Guest blogger and First Book supporter Mindy Klasky is the author of six fantasy novels, including the award-winning, best-selling The Glasswrights’ Apprentice and numerous short stories. Her latest trilogy, The Jane Madison Series, chronicles a love-struck D.C. librarian who discovers she’s a witch. Visit www.mindyklasky.com to learn more about Mindy’s work and her support of First Book.
“Once upon a time….”
“Call me Ishmael….”
“In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit….”
Those are all great beginnings. Classic beginnings. Beginnings that call out to the reader to turn the page, to soak up one more paragraph, another chapter, an entire book at one sitting. (Okay, maybe not the “Ishmael” one – I don’t think anyone has ever managed Moby Dick in one sitting.)
But beginnings don’t come easily. In fact, I spend more time thinking about (worrying about, changing, modifying, adapting — see how challenging this choosing of words can become?!?) my opening sentence than I do any other sentence in my novels.
And I’m totally preoccupied with an opening sentence now. I’m hard at work (or, rather, hard at not-quite-working-yet-on) my latest genie novel. I know the characters, their plot, the complications that I’m going to toss in front of them. I just need that perfect starting point.
I think about opening lines as I’m trying to fall asleep. Often, I find inspiration in that hazy, misty place that lies between wakefulness and sleep. Alas, the ideal turn of phrase, the one that I could never forget because it’s just *so* perfect, the Platonic ideal of a title, sometimes get swept away by dreams. But I try to take comfort in my belief that a truly great opening line will survive that assault; it will last until morning.
I’m still considering a few different options for the as-yet-unnamed novel. (Yeah, that’s another thing I need to meditate on before falling asleep – naming this baby!) What are your favorite opening lines? And why?
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