Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Beginnings


Until you turn on the faucet
the bowl is empty

Until you read the first line
the story is empty

Here is a first line I like:

On a continent of many songs, in a country shaped like the arm of a tall guitarrista, the rain drummed down on the town of Temuco.

--from The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan

Do you have a favorite first line?



20 comments:

  1. "I was born with water on the brain." -from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

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  2. Your rain line reminded me of another:

    The weather came up from the south, a warm passing rain that left the October sky clear and the pavement steaming, and from a distance it looked as thought the woman on the bicycle, her black skirt rippling in the liquid breeze, was riding through the clouds.

    -- from "Third and Indiana" by Steve Lopez
    (It's a book but I can't seem to italicize on here.)

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  3. Funny enough, my favorite first line is about a sink! From I CAPTURE THE CASTLE, by Dodie Smith: "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. That is, my feet are in it; the rest of me is on the draining board."

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  4. Funny enough, my favorite first line is about a sink! From I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie Smith: "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. That is, my feet are in it; the rest of me is on the draining board."

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  5. "By 1899 we had learned to tame the dark, but not the Texas heat." From The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. <3

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  6. Two recent ones that have stuck in my head:

    There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife. --Neil Gaimon's The Graveyard Book

    I've confessed to everything and I'd like to be hanged. Now, if you please. --Franny Billingsley's Chime.

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  7. "Where's Papa going with that ax?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.

    And thus began my lifelong love affair with children's books. :)

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  8. The boys down on the Low Quay know a hundred ways to sell bad fish.--Sheri Holman's THE DRESS LODGER

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  9. "Is Heaven missing an angel tonight? Then why are you in this seedy bar tonight?" Oh, not that kind of line.
    How about, "It was a dark and stormy night..." Just messin'.

    However at the opposite end of a story. I have heard that some authors like to write their last lines first. Ever tried that? I hear John Irving did it in "Last Night in Twisted River".

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  10. Favorites: Your first lines, of course! And then, so many to choose from, but here is one:

    As summer wheat came ripe,
    so did I. ~ Out of the Dust

    Such a pure & clear vessel, that bowl, waiting to be filled with possibilities...

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  11. Birdman: Have never written last line first, but I've heard other writers say they have . . .

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  12. "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Anna Karenina--How could anyone forget that first line?

    I discovered an intriguing first line today in a book I discovered at a neighbor's garage sale: " September 13-- I don't want to because boys don't write poetry." Love That Dog

    Have a good week-end!

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    1. Ooh, yes, I rather like that line from the garage sale book. xx

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  13. "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Anna Karenina--How could anyone forget that first line?

    I discovered an intriguing first line today in a book I discovered at a neighbor's garage sale: " September 13-- I don't want to because boys don't write poetry." Love That Dog

    Have a good week-end!

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  14. This opening two-sentence paragraph grabs me no matter how many times I re-read it -- http://bit.ly/NcukUF

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  15. "I had a farm in Africa, near the River Ngong .." Karen Blixen
    " Longtemps , je me suis levé de bonne heure" Proust

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    Replies
    1. Malyss: the Blixen line is a favorite of mine, too.

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