What makes a memorable opening line?
BY Discoveries
30th Nov 2022
CBC and Curtis Brown are proud to be partnering with the Women’s Prize Trust and Audible to run Discoveries, a unique writing development prize and programme, which offers practical support and encouragement to aspiring female novelists of all ages and backgrounds, from across the UK and Ireland.
This week the CBC and Curtis Brown Discoveries team members are exploring the power of opening lines. A good first sentence will help your reader decide whether to read on or put your book down.
A strong first line should entice your reader to enter the world of your story. An opening sentence usually does one of three things:
- Introduce us to a protagonist.
- Tell us when and where the story is happening.
- Set the tone for the novel and show us what genre we’re in.
These are not hard and fast rules, some authors choose a more experimental approach to their opening, and some manage to do all three things at once! To test out the theory we've collated some of our favourite first lines from the books we’ve been reading recently and explored the reasons why these writers are so good at hooking the reader...
Anna Davis, CBC’s Founder & Discoveries 2023 Judge
- ‘Back in 1961, when women wore shirtwaist dresses and joined garden clubs and drove legions of children around in seatbelt-less cars without giving it a second thought; back before anyone knew there’d even be a sixties movement, much less one that its participants would spend the next sixty years chronicling; back when the big wars were over and the secret wars had just begun and people were starting to think fresh and believe everything was possible, the thirty-year-old mother of Madeline Zott rose before dawn every morning and felt certain of just one thing: her life was over.’ – Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
To own up: I first read this opening sentence several years ago when Bonnie Garmus applied to join our Writing Your Novel course in London – though I re-read it this year when Lessons in Chemistry was published and became an immediate bestseller. Can you IMAGINE how exciting it is to open up a course application and find yourself reading that sentence? Of course, she’s cheating a bit, by packing her whole first paragraph into that one sentence with the help of the ever-ready semi-colon. But wow – all in one sentence she locates us in time and gives a ‘feel’ of that time; AND she highlights the women’s movement as a particular focus for this story; AND she introduces her unforgettable main character Elizabeth Zott (interestingly as a mother, in the first instance); AND she gets the story going with ‘her life was over’, which immediately makes the reader want to know how and why. And Bonnie does it all with such style and such playfulness in the tone. Magnifique!
Lucy Morris, Curtis Brown Literary Agent & Discoveries 2023 Judge
- ‘He isn’t here.’ – The No-Show by Beth O’Leary
Sometimes a great first line happens in three words. I love this example because it gets straight into the action of that opening scene, but also straight into the concept (and a brilliant one at that). You’re right there with the character, horrible realisation dawning. He isn’t here. He’s not coming. And you think: what next?
Viola Hayden, Curtis Brown
- ‘Your house glows at night like everything inside is on fire.’ – The Push by Ashley Audrain
Immediately we are inside out narrator’s head, and we know they are outside someone’s house. Why are they there, and at night? Is it an innocent reason, or something more sinister? There’s something about the fire simile that makes me think it’s not entirely without threat… And the use of ‘your’ rather than ‘the’ adds an intimacy between us, our voyeur, and the watched – I can sense that’s a relationship and history there, just waiting to be untangled.
Jess Molloy, Curtis Brown
- ‘Mae expected to feel more the first time she saw a dead body.’ – The Forevers by Chris Whitaker
This grabs you instantly. We want to know what’s happened, who is dead, how did they die, and why is Mae with the body? Crucially – is she responsible for the death? We also learn something about Mae, the fact that she has previously thought (maybe to quite an extent!) about how she’d react when confronted with death and a dead body suggests that she’s maybe a bit unusual. She seems calm in the face of a dead body – slightly detached and clinical – I want to know so much more about her and learn how she got to this place. Of course, I’m going to read on!
- ‘They follow the guide, a thin, pale girl.’ – Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
I love that this is such a simple, uncomplicated sentence but it still poses so many questions immediately. Who are they, and where are they being led? Who is the girl leading them? There is so much intrigue created in that first sentence and I couldn’t help but be compelled to read on.
Rosie Pierce, Curtis Brown
- ‘This is how River Cartwright slipped off the fast track and joined the slow horses.’ – Slow Horses by Mick Herron
Tell me more! The implication is that River did something bad, or stupid, or reckless. Something that derailed them. And I want to know what. I should also add that this opening is the beginning of one of the best first chapters I’ve read in ages. I am quite late to the party but I will now be reading everything Mick Herron has written.
Ciara Finan, Curtis Brown
- ‘When I think of my wife, I always think of her head... She had what the Victorians called a finely shaped head. You could imagine the skull quite easily.’ – Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
I love this opening. It is simple and descriptive but there is a darker edge to it at the end. It gets the reader asking the important questions of who is this narrator, who is the wife and what is their relationship like? It sets the tone for the novel with a spark and makes us eager to find ouy more about this marriage.
Annabel White, Curtis Brown
- ‘When I was a child, I loved old men and I could tell that they also loved me.’ – Vladimir by Julia May Jonas
The first line in Julia May Jonas's Vladmir is self-aware and dark and funny. We are instantly introduced to the destructive but compelling narrator who we follow through the rest of the novel. I love books about messy character dynamics, particularly ones that are uncomfortable to read and this opening line takes us straight into the life of one such character.
Ria Cagampang, CBC
- ‘On the first anniversary of his wife’s death, Xavier Redchoose got up before light and went downstairs to salt the cod.’ – This One Sky Day by Leone Ross
I really like first line that throws you straight into a character’s day. It’s a perfect opportunity to seed in little details about their life and personality through action. In this case, we know that Xavier’s a widower (and a recent one), he’s an early riser and clearly an adept enough cook to prepare cod in this particular way (or he’s been taught that well).
There’s also so much to intrigue the reader in the information Ross holds back here. Is he rising early because of the anniversary or because of the food? Is it by choice? What happened to his wife (clearly it’s significant enough for Ross to mention that it must be important)?
All that from just 21 words!
Katie Smart, CBC
- ‘By the time Professor Richard Lovell found his way through Canton’s narrow alleys to the faded address in his diary, the boy was the only one in the house left alive.’ – Babel, R. F. Kuang
The reader is immediately sucked into a mystery they want to solve. You want to know the answers to so many questions: Who died? How many people died? Why were they killed? Who is the boy? Why was he left alive? As well as getting straight into the action of the story, Kuang establishes the historical setting with the ‘narrow alleys’ of Oxford, the location alongside the ‘faded address’ and unspoken deaths are all elements that evoke a dark, gothic atmosphere – setting the tone for the rest of the novel.
For more advice on creating a compelling open read our blog post: How to write a good first page.
Plus, get unmissable advice on preparing your entry to Discoveries in this post: How to prepare your submission to Discoveries 2023.
Best of luck preparing your submission to Discoveries 2023. We’re so excited to read your work!