Falling temperatures, blowing snow and dangerous travel conditions

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support


This week, I'm thinking about the best first lines in literature.

John Irving writes his last sentence first. He always has. That's something that would probably drive most novelists crazy.

But writing that first sentence is no picnic, either. I was comparing notes on first sentences with screenwriter and debut novelist Scott Frank, and we agreed first sentences can either make or break a reader's bond with the book.

Frank's favorite first line is from Dashiell Hammett's "Red Harvest," and it goes like this: "I first heard Personville called Poisonville by a red-haired mucker named Hickey Dewey in the big ship in Butte." 

Hear the rat-a-tat rhythm of that sentence? The hard consonants and motion in it?

Frank said, "It's one of the best opening sentences in any novel anywhere and the book is just full of them."

Here's my favorite: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." That's from Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca." There's a softness — an ethereal sound to the way the words fit together.

Stephen King, a master of the delicious first line, can spend years mulling over a good sentence. He told 

: "But there's one thing I'm sure about. An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this."

 want to know what your favorite first sentence is. Tweet it to me 

https://twitter.com/thethreadmpr/status/702926171772682240

https://twitter.com/thethreadmpr/status/702629008886730752

Arts and Culture

The Thread® - Books and Literary News

NewsPartners

Kerri Miller

Author

My favorite first line in literature comes from Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca": "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." What's yours?

What's in a first line?

Go Deeper.

Like this?