Importance of the Opening Sentence?

Question

It has always been stressed that you only have so long to grab the reader before they put the book down. While I agree with this statement, I'm looking for opinions of just what we're supposed to tell.

I've heard from "Just grab the reader's attention", to "You have to tell them everything, and at the same time you can't tell them anything." As far as I've understood, the latter means something along the lines of telling them what the story is about, yet don't give away any of the mysteries.

Tips are welcome as well, thank you to all responces!

Answer 1

Opening sentences are always important, in fiction or in non-fiction. It's like when someone walks up to you and says "Hello." Does their breath stink? Are they dirty? Do they seem like an interesting person and make you want to continue the conversation?

The sophistry of "Tell them everything while revealing nothing" is OK for the opening paragraph, perhaps, or the first couple of pages, but there's no real way to do that in the first sentence. Here are some famous first sentences of books that are classics, immortal works that millions of people have read and will read in the future.

"My name is Ishmael." - from Moby Dick

"You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter." - from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

"The intense interest aroused in the public by what was known at the time as 'The Styles Case' has now somewhat subsided." - from The Mysterious Affair at Styles

"In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind, there lived not long since one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean hack, and a greyhound for coursing." - from Don Quixote de la Mancha

First sentences have to hook the reader's interest, and that means that your opening sentence will have to be as different as there are different people out there--an impossibility. So, you go for your target market.

Are you aiming for the reader who likes quirky stories? Then maybe you want to say something as offbeat as "He had never seen anyone use a coconut that way before."

Maybe you are shooting for the reader who likes the shocking and grisly story, so something like this might work: "The mangled leg landed in the water just a few feet from where Henson was fishing."

There is no one answer to your question because there is no one formula for writing a good book, save for this one: Write well and clearly, and with passion.

If you can do that, you will have captured the reader, even if your first sentence is something like, "The event that came to be known as The Pulse began at 3:03 p.m., eastern standard time, on the afternoon of October 1." - opening line of Stephen King's novel, CELL.

Answer 2

For a work of fiction at least, I think you want to grab the reader's attention. My all time favorite is: "'Within five years the penis will be obsolete', said the salesman." (John Varley, Steel Beach) Another great one is: "The only advice I can offer, should you wake up vertiginously in a strange flat, with a thoroughly installed hangover, without any of your clothing, without any recollection of how you got there, with the police sledgehammering down the door to the accompaniment of excited dogs, while you are surrounded by bales of lavishly-produced magazines featuring children in adult acts, the only advice I can offer is to try to be good-humored and polite." (Tibor Fischer, Thought Gang) Now didn't those get your attention?

The above sentences were of course written by trained professionals. Feel free to try this at home - but you probably won't do as well.

Answer 3

It is important to grab their attention..I usually start like many writers with the main character in the middle of an intense action scene, then just give a little bit and then in retrospect build your main characters history..as you end a chapter go back to the continuing action you left off with, it provides a hook to lead the reader into the next chapter! Basically you feed them the good stuff a little at a time and at the right moments and in-between they learn and understand your characters and their motives with each chapter!

Will S

Answer 4

Dear, the opening dialogue in every kind of paper is very important no matter the nature of the work. It must be a pointer to what the entire work is all about and must hold out a thrilling and exciting prospect to the one who digs further. In essence, it must be the bait and at the same time hold out a suspense that would drive the reader even the reluctant ones to find out more.

It is the Entry Behaviour and its like the front door to a residential apartment. If it is warm, people will throng to it to find out what is inside but if its gloomy only very few would draw near and will never find out what it contains no matter how precious.

It is therefore important that you spend a lot of time crafting those opening pages if not, nobody will know what a wonderful work your paper really is.

Answer 5

Intrigue the readers.
You can start in the middle of action, in the middle of a dialogue, instead of saying "In a quaint fishing village in Cornwall, Chief Inspector Dalziel sniffed the tang of the sea".
you write, "What the deuce do you think you're about, Lufkin?
If you don't put that gun down, my backup will drill a hole in your head." Or, "She tumbled and tumbled down the long slope of the dune, the roar of the waves in her ears."
Just avoid anything descriptive, unless you are depicting something very unusual or alien.

Answer 6

I think it depends on what kind of paper it is. It has been my experience that formal papers about literature or history don't need grabbers. I usually start those kind of papers with broad statements and build up to my thesis. Grabbers are more necesarry when telling a story, to get the reader's attention and pique their interest. An opening sentence in a formal paper is sometimes an arguable point which has to do with your thesis.

Answer 7

Honesty is the answer. We all have a story to tell. The difficulty is that our own true stories are so essential to our lives that we overlook them, or don't want to look at them. But if you write something honest, no matter how absurd or crazy you think it might seem to someone else, it will be the best thing you can write.

Answer 8

As a reader I want my interest sparked, but I feel the first two or three pages are the most important in that respect. If I can't get hooked by ten or twelve pages, forget it.

Answer 9

Each line and paragraph should leave them wanting more.

"I'm not sure when I decided I would have to kill her I just knew mom had to die."

Want to know why mom had to die? Then you would keep reading.