Top 12 Opening Sentences in Novels
The competition for a reader’s short attention span starts in the opening sentences of a novel. Readers today are not only distracted most of the time, they’re also conditioned to judge a book or an image or a post within minutes. If you write fiction, it’s especially crucial to make the reader care about your story as soon as possible.
Top 12 Novels with Powerful Opening Sentences
Writing a good beginning is hard, but the following authors have succeeded in writing powerful openings.
“Pride and Prejudice,” Jane Austen
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
“Beartown” by Fredrik Backman
“Late one evening toward the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barreled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else's forehead, and pulled the trigger.”
“Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury
“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.”
“A Reliable Wife” by Robert Goolrick
It was bitter cold, the air electric with all that had not happened yet.”
“Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn
“When I think of my wife, I always think of her head.”
“The Descendants” by Kaui Hart Hemmings
“The sun is shining, mynah birds are chattering, palm trees are swaying, so what.”
“Everything I Never told You” by Celeste Ng
“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.”
“Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell
“Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tartleton twins were.”
“1984” by George Orwell
‘It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
“A Sport and a Pastime” by James Salter
“September. It seems these luminous days will never end.”
“The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold
“My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered.”
“Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Note: I’ve updated this post, first published on my blog on Feb. 8, 2017.
Read a related story:
Paula Munier’s “Guide to Beginnings”: Why the Opening Can Make or Break Your Novel