Was that an earthquake or did you just rock my world?
Okay, we may not be trying to pick-up girls, but we are trying to pick-up readers. First lines and first impressions are important! And it’s amazing how much a first line can tell you about a book; including tone, character, and intrigue.
What does a reader look for in a first line? I decided to find out first hand. For a fun Friday night, I headed to my local book bar (store) to put the YA book-bachelors to the test. I would randomly pick fifty books, read one line only, and let the most interesting and compelling line (in my opinion) pick me up. Or more accurately I would pick it up, and take it back to my place for a little cozy one-on-one time. And after one saucy night of literary bedazzlement, the following openers rose to the top of the stack:
“We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.” – M.T. Anderson’s Feed
“The best way to avoid being picked on by high school bullies is to kill someone.” – M. Sindy Felin’s Touching Snow
“Finn has been flung on his face and chained to the stone slabs of the transitway.” – Catherine Fisher’s Incarceron
“I remember lying in the snow, a small red spot of warm going cold, surrounded by wolves.” – Maggie Strefrater’s Shiver
“Everyone’s seen my mother naked.” – Elizabeth Scott’s Something, Maybe
“Paradise sucked until I found the suicide note.” – Caroly Macker’s Tangled
“Holly will always be immune from the damage that infects me so easily.” – Ibi Kaslik’s Skinny
But who got to snuggle up with me on my sofa? That would be…
“Everyone thinks it was because of the snow, and in a way, I suppose that’s true.” – Gayle Forman’s If I Stay
If I Stay caught my attention because there is something intriguing and poetic about the first line, mysterious and sad. But what you would pick is probably different. Just like dating, there’s a different book (and first line) for everyone. I suggest you go out and try this exercise for yourself. Who will make you swoon?
Also, (if you want more opinions) you can check out the American Book Review’s: 100 Best First Lines of Novels
What about you? Who’s first lines made you turn a page or two? Please leave a comment and share!
Tags: Beginnings, Novel Writing, Opening Lines, Writing, Young Adult
“The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don’t got nothing much to say. About anything.”
Patrick Ness – The Knife of Never Letting Go’ How could you not read on…..it’s got everything, voice, intrigue, humour,
“I have been in love with Titus Oates for quite a while now — which is ridiculous, since he’s been dead for ninety years.”
–The White Darkness, Geraldine McCaughrean
“I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice — not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.”
A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
What a way to pack a punch with a first line! This almost serves as a one-sentence summary of the entire book.