r/writing • u/Squanchy0111 • 11h ago
Favourite opening lines
What are some of your favourite opening lines in a story?
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u/SimonFaust93 6h ago edited 6h ago
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met nearly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
Shirley Jackson
Haunting of Hill House
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u/ResponsibleWay1613 9h ago
Usually when the topic comes up, one of the most highly rated is:
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men." - Red Sister
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u/rarebird22 Author 3h ago
Probably no one else’s favorites, but the first two that came to mind for me were:
“Beneath a sky thickening with summer thunderheads, they rode their bikes to Lafayette Cemetery, where the dead are buried above ground.” - A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice
“In the attic where the rain touched the roof softly on spring days and where you could feel the mantle of snow outside, a few inches away, on December nights, A Thousand Times Great Grandmère existed.” - From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury
Neither work is considered a classic, or highly regarded (at least not anymore, if they ever were). But they set tone; atmosphere. At least, for me, they do.
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u/FictionPapi 2h ago
"When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him."
I teach this line in my openings lecture.
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u/starrfast 27m ago
"All of this happened, more or less." Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. So simple, but so intriguing.
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u/KaydenHarris1712 10h ago
This is like a line that punches curiosity, twists the norm, or drops right into action.
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u/SimonFaust93 6h ago
“Frank Sinatra, holding a glass of bourbon in one hand and a cigarette in the other, stood in a dark corner of the bar between two attractive but fading blondes who sat waiting for him to say something.”
Frank Sinatra Has a Cold
Gay Talese