How to Start a Novel
Interesting First Lines
I’ve been reading Where the Past Begins: A Writer’s Memoir by Amy Tan. It’s been slow going, not because the prose is uninteresting, rather because it is full of thought provoking insights that have me chasing down new-to-me information. The other night while I was reading, it happened again. I can’t remember the reason I set the book down for another information quest; perhaps Tan mentioned something about Virginia Woolf, I forget. However, I do remember that I spent the rest of the evening, in a different room, searching for a book.
I scanned the shelves for my copies of Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and A Room of One’s Own — the first book of Woolf’s that I had read. Not sure if they were missing, lent out, lost or donated but I didn’t see any of those books on my shelves. Unlike the methodically organized stacks at my local library, the books in my house are a jumbled mess, neglected for more urgent projects from our recent move. In my search for Virginia Woolf, I stumbled across my favorite books by Tracy Chevalier: Girl With a Pearl Earring, Falling Angels, and The Virgin Blue. Reminded by how much I loved those books, I jumped down an internet rabbit hole to look-up Chevalier’s most recent publications. That night I ordered five books; three by Chevalier, one by Virginia Woolf, and another by Tayari Jones — an Oprah’s Book Club recommendation.
Picking the first one to read was a challenge. I scanned the back cover of each book, hoping to find one that would pique my interest. None of them did, maybe I wasn’t in the mood for reading afterall? So I set them aside and watched my latest guilty-pleasure-binge watch show. Bored by an episode with too much arguing and too little plot development, I returned to my books.
I thumbed through the first few pages of the book from the top of the stack and read the first sentence. Not as interested as I thought I would be, I suddenly remembered the lesson from my previous week’s online writing course about how to create interesting openings. My curiosity forced me to read the opening line from each book to see what literary device the author used to hook me with their first words.
Interesting First Lines
“There are two kinds of people in the world, those who leave home, and those who don’t.” — An American Marriage, Tayari Jones
Yes! There’s a story already there in that first sentence. Tell. Me. More.
“Lightning has struck me all my life” — Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier
Again, I sense a full story developing there, but also wonder, “will this be a reliable narrator?” No one has lightning striking them multiple times, do they? Still I want to read to find out why the story begins with an unreliable narrator.
“She could not go back.” — The Last Runaway, Tracy Chevalier
Drama! Immediately I wonder what’s she’s running away from, what is so horrific that she can’t return?
Love all those opening lines! Those books did what my mentors wanted to teach, first sentences have the power to set the tone for the entire work. Time and attention to craft something simple yet evocative is essential. It worked in those three books. However, the other two works by Woolf and Chevalier, required more to pull me in.
“Yes, of course, if it’s fine tomorrow,” said Mrs. Ramsay. “But you’ll have to be up with the lark,” she added. To her son these words conveyed an extraordinary joy…” — To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
Three sentences to set the scene. I want to read on to learn about this mother/son relationship. The power dynamics, and the things that bring her son joy. Does he live in a world of deprivation? Why does he need reminding to be up early? There’s a backstory to this relationship I’m invested to learn more about.
“They were fighting over apples again.” — At the Edge of The Orchard, Tracy Chevalier
Intriguing, but doesn’t quite do it. Let’s read more:
“They were fighting over apples again. He wanted to grow more eaters, to eat; she wanted spitters, to drink. It was an argument rehearsed so often that by now they both played their parts perfectly, their words flowing smooth and monotonous around each other since they had heard them enough times not to have to listen anymore.”
I wanted to know the people behind that fight, what led to their monotonous stubborn stance? Reading further:
“What made the fight between sweet and sour different this time was not that James Goodenough was tired; he was always tired… It was not that Sadie Goodenough was hungover; she was often hung over. The difference was that John Chapman had been with them the night before.”
Here’s the sentence, the sentence that drew me in! And those names, fantastic, right?
“The difference was that John Chapman had been with them the night before.”
Who is John Chapman and why does he change the dynamic between the Goodenough’s? Is it a love story? An affair? A sexual encouter between the three of them? Something else? This scene sets up so much intrigue and backstory that I’m pulled in and want to read more.
All these books have interesting first sentences, some just take a few more words to get rolling. Tell me about how your favorite book draws you in. Do you have a sentence you love, that just works for you? Or are you having trouble crafting that first sentence for your work-in-progress? Let’s talk.
