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[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_was_a_dark_and_stormy_night
Here's one of my favorites, from Karain: A Memory:
We knew him in those unprotected days when we were content to hold in our hands our lives and our property. None of us, I believe, has any property now, and I hear that many, negligently, have lost their lives; but I am sure that the few who survive are not yet so dim-eyed as to miss in the befogged respectability of their newspapers the intelligence of various native risings in the Eastern Archipelago. Sunshine gleams between the lines of those short paragraphs—sunshine and the glitter of the sea. A strange name wakes up memories; the printed words scent the smoky atmosphere of to-day faintly, with the subtle and penetrating perfume as of land breezes breathing through the starlight of bygone nights; a signal fire gleams like a jewel on the high brow of a sombre cliff; great trees, the advanced sentries of immense forests, stand watchful and still over sleeping stretches of open water; a line of white surf thunders on an empty beach, the shallow water foams on the reefs; and green islets scattered through the calm of noonday lie upon the level of a polished sea, like a handful of emeralds on a buckler of steel.
Edit: if you listen to the audiobook, you can really hear the beauty of his language. Especially the intro.
I'm surprised that the author of the article did not include the classic "It was a dark and stormy night" [1]. Granted it's probably a bad way to start a novel, but it's a famous and a catchy way to start a novel to get the reader's attention. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_was_a_dark_and_stormy_night
A lot of writing advice focusses on writing the perfect first line/page/chapter, because that's all editors/agents will read. And so I find many books have great openings, but get boring in 2nd chapter. So if Im in a store, I always start browsing a book after the 1st chapter-- that gives me a better idea of what the book will be like. And this advice-- open a book with a "killer" opening isnt always true. When I was…
Music also felt like this for me (in games), e.g.: the opening themes to Doom, Tyrian, Raptor are very memorable.
It can be much easier to start your writing a bit further in, where you have a rough idea of a scene, and letting the characters and the action work themselves.
In fact, this is a good way to create bridges through tricky parts, where you know the current scene, the scene after the next one but no idea how it got there. Instead of struggling with the blank page for too long, skip the unknown scene and keep writing. And later on you'll likely have a good plan for filling in the bridge.
It's much easier to go back and fill in the gaps when you've figured out the 'voice' of your novel, and have a good understanding of the characters and their quirks.
You may also realise you can cut so many of the gratuitous scenes that were useful in your mind for connecting A to B in terms of worldbuilding and plot progression, but are extraneous to the reader.
I'm surprised that the author of the article did not include the classic "It was a dark and stormy night" [1]. Granted it's probably a bad way to start a novel, but it's a famous and a catchy way to start a novel to get the reader's attention. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_was_a_dark_and_stormy_night
It's kinda amusing that this particular opening line is considered terrible in English literary tradition. I would argue that it's the rest of the sentence that makes it a terrible opening — it keeps going on about the weather while most people presumably would rather start reading about the main character and his actions at this point already, — but the line as quoted is perfectly fine on its own.
"To the worm who first gnawed on the cold flesh of my corpse, I dedicate with fond remembrance these Posthumous Memoirs"
PS: it's not exactly an opening line, it's a dedication. But I think it performs the same function in this case.
I'm surprised that the author of the article did not include the classic "It was a dark and stormy night" [1]. Granted it's probably a bad way to start a novel, but it's a famous and a catchy way to start a novel to get the reader's attention. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_was_a_dark_and_stormy_night
Although I personally much prefer the Lyttle Lytton Contest [1] which is pretty much the same but with tight restrictions on the maximum length of the sentences. Highly recommend reading through some of the winners over the years, there are some gems in there.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's kinda amusing that this particular opening line is considered terrible in English literary tradition. I would argue that it's the rest of the sentence that makes it a terrible opening — it keeps going on about the weather while most people presumably would rather start reading about the main character and his actions at this point already, — but the line as quoted is perfectly fine on its own.
Well, I don't know many stormy nights that are not dark... I am not a writer but usually, the idea is to limit repetition, especially in the opening line.
> If that opening sentence tries too hard, or holds no special friction, the book slips from its holder’s hands – back onto the table, or the shelf, ready to be replaced with a magazine, or a snack, or a screaming child. I’d love to know a first line amazing enough that one would ignore their own child?
"Ignore this sentence and your child will die."
The little-known proposal for a followup song from the Manic Street Preachers.