. You’ve got to build on that first line, so you want it to be solid.

What’s your favourite first line that you’ve ever read? And can you recall a worst?

There are so many fabulous first lines, but I have to go back to Dylan Thomas for mine –

To begin at the beginning: It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters’-and-rabbits’ wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboatbobbing sea.

As for a worst first line? All the ones I can’t recall. I’ve read hundreds of books. Some of them I can’t even remember the title of. Those books had bad first lines.

What is one of your own best first lines?

My favourite of my own first lines at the moment is from The Sartorialist:

I remember first setting eyes on Toby as clearly as though it were yesterday.

I feel it gives the reader a lot of information (that this is a memoir, that Toby is important, and that ‘setting eyes’ is the way the narrator thinks of first meetings, because he’s obsessed with appearances), encourages curiosity (who’s Toby?), and is short enough to remember.

We’re all sharing here! What’s one of your worst first lines?

I expect I have dozens of not-so-good first lines. I’ll see if I can dig one up for you… ah ha:

Reading back over my own published account of the event, it occurs to me that I have not been entirely honest in my recounting of the facts.

It’s not totally irredeemable, I suppose, but it lacks anything remarkable. It could be the first line of anything.

What are some things a first line *shouldn’t* be? What are some things that you’ve read in first lines that really rubs you the wrong way?

I don’t think there’s any one thing a first line shouldn’t be. No matter what ‘don’t do this’ rule you put down, someone’s going to point to a great way of breaking it that will be awesome and work really well in that case.

Do you have any suggestions for other authors on how to write a great first line? Have you heard any great advice yourself?

I think the best advice I have for first lines is to base them on poetic principles. Use unexpected metaphors, create a natural question, make every word important, pay special attention to the rhythm of the sentence – and then go with whatever feels right. I don’t think there’s any substitute for understanding the ideas behind short, powerful lines (which poetry is entirely composed of), well enough that you can apply them instinctively.

Essentially, practise, practise, practise (but from a starting point of knowledge, rather than stumbling around in the dark).

Cecilia Ryan is a romance author with a weakness for flawed, squishy heroes who aren’t especially heroic at all, and good prose. She’s just released a contemporary romance called A Symphony of Echoes, and is waiting excitedly for people to get their Regency-loving knickers in a twist over The Sartorialist.

You can visit her shiny new website at www.ceciliaryan.com

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First lines with author Erin M Hartshorn

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Erin M Hartshorn

Do you consider the first line to be an important part of a story? If so, why?

It can be. Memorable first lines get quoted. “Call me Ishmael.” “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Even if you’ve never read Moby Dick or Anna Karenina, the chances are, you’ve heard the first lines. They become part of our culture.

On the other hand, I’ve never read a book just because of its first line — or, on the flip side, decided not to read one because the first line wasn’t catchy enough.

 Do you find first lines easy to come up with, or challenging? Do you have a technique, or a ritual, that you go by to make it easy?

I don’t have any particular technique, although I find that if I think of using an entire paragraph (or perhaps even the first two or three) as the opening, rather than just a single sentence, I don’t feel as pressured to perform. I find the openings I’ve written that I like best tend to have tension, perhaps outright conflict, and they hint at the story that’s to come.

What consequences, if any, do you think there are in having a badly written first line?

I suppose if it’s egregiously bad, the writer could lose readers. But it would have to be truly awful, like starting a hard SF book with something physically impossible, such as “The explosion of the starship could be heard even on the third moon of the planet” (since, as we all know, sound doesn’t travel in a vacuum). That’s throw-the-book-back time.

Even with dull or trite openings, however, the eyes keep moving, and it’s rare for the first sentence to be read in an isolated fashion. Even something like “I was born” can be saved by an interesting sentence or paragraph to follow it up. (“Some have argued that robots are made, not born, but that is not how it felt to me.”) So an average to dull first line might not grab readers, but it’s probably not going to send them fleeing, either.

What’s your favourite first line that you’ve ever read? And can you recall a worst?

