First sentences?
First sentences are sometimes the most exciting and delicious part of a book. You pick up a story all bound up in a lovely cover, turn to the first page and your eyes fall upon a single sentence that hints at adventure and beckons you to embark on a quest.
When I’m browsing the library shelves I’ll sometimes randomly choose a book and open to the first page to read the first words. If they prove intriguing I will break the sacred rule of all readers and flip to the very back of the book and read the last words (along with randomly flipping to middle sometimes). This may or not be a good way to judge a book, but sometimes just a few sentences can be telling.
A first sentence is supposed to hook the reader into the story and grab attention. Through a wonderful little writing workshop I learned a few extra things about them. The first sentence should include a interesting detail, introduce a character and make the reader ask a question. The first sentence in a book makes a promise about the story. This is a lot! Authors usually go back and work to perfect their very first words after the entire book is complete.
Some of my favorites
For this post I had a lot of fun going through my commonplace journal and rummaging through books to find some interesting first sentences. Not all of these include all the elements mentioned above, but they all give you a feel for the stories they begin.
“It was my aunt who decided to give me to the dragon.” -Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George
No matter who you are, no matter where you live, and no matter how many people are chasing you, what you don’t read is often as important as what you do. - The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket
When my workday is over, and I have closed my notebook, hidden my pen, and sawed holes in my rented canoe so that it cannot be found, I often like to spend the evening in conversation with my few surviving friends. - The Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket
Henry Penwhistle’s bedroom door was the sort of door where adventures began - Henry and the Chalk Dragon by Jennifer Trafton
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. - The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien
All children, except one, grow up. -Peter Pan by Sir James M. Barrie
Lemony Snicket well understood the importance of the first sentence. His are always hilarious, random and unexpected. These are only a few among so many beginnings and even as I write this I can think others I could have included.
Last words?
The first sentence alone is delightful. When it corresponds with the final sentence it's even better. When the author hints at the change that has taken place over the course of the story through the final words it adds extra power to end of the story. For instance, On The Edge Of The Dark Sea Of Darkness begins with a sentence about trembling in moonlight and ends with a description of Jewels shining like the sun.
Janner Igiby lay trembling in his bed with his eyes shut tight, listening to the dreadful sound of the Black Carriage rattling along in the moonlight.
Except, of course, in a tree house, deep in the murky heart of Glipwood Forest, where the Jewels of Anniera shone like the sun.
-On The Edge Of The Dark Sea Of Darkness by Andrew Peterson
Here are a few more I dug up from Danny The Champion of the World, Jack Zulu and the Waylanders Key, Little House In The Big Woods and The Rise And Fall Of Mount Majestic.
I have to confess I do not know whether the prologue counts as the beginning of a story or not. Does the epilogue count as the proper end? What of introductions? Ah well, I generally am guilty of ignoring those and have not included them in my choice of "First and Final Words".
(apologies if I am wrong in this)
When I was four months old, my mother died suddenly and my father was left to look after me all by himself.
What I have been trying so hard to tell you all along is simply that my father, without the slightest doubt, was the most marvelous and exciting father any boy ever had.
-Danny The Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
The problem with Baseball is that at first you’re desperate to leave home.
“I love it here.”
-Jack Zulu And The Waylander’s Key by S.D. Smith and J.C. Smith
Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs.
It can never be a long time ago.
-Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
On a dark night in a dense forest while the great wide wonder of the stormy sky threatened to burst through the trees and swallow her up, a girl lost her hat.
So pick up a broom and dance
-The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton
First and last sentences from my stories
When I was thinking about these books and this post I was curious about my own stories. I don’t always pay attention to these things when I write so I wanted to see whether any of these things were in my own stories. Can you see where I have succeeded and failed?
The wind howled through a mountain cleft; swirling around a man swathed in a heavy cloak.
This is from the draft I’m revising. I’m not sure if I’ll change it or not. It introduces a character, raises some questions, hints at adventure and is sort of interesting...? I will have to decide what the very close of the book will be. I do, however, have the the first and final sentences for previous drafts.
First Draft
Warden squinted up through the leafy branches of the trees at the sun. He sighed; he should be getting back home.
But Warden never forgot his adventures. The seemingly magic crown and the land of dragons across the sea remained ever on his mind.
Second Draft:
The sun beamed its way through the leaves of an oak tree and fell lightly on a boy as he splashed across a small stream.
And in such a world as his, who knew what adventures could be around the corner?
Here is A Tale In Two Books. I tried to pay attention to what I did with the first and final words in this story.
It was a dull tiresome sort of day, the sort of day where the sun was weary and all the world seemed hopelessly normal.
The day had brightened and excitement was in the air.
Here is Tilva and Tree Trolls! If you happened to read my previous post you shall recall I mentioned a story I almost despaired of giving a happy ending to. Well I did complete it and it had a happy ending. But somehow I both began and ended with “skipping”.
Tilva skipped up the path weaving through the squat round huts of her village.
Tilva fairly skipped with joy as she followed her sister toward the gleaming, laughing water of the spring.
Arnver. I wrote this a couple years ago and haven’t read it since. I recall I didn't truly finish the entire story hence the last sentence. Maybe someday Arnver will have his tale fully told. Poor guy.
Along a winding mountain path a figure hurries in the night, clutching something close to her breast.
And perhaps later they shall be told.
Find them and write them
There you have my jumble of quotes and writing. If you're a writer like me perhaps this will give you some fresh inspiration to make your story just a bit better by including these things. As a reader this is always something to keep in mind. Non-fiction writers do pay attention to this just as much as fiction writers!
One of my favorite parts of finishing a book is jotting down the first and final words of the adventure. I do it because it gives me something extra to remember the story by. I get to savor the story just a bit longer before putting it aside.