How to Write a Strong First Line

hi everyone I'm shaylen here with Reesie today let's talk about first line so the first line of a novel is at the same time a really really important component of a novel and simultaneously not really something to be over thought too much you want your first line to be a strong line you want it to be something that grabs the reader's attention you especially want it to be some late i catching if you're querying your novel and trying to get say an agent's attention you'll also don't want it to be anything that might turn a reader away say through an awkward style or confusion but at the same time if you put too much time into crafting the greatest line of all time it's very common for authors to lose sight of what actually makes a strong first line creating something too complicated or too fanciful can lose the reader just as much as a first line that feels kind of lackluster there is no one single way to create a strong first line there are tons of famous four slides out there and they're all strong for different reasons you might create a first line that's strong and engaging for a completely different reason than any of the first lines I'm going to talk about in this video first line isn't like writing a whole piece or say there are a bunch of different checkboxes you need to tick off a first line rather really needs to find one thing and do it repeat well I'd say with the first line rather than trying to do too many things try to hone in on just doing one thing as well as you can so that's what I'm going to consider the golden rule of the first line and that is that it establishes something whatever that thing may be that makes the reader want to read off so before we look at some examples let's start by looking at a list of common first line foe pause things to avoid the first one is familiar imagery or imagery that just isn't that exciting for example describing the sky or describing the weather or using any kind of cliche phrase imagery can be a strong way to start a piece and we'll talk about that in a moment but if you're starting with cliche imagery or imagery that just isn't that exciting it's not really going to do anything to grab the reader's attention second would be dialog now it's okay to start with a conversation of dialog in your first scene but in most cases generally advised that you don't want dialog to be the first line of a piece the reason for this is because dialogue with no narrative to contextualize it isn't that interesting it just feels like a voice kind of floating out of the void readers typically need something to ground them visually before they start hearing dialogue in the story there are of course exceptions to this where pieces do start with dialogue but as a general rule it's something you want to avoid unless you have a really specific reason why it works for your piece number three would be cliches so I already mentioned cliche imagery but this extends a little further into things like cliche actions one of the most common ones here would be starting with a character breaking up this is probably one of the biggest first line cliches probably the number one and it's really just something to avoid at all costs there are again may be exceptions where it really makes sense for your piece but it's such a tired beginning that I can say even without really knowing anything about your story that you probably shouldn't be starting it with the character waking up similarly another really common cliche is a dream this is almost when the writer just starts a step before the wake up dreams are also not usually a strong way to start a piece because you're not grounding the reader in anything concrete you're actually giving them something fake asking them to invest in that and then asking them to reinvest once again in the actual concrete story number three would be with a confusing sentence that causes a clarity issue this can often happen like I mentioned in the beginning when writers get a little too involved with their first line when they obsess a little too much over the first line trying to make it as fanciful as they can and it really just causes a confusing line that causes clarity issues there are lots of first lines that work really well off of creating intrigue but that's different from creating confusion most of the examples that I'm gonna show you later are actually relatively short if you are trying to go an imagery route try to avoid a really tangled really complex imagery and instead of try to hone in on something it's simple but poignant the next thing to avoid would be mundanity anything that's kind of just day-to-day isn't that interesting a first line or first scene that depicts a character brushing their teeth getting a glass of water eating breakfast taking the bus if the first line could apply to the average person on any given day it's probably not a very strong first line so those are some don'ts let's take a look at some successful first lines now of course a first line doesn't need to and can't do all of these things the goal of a first line shouldn't be to do all of these things each of these lines accomplishes a different thing and it's strong for a different reason so we're gonna talk about things like imagery and voice and conflict and surprise you don't need to do all of these things with the first line it's best to do one really really well so the first option would be a first line that establishes mystery or conflict conflict is the backbone of the story it's what the reader is investing in and reading for characters with no conflict you don't tend to be that interesting conflict really is the engine of the story so if you can start your story that right from the get-go sets up conflict and mystery that can be really really engaging a great example of this is quite a famous first line and it's from everything I never told you by Celeste Inge Lydia is dead but they don't know this yet it's a first line that's resonated with a lot of people because of how strong it is as a bit of a cheat starting with death in a first light it's usually pretty eye catching but the way that this first line sets it up adds a whole other layers to the conflict and as the scene then segues into the family's regular morning routine - Lydia we as the reader know something the characters don't this scene manages to make that regular mundane scene of a family getting ready the morning really interesting and really tense because of what we know that the characters don't this line almost cheats one of the golden rules of starting a book which is don't start with boring mundane details this first line makes it possible because it's such a strong first line another great option is to start with vivid imagery now of course like I mentioned earlier it's really important to avoid familiar imagery or imagery that just doesn't really pack a strong punch I do think this is a great option if you don't really know where to go you don't feel like you have a strong hook in your mind you don't have some great mystery to set up in that case a strong image that's sensual and important to the story and sets up the atmosphere of the story can be a great way to go there are tons of examples of this that you can find but the one that I picked is the first line of Arcadia by Lauren Roth and I picked this one as my example because it's actually very soon and this first line is just the woman in the river singing