I don’t know if it’s my all-time favorite, but I love the first line of The Return of Nathan Brazil, by Jack Chalker. “It would have been far easier for Har Bateen to conquer the world if he had had a cold.” It immediately makes you say, “What?,” and read on to see how on earth that could make sense.

For worst? Well, certainly one of the dullest is the opening of The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco — not the prologue (which starts with a Bible quote), but the actual story. “It was a beautiful morning at the end of November.” Okay, so what?

What is one of your own best first lines?

The boy who would be known as Phoenix Anderson fell for a very long time.

Opening line of an SF middle-grade novel that’s half complete.

We’re all sharing here! What’s one of your worst first lines?

The current first line of the novel I’m editing:

Daniel Stoneleigh sighed with relief as he stepped out into Nevsky Prospekt, St. Petersburg’s main drag.

First of all, sighing is almost as much a cliché as smiling or rolling someone’s eyes — completely overdone. Second, although it gives a name and location, it doesn’t say anything about the story to come.

Do you have any suggestions for other authors on how to write a great first line? Have you heard any great advice yourself?

If you’re normally a planner, don’t start writing just because you have a good opening. Jot it down, but then do your normal groundwork; don’t expect the great first line to carry you through to the end.

Don’t be boring. Make sure the first line has something to interest the reader — conflict, character, humor, theme. You might not lose readers right away, but you’re not encouraging them to keep going, either.

What are some things a first line *shouldn’t* be? What are some things that you’ve read in first lines that really rubs you the wrong way?

Besides boring, I don’t like first lines that strike me as being gratuitous — profanity just to be eye-catching, especially.

I am a desert rat (native Nevadan) transplanted to a humid climate. My ideal home has bookcases in every room. I’m a moderator at Forward Motion for Writers, an on-line writers community. My fiction has appeared both on-line and in print in various places, placed in the PARSEC short story contest, earned honorable mentions in the Writers of the Future contest, and been short-listed for the UPC Award.

Since I can’t settle down to one thing, I have several irons in the fire at the moment: I’m finishing up an SF thriller novella, editing a paranormal romance novel, starting to write the sequel to my NaNoWriMo middle-grade horror novel, and planning an epic fantasy series. That’s what on the top of my work pile currently, although there are other projects in progress that I’m planning to finish over the course of the year.

My Website (http://www.erinmhartshorn.com) has links to my short fiction available on-line as well as those I’ve put up for sale myself. Additionally, I blog two to three times a week.

First lines with author and editor Emily Dawson

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Emily Dawson

Do you consider the first line to be an important part of a story? If so, why?

I think a good first line helps but, for me, it’s not a deal-breaker if it’s not fantastic. Some books start slow but become great – other books hook you from the first.

Do you find first lines easy to come up with, or challenging? Do you have a technique, or a ritual, that you go by to make it easy?

I create first lines that, I hope, go off with a bang. I’m always very concerned about the effect my first line will have and I do my best to start in the action or at the core of the story to get the best result.

What consequences, if any, do you think there are in having a badly written first line?

Some people might be turned off by a bad first line. As a reader I’ll plod on for a bit to see if there’s anything better after it. If the first line has incorrect spelling or punctuation, however, I’m not going to bother continuing.

What’s your favourite first line that you’ve ever read? And can you recall a worst?

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

I’ll admit I’m a big fan of George Orwell and ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ is one of my all-time favourite stories but putting aside the rest of the story, this is a brilliant first line. It’s relatable, yet foreign. I really can’t recall a bad first line, however, but this is probably because it wouldn’t be worth memorising!

What is one of your own best first lines?

Life is completely visceral at the end.

I like the idea of starting with death.

We’re all sharing here! What’s one of your worst first lines?

Quinn walked up the cold-concrete steps at 6:18am.

The only thing I like is the hyphen; the rest is boring.

Do you have any suggestions for other authors on how to write a great first line? Have you heard any great advice yourself?

A lecturer of mine once told me about starting ‘in media res‘ – in the middle of the action. An action statement can easily hook a reader but beware about shock-value – not every story will benefit from it.

What are some things a first line *shouldn’t* be? What are some things that you’ve read in first lines that really rubs you the wrong way?

