How to Write The First Line of a Novel

Author Mickey Spillane is often quoted as saying the first line sells the novel and the last line sells the next. He has a point here, most people will skim the opening of a book before deciding whether to read (or buy) it or not.

I know I do it.

After having read the blurb, I'll open the first page and see whether or not the writer's style appeals to me.

However, I've never reached a conclusion after just one sentence. Have you?

While I'm not dismissing the importance of creating a captivating opener (that is clearly one of the fundamental goals of a writer), I do think we can place too much emphasis on drama and forget that the other purpose of an opening line is simply to set the scene - this may be as basic as introducing a character, describing the weather or a protagonist's location - and, realistically speaking, that process of 'setting the scene' may not be conducive to pant-wetting excitement or pyrotechnics, although that obviously depends on your novel!

I'd argue that the vast majority of opening lines, even very famous ones like those above and below, are generally quite workaday - excluding, of course, the exquisite rambling of A Tale of Two Cities.

"Call me Ishmael," for example is just about the most simple way to introduce the narrator, and yet it's also one of the most widely known first lines in all of literature. I don't think Herman Melville was sweating over that, although I might be wrong; my guess would be that he simply started.

And before I begin to dig into the various ways of opening a novel, that really is the most important thing to remember: just start. It doesn't matter whether you're opening line is lyrical or dramatic or funny or frightening...it just has to start the novel. 

There are, of course, any number of ways to start a work of fiction, and you might have an opener that doesn't conform to any of these. 

However, as a rule of thumb, there are, typically, six ways in which to write the first line of a novel.

1, Scene setting - What I mean by scene setting is standard information that helps establish the time, location and/or climate of the story. A good example not already listed above would be, "It was a dark and stormy night..." from Paul Clifford by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton.

2, Conflict establishing - Usually, in a longer piece of fiction, you'll want to keep the main conflict under wraps for a little while longer, so this is an opener more regularly seen in short stories. However, there are no hard and fast rules about these things. A conflict establishing sentence, is sometimes referred to as a 'big bang'; you thrust your readers into an event that's already taking place and identify (or at least allude to) what your protagonist is up against. For instance, "It was the day my grandmother exploded." from The Crow Road by Iain Banks (quite literally a 'big bang'). 

3, Mystery - Iain Banks' first line from The Crow Road would also qualify as a bit of a mystery, as would most 'big bang', conflict establishing openings, because there is, quite naturally, so much that is still unexplained. However, a mystery first line doesn't necessarily have to thrust your readers straight into the action, it can be a more genteel introduction to something that doesn't make sense. A fine example is George Orwell's first line for 1984, "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." Essentially, a mystery first line is anything that will make your readers take a literary double-take.

4, Third Person narrator speaks to reader - Pretty self-explanatory stuff; this offers the chance for a 'chatty' third person narrator to speak directly to his or her readers. For example, "He was an inch, perhaps two, under six feet, powerfully built, and he advanced straight at you with a slight stoop of the shoulders, head forward, and a fixed from-under stare which made you think of a charging bull." Lord Jim, Joseph Conrad

5, First person narrator speaks to reader - As above, except it's the first person narrator, who is likely to be your protagonist (but may not be), that addresses the reader directly. For instance, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, "You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter."

6, Quote - In other words, an opening line that leaps straight into a piece of dialogue. For instance, "'To be born again,' sang Gibreel Farishta tumbling from the heavens, 'first you have to die.'" from Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses.

Of course, bear in mind that your first line doesn't have to be just one of these, there are many examples of opening lines that have a first person narrator speaking to the reader and establishing a conflict; or a quote that creates mystery. The possibilities are almost limitless.