Favourite Openers

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Enter - Favourite openings - OR - Favorite openings - in that box and I think your suspicion that this may be a regularly recurring thread will be answered.

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Welcome -

I haven't noticed a thread like this in awhile. At any rate, my favorite opening is from Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey:

Lessa woke, cold.

It goes on to tell you that she's cold with the lingering fear of a prescient dream, as well as the fact that she's been sleeping on the floor in a storeroom. Sets the tone of the novel quite well, as well as grabs your attention.

When you say 'openers' or 'opening' what do you mean- the first line, or the first two sentences, or the first paragraph, or the first page, or impression, or what?

It's decades since I read the book, but the opening to Slaughterhouse Five is something like:

Billy Pilgrim had come unstuck it time.

That gets right to the heart of it.

Jack Torrance thought: Officious little prick.

My favorite opening line of all time:

"Where's Papa going with that ax?"

AngelsAvengeMe said:

I was just wondering what your favourite opening in a book was? So like up to the first paragraph or so.

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I actually have more than one.

The first which came to mind was the entire opening paragraph of Dickens' A Tale Of Two Cities. As I no longer have a copy, I can't quote the entire opening passage, but it began with: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Perhaps one of my all-time favorites, however, is the opening soliloquy of Shakespeare's King Richard III, beginning with: "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York..."

It's probably a cliche by now, but:

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

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*mutters* son of York

It was love at first sight. The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain, he fell madly in love with him.

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Catch-22.

I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.

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I Capture the Castle.

A Prayer for Owen Meany

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.

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Still the only opening line that hooked me from the moment I read it.

Myrealana said:

My favorite opening line of all time:

"Where's Papa going with that ax?"

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Charlotte's Web. One of my all-time favorite books and that is great example of how to open with dialogue.

BethS said:

Charlotte's Web. One of my all-time favorite books and that is great example of how to open with dialogue.

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I've been rereading my childhood favorites, but have been avoiding the heartbreaking ones. I might have to make an exception for Charlotte's Web though.

As far as opening lines go, it doesn't get much better considering the story that followed.

DeadCities said:

Jack Torrance thought: Officious little prick.

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Ah, good old King and the good old Shining.
I prefer Koontz, and my favorite Koontz opening is from Strangers:

Dominick Corvaisis went to sleep under a light wool blanket and a crisp white sheet, sprawled alone in his bed, but he woke elsewhere-in the darkness at the back of the large foyer closet, behind concealing coats and jackets. He was curled in the fetal position. His hands were squeezed into tight fists. The muscles in his neck and arms ached from the tension of a bad though unremembered dream.

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In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit.

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Okay, so I'm probably biased because of the fact that the Hobbit is the first book I can ever remember reading, and is the book which made me obsessed with reading and writing stories, and is the book I've re read the most times, but it's still awesome. Followed by the description of the Hobbit hole, it just gives you a wonderful introduction to hobbits as a race, and the way they live.

The story behind it is awesome as well. It's become a bit of a legend, but for those who don't know: Tolkein was marking exam papers, and found a sheet of paper which was blank. He was so pleased there was nothing to mark after a long day reading essays, he considered giving that paper an extra few percent. Instead he wrote on it the line I have quoted above, not knowing at all what it meant, let alone what it would go on to become.

One of my favorites:

"The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault." - Blood Rites, by Jim Butcher.

Not only is there an immediate problem, but a fair bit of characterization, too.

Dunno if it's my favorite, but the one long stuck in my head for how a single opening line can drag you unprotesting into the story that follows - "The man in black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed." First time I remember noticing the quality (and qualities) of writing as opposed to just absorbing the story and moving on.

I loved the first few pages of Cell by Stephen King. I've said it a million times in the "first 3 sentences of your novel" thread, but I'm a sucker for action openings.

The opening line that's stuck with me is the opening line from Mark Sumner's Devil's Tower (fantasy alt-history, where the Civil War woke magic that rewrote the story of Western expansion):

The shaman rode into town on a dead horse.

Once upon a time, in a gloomy castle on a lonely hill, where there were thirteen clocks that wouldn't go, there lived a cold, aggressive Duke and his niece, the Princess Saralinda.

I haven't actually read the whole book, but my favorite opening line is from Neuromancer by William Gibson:

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

From the first chapter rather than the prologue, but this line always gives me the warm fuzzies. The Pawn of Prophecy - David Eddings.

The first thing the boy Garion remembered was the kitchen at Faldor's farm.

Dragonwriter said:

I haven't actually read the whole book, but my favorite opening line is from Neuromancer by William Gibson:

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

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I can't help but wonder how many more years it will be before readers will not have any idea what that means.

Buffysquirrel said:

It was love at first sight. The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain, he fell madly in love with him.

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Although I loved the book, I always thought that terribly redundant and would have worked much better, and more smoothly, without the "It was love at first sight," preface. And, although I understand WHY it was done that way, I still found it bothersome.


For myself, I don't know that I have a single favorite opening. Either I love the whole book and the opener just becomes part and parcel of the whole package, or I don't get more than a few pages in and throw it out the window (sometimes literally and, satisfyingly, into pouring rain!) =)