I've seen this prompt on multiple blogs now, some of which are, "The Edge of Precipice" and "The Book Chewers." I thought it was a fun idea, so I'm going to steal it from them. ;)
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say
that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much." -- "Harry Potter
and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling (I bet you saw that one coming).
"I knew it would begin with the end, and the end would look like death to these eyes." -- "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer (This book is surprisingly good. You should all read it)!
"There
were only two kinds of people in our town. 'The stupid and the stuck,'
my father had affectionately classified our neighbors." -- "Beautiful
Creatures" by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Yes I know it's two lines, but the two go together so well that I couldn't leave them out).
"There is no once upon a time in this book." -- "Fantasya: A Giant Problem" by Me. ;) (I had to include it).
What are your favorite first lines? (Psst! You can use your own, if you'd like). Leave a comment! :D
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Favorite First Lines
I am 21-year-old author, actress, daydreamer, voracious reader, introvert, klutz, fangirl, and overuser of tape. I love the impossible (which might explain my obsessions with YA novels) but I dip into the real world . . . occasionally. I’m a big fan of dogs, Broadway musicals, and bittersweet endings. When I'm not hunched over a laptop writing a new story, you can find me onstage in whatever theatrical production I've allowed to take over my life. I am a contributor to the “Fauxpocalypse” anthology and the author of “Instructions for Flight” and “Ghost Light,” both collections of poetry. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @KateIFoley.
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7 comments:
I know it's cliché, but I love one of the most famous first lines in all of literature:
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." - Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca
I did a post about first lines on my blog, too, some time back. It was one of my earliest posts, I think! I didn't include the first line of "The Sorcerer's Stone" in my post, but it is a great line. ;-)
The first line of "Rebecca" is one of my favorites! What an awesome book.
I'm really bad at remembering first lines. The ones you've listed, and Mommy's, are all very good.
I always liked the simplicity of "Call Me Ishmael," probably because Melville then dispenses with simplicity in favor of a very confusing ride through the psyche of Captain Ahab, the complexity of the whaling industry, and a chapter all about a ship's pulley.
I can't think of any favorite first lines, but I can think of a really good one that I really don't like. It is in the movie "A Christmas Carol", and I think it might start the book too. It is: "Marley was Dead." In the movie, The way that they show it is really creepy. I never liked that one. Oh! And (like you said, this is one of mine, and it is two sentences, not one. :)) I was trying to think of something really creative, and something that was not usually used...so, here it is! “Blah, Blah, Blah,” I thought as Mrs. Sneluphent talked on about the pleasure of her first flight. If I had learned to fly already, by the time she was done, I would have flown around the world ten times, crossed all of the oceans, and done three looptey-loops around the Poofalent State Building.
"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move."
-Douglas Adams (Hitchiker's Guide)
These are all awesome! :D I especially love the one from the "Hitchhiker's Guide." ;)
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