there's nothing even really that fancy to the language it's quite a simple sentence but it's very beautiful and even though it's told very simply it's an interesting image that we want to know more about a great option is a first line that sets up a strong voice if you're writing a very voice eat piece starting with that can act like a hook in and of itself a piece that starts with voice is a piece where the first line shows us that the character thinks in a way that's different from the average person so actually pulled a couple examples for this one because it really can vary depending on the piece so the first one is from fever dream by Samana shrubland this is a very creepy weird little novella and it starts like this they're like worms what kind of worms like worms all over it's creepy it's weird it's in this weird voice it asks a lot of questions I think this is a first line that actually checks a lot of boxes it kind of has imagery like we're introduced to these worms it's not necessarily an image because we don't really get description of the worms but the fact there are worms is just creepy it definitely sets a mystery and it also sets up as soon as I read it I was pretty much hooked another one that I pulled is the first line of milk man by Anna burns this is an example of a bit of a longer first line and one that I think is really effective in starting with voice this is a book that's basically grounded and voiced their voices one of the most central aspects to the piece and it starts like this the day somebody makes somebody put a gun to my breast and called me a cat and threatened to shoot me it was the same day the milkman died there's a lot going on in this sentence but this first line manages to pack all of this into a sentence which asks a lot of questions but isn't really confusing and the voice of the character this long run-on sentence she has weird names for the characters around her really set up what ended up being the most central and engaging aspect of the entire book which was the characters away that's another great way to try to think about what angle you want to take ask yourself what the most engaging aspect of your book is as a whole and try to hone in on that in the first line so if your book is very setting based and there's a really rich atmosphere or setting you might want to start with imagery if you're writing a book that has a really complicated engaging mystery might want to start with a line that introduces that another very successful way to start a piece by introducing something interesting about the character a lot of that will start with characters stating a fact about themselves and as long as it's an interesting fact a fact that doesn't pertain to the average person that makes us interested in the character it can be a really strong way to start a book one of my favorite examples of this is the sympathizer by Viet anh one which begins I am a spy a sleeper a spook a man of two faces I don't really know what this means when I read just the first line but I am definitely interested in the character and want to read on as a result now similar just starting with something interesting about a character you might want to start with something interesting about a relationship this brings us to one of my favorite first lines of all time and it's the first line of the vegetarian by Han Kang which goes before my wife turned vegetarian I'd always thought of her as completely unremarkable in every way I love this first line for a lot of reasons for one I think it's actually kind of subtle it doesn't start with anything that shocking you know a lot of these have started with death or something like that this piece just starts with a man's wife going vegetarian but what's so interesting about it is that this relatively unremarked is treated as something so remarkable from his perspective I think that this first line is a great example of a first line that does a lot well being relatively simple it's a relatively simple sentence but in that one sentence we set up the conflict of the story we set up the conflict in the character's relationship we have the inciting incidents we set up two characters and we set up the tension going forward this first line does so much in so few words without being overly flashy maybe you're not really aiming for subtlety and you just want to start with something shocking a lot of first lines are successful because they start with a surprise or a surprising contrast a famous example of this would be George Orwell's in 1984 which begins it was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking 13 if this sentence had gone it was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking 12:00 it would have been kind of a flat sentence the first half of this sentence isn't that interesting at all we're just talking about the weather but the sentence kind of turns us for a loop in the very last word and that's what makes it so successful this is a great option if you're writing something set in another world in a world where things don't work the way we're used to them work and as a final option this is similar to starting with an image but you could start with just an action or a moment a really striking moment in the story starting with an image is like starting with a snapshot starting with an impactful moment is like getting that powerful image except in motion an example of this that I really like is from Bel Canto by Ann Patchett which reads when the lights went off the company has to cast her I think this is a really strong first line again it's not that flashy it's probably not a first time you're gonna remember for the rest of your life but there's something really beautiful to it it really fits the tone of the piece it actually asks a lot of questions without feeling like it's asking a lot of question so to summarize the main rule to consider when writing a first line is to establish something whatever that may be that makes the reader want to read on you generally want to avoid familiar imagery or cliches or really just anything mundane or lacking in excitement a few strategies that you can take to write a strong first line would be to establish mystery or conflict to start with a strong image to establish an interesting character voice or an interesting detail about the character or even a character's relationship but also begin with something just utterly strange or surprising even if it's treated as normal within the context of the story now those are a couple ways that you might start a novel with a first line I would love to hear what your favorite first lines are or what your favorite first line you've ever written is thank you so much for watching and remember to subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss any videos recipe button writing editing and publishing videos every Tuesday and Friday until next time you

Channel: Reedsy

Views: 62,583

Keywords: how to write a book, authortube, writing tips, writing advice, writing tip, self publishing, self publishing tips, how to self publish a book, writing, first line, how to write a first line, opening line, how to write an opening line, novel opening, how to start a book, how to write the first line of a book, how to start a novel, first chapter, how to write a first chapter, how to write a strong first line

Id: K66Km2r4Njw

Length: 12min 43sec (763 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 27 2019