There was a poll that stated—Rowling’s opening line in the HP series is one of best in the world. Someone posted about how there are a bunch of other opening statements that are better.
Here’s one of my personal favorites, from Gabriel Garcia Marquez (English translated):
“It is inevitable. The scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.”
@astrosaur@DocCarms@bookstodon "No live organism can continue for long to exist under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream." - The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson
@astrosaur@DocCarms@bookstodon This is one of the first I thought of. I love how it tells you 1) it's a world like ours with April and clocks 2) there is such a thing as the thirteenth hour.
@DocCarms@bookstodon "Where's Papa going with that ax?" (Charlotte's Web, E. B. White)
"I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites." (All Systems Red, Book 1 of The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells)
When the bank blew up, I had just got to the part in "Old Macdonald Had a Farm" where it was Oink Oink here and an Oink Oink there (it's easier to grunt on a mouth-harp than do most anything else, so I was stretching it out a little to make up for spoiling it later on when the Gobble Gobbles commenced), and at first I thought I'd busted my eardrums from blowing too hard.
-Tracker, by David Wagoner
The most perfect opening line and run-on sentence in the world.
'I take pride withal in my humiliation, and as I am to this privilege condemned, almost I find joy in an abhorrent salvation; I am, I believe, alone of all our race, the only man in human memory to have been shipwrecked and cast up upon a deserted ship'
Long time since I first read this book, but it sits there on the shelf, remembered for this opening line that grabbed me and compelled me to dive in 😊 #openinglines
@Greenseer@DocCarms@bookstodon That passage from Umberto Eco sounds like a parody of St. Paul from the Bible: Paul was shipwrecked three times (2 Corinthians 11:25), and amid other calamities, he said, “I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. … [W]hen I am weak, then am I strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.
I enjoyed Eco’s “In the Name of the Rose,” and one passage in my latest novel is a bit of an homage to a scene in that.
@JMaverickJacks1@DocCarms@bookstodon I'm very impressed that you knew that and thank you for sharing. I know there must be countless references and layers in Eco that pass me by, yet still I am able to appreciate his books at the level I'm at. It's great to learn more, tho' 🙏🏼
@Greenseer@DocCarms@bookstodon Thank you. And, yes, Eco was deep. My own novel is an apocalyptic thriller involving secret societies and the hidden, intertwined meanings of (1) ancient prophecies, (2) 1980s rock music and (3) current political propaganda. Please enjoy! Best wishes!❤️😃https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MWV3TQL
@DocCarms@bookstodon “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.” — One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 👌
@DocCarms@bookstodon "He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." - Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche. It perfectly sets up both the madcap protagonist and the social satire in the book.
The first line from One Hundred Years of Solitude will not be topped:
"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."
As a runner up, there was an otherwise disappointing short story that began, "None of them knew the color of the sky." But the Garcia Marquez is good all the way through.
@DocCarms@bookstodon “In Munich there are men that look like weasels.” From Mark Helprin’s memorable short story “The Schreuderspitze”, originally published in the New Yorker, 1977.
Come to think of it... even though #TheMuppetChristmasCarol doesn't exactly have an opening line, the first few sentences of actual narration are a strong start:
(Gonzo) "Hello! Welcome to The Muppet Christmas Carol! I am here to tell the story."
(Rizzo) "And I am here for the food."
@DocCarms@bookstodon
"The story so far: 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, The Restaurant at the end of the Universe
@DocCarms@bookstodon it's been brought up a few times, but I didn't see it posted. The opening to The Gunslinger has always stuck with me. It piques the interest immediately. Who is the gunslinger? Who is the Man In Black? Why do they not have names? A desert, you say? Why the chase?
"The Man In Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed."
@mikebaarda@DocCarms@bookstodon I think you have a point, but it's kind of context-dependent. Personally, when I read that line, sure my interest is piqued a little, but I'm also immediately primed to be looking for an explanation of the things you mentioned, and I'm not likely to have a good time reading the story until I start getting that explanation (or at least some justification for why I need to wait for it, like if the POV character is trying to find out). So it's kind of a high-risk high-reward maneuver: an opening line that introduces mysterious terms for story elements (such as, but not limited to, characters) can backfire badly if the rest of the story doesn't deliver details at the right pace.
It's also definitely possible to overdo it by throwing so many unfamiliar terms at the reader so fast that they get turned off. Not the case here, of course, but other books definitely do it.
@diazona@DocCarms@bookstodon totally get ya, but I think this one works out well. You learn quickly enough why, and then spend the rest of the 7.5 book series learning the true why...
@mikebaarda@DocCarms@bookstodon Gotcha. Yeah I think that's the best way to do it, when that mystery drives the book (or series, in this case). It was just on my mind because of a recent discussion with a friend about a different book - I forget which one, some fantasy thing - that had used like nine made-up terms by the end of the first sentence 😂 and we were both thinking how that's almost enough to stop a person from reading right there.
I'll have to add The Gunslinger to my reading list 👍
@diazona@mikebaarda@DocCarms@bookstodon It can definitely work though. ‘The Hobbit’ basically does the same thing: “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit” immediately raises the question, what the hell is a hobbit? Tolkien then spends the next several paragraphs telling you about the hole instead. The curiosity drives you forward as you’re trying to glean information about what a hobbit is from the details of the hole.
@smitty@mikebaarda@DocCarms@bookstodon Yeah but I would say the difference is that one is much less mysterious. It doesn't grab your attention by alluding to a significant plot point that needs to be resolved. In fact it's kind of the opposite: yes it introduces one unknown term from the story, but aside from that it's actually very non-mysterious. It conveys stability and comfort and familiarity, at least to an audience used to reading European fairy tales.
honestly, The Gunslinger is the only fantasy opening line that I actually remember. Although I'm not really into fantasy that much. But it's the only one out of any book that grabbed me enough to be remembered. Maybe cause I first read it as a teenager still in high school and my mind was freshly opening?
@diazona@mikebaarda@DocCarms@bookstodon Personally I think the difference is the reader’s ability to form a mental image. Even if it’s inaccurate, it gives them a kernel to start building the story around. They don’t know what a hobbit is but they can picture the sorts of things that live in holes… and then quickly discover a hobbit isn’t any of those!
That’s why I think the Gunslinger opening works too.
@diazona@mikebaarda@DocCarms@bookstodon We don’t know why the gunslinger or Man in Black are, or where the desert is; but we can picture that kind of thing generally because it taps into some established genre concepts. If it instead said “Flagg fled across the desert, and Roland followed,” that would be harder for us to picture and thus less successful.
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