Showing posts with label First Line Fridays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label First Line Fridays. Show all posts
Jessica Leake



How is it Friday already?? I know why the time is going by so fast for me. My maternity leave ends next Thursday. Booo. (Actually, “booo” is a little flippant. It’s more like horrible mental screaming and anguish. Not because of my job, but because of leaving my baby. Also the serious lack of writing time I’m going to have from now on.)
So luckily I’m reading a great book right now to help distract me. ASCENDANT by Diana Peterfreund. I love unicorns—even killer ones, who knew?—and I’ve been looking forward to the sequel. I’m also lucky in that the book I’m currently reading has an awesome first line (*too lazy to paw through my bookshelves*). Technically, it has two first lines. Because *gasp* it has a prologue. Sort of. More like a little blurb in the very beginning to set the mood of the story. It’s appropriately done, though, and I don’t really mind prologues all that much.

Prologue’s First Line:
     
In ancient times, royalty hunted unicorns for sport.

This makes me think of old medieval tapestries. When I was little, I used to read through this set of Time Life books my parents had just for all the cool pictures of the mythological creatures. Especially the unicorns. It had the famous tapestry in it: The Lady and the Unicorn. And of course, it’s the perfect set up for a book about unicorn hunters.
The Lady and the Unicorn Tapestry

Second First Line: 

The unicorn drew its last breath.

It goes along beautifully with the prologue, right? Both sentences are very short, but they get their point across in a powerful way. It would draw me in right away, even if I wasn’t already all set to read the sequel.

So what are the first lines from the books you're currently reading and/or your WIP?
Jessica Leake




The first sentence of a book. I think some would argue it's the single most important sentence, save for maybe the last. It has to pull some serious weight by drawing in a reader. That's a lot of pressure! So I thought it might be fun to share our favorite first lines, or the first lines from one of our WIPs. 

Here's the first line of my all-time favorite novel, Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice :

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

It's a little bit facetious, isn't it? Especially since it leads into her hilariously one-track minded mother. Not only does it set up the premise of the whole book, but it's also a commentary on the social norms of the time. It draws the reader in by being an intriguing statement in an of itself. 

Side note: this totally makes me want to watch A&E's Pride & Prejudice with Colin Firth. Um, yeah. All 6 hours of it. I don't even care. 

So let's see your fav first lines, or better yet, the first lines of your WIPs!