I don’t like clichés or anything that is obvious. I’ve read ‘Once upon a time …’ and ‘It was a dark and stormy night …’ before.

Emily Dawson is a published author and editor. You can find her work in the Geelong Writers Group’s ‘Azuria’ journal or on the blog she created so she could cite herself in essays: 2 Words Forward 1 Word Back.

First lines with author Matthew Farmer

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Matthew Farmer

Do you consider the first line to be an important part of a story? If so, why?

At first I was like- no, not really. I would take some time to get into the book, the first paragraph, the first page. If a book is many words long then 1 sentence is not going to win or lose it for me. But then you read a first line like WIlliam GIbson’s – ‘The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel.’ Then I go- wow, that is AWESOME. I want to read more just because of THAT ONE LINE.

 Do you find first lines easy to come up with, or challenging? Do you have a technique, or a ritual, that you go by to make it easy?

I find starting a book challenging. I just plough on through and just START the book and not put too much thought into the first sentence, not on the first draft. If you focus too much on making each sentence perfect to begin with, you will lose the book.
On subsequent re-drafts I certainly re-crafted the first sentence, and it is so much better now.

What consequences, if any, do you think there are in having a badly written first line?

It is the first impression someone who doesn’t know you is going to get of you as a writer. If your first sentence is clumsy and error ridden, then they are going to think this is you as a writer and, if they do continue to read the book, it is going to be with an air of- this person is an amateur, or needs an editor.

What’s your favourite first line that you’ve ever read? And can you recall a worst?

That William Gibson line is a fantastic one. I own the books, and it totally puts you in the mood for cyber space. But honestly, I would not have remembered the first line if I had not seen it in your book. And to recall a worst? No, sadly I can’t remember a bad first line. My brain is like that, it takes in concepts and the entirety of a piece but gets fuzzy when it comes to intricate detail like individual sentences.

What is one of your own best first lines?

Heh. One of my best? I am reading through first lines of what I have written, and they dont seem to be on par with what you have found in other books. This is from a short story I wrote back in 2008 –

Dahoza’Ma’Tapetal, or Darren, as he introduced himself to his clients, sat at a window seat in a coffee shop.

We’re all sharing here! What’s one of your worst first lines?

Al snored gently.

It doesn’t say much at all, huh.

Do you have any suggestions for other authors on how to write a great first line? Have you heard any great advice yourself?

Write the line, regardless of how bad it is. Then write the book, the whole story. Now that you know the story, look at the first sentence and see if somehow you can make it relevant to the entire story. Don’t try and write the best ever first sentence before you’ve written the book because inevitably, it will be crap and need editing anyway.

What are some things a first line *shouldn’t* be? What are some things that you’ve read in first lines that really rubs you the wrong way?

A first sentence should not be epic in length, separated by commas. It should say just one thing, and say it well.

Matthew is a freelance copy writer and professional writer. He is also a creative writer and is on the verge of releasing his debut novel to the world, a steam punk adventure story- The Girl From Out of Town. He has released Act 1 of this story as a free download which you can find here – http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/matthewfarmer.

He has traveled the world, loves basketball, hats, tarot and the Disney character Stitch. His favourite word in the English language is “stuff” and his least favourite is “should”. His website is here – http://www.matthewfarmer.com.au/ and his blog is here – http://mattfarmer.wordpress.com/

Welcome!

Welcome to the 1001 First Lines blog! If other authors are just as interested in the art of the first line as I am I hope to use this blog to explore author’s experiences and opinions about it. Hopefully this blog will pick up as we go along, and if you’d like to submit for an interview please get in contact with me!

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“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.”- Paul Clifford by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton

“Call me Ishmael.” -Moby Dick by Herman Melville

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

Have you ever wondered which novels contain the most famous opening lines? Or how the writers of Science Fiction compare to those of Romance? Now you can compare for yourself, with 1001 of the best and worst First Lines from fifteen
genres.

1001 First Lines is for the writers and the readers of the world, providing inspiration and instruction, with a checklist of titles to tick off as you go.