By Katherine Sharma
The first line of a fiction novel is so important that the most famous are instantly recognized:
“Call me Ishmael.” (Moby-Dick by Herman Melville)
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” (A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens)
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”(Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy)
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
My son and husband just love the new sci-fi hit The Martian by Andy Weir, about an astronaut stranded on Mars; it begins with “I’m pretty much f–d.” Memorable first lines grab the reader’s interest, introduce the style or voice of the novel, and create expectations that the author will satisfy or confound. Many stock opening words set the scene, but the best go way beyond “It was a dark and stormy night.”
Consider how George Orwell’s initially standard start to his novel 1984 is disturbingly transformed by the last word: “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” Some first lines hook the reader immediately by jumping right into action, as in Toni Morrison’s Paradise: “They shoot the white girl first.”
Other fiction openers present a thesis or opinion before moving forward, beginning with a statement that engages or challenges the reader’s experience and that grows in impact by the novel’s last words. Austen and Tolstoy succeeded in the examples above. First lines also can draw in readers with suspense–about what will be revealed about events (The Martian), or about the narrator as in Albert Camus’ The Stranger (“Mother died today.”), or about both as in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five (“All this happened, more or less.”) Test yourself on how many first lines are etched in your memory with this quiz courtesy of The Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2014/0612/Famous-opening-lines-Take-our-literature-quiz/Question-110
ABOUT KATHERINE SHARMA
Katherine Sharma’s family roots are in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. But after her early childhood in Texas, she has moved around the country and lived in seven other states, from Virginia to Hawaii. She currently resides in California with her husband and three children. She has also traveled extensively in Europe, Africa and Asia, and makes regular visits to family in India. After receiving her bachelor’s degree. in economics and her master’s degree in journalism from the University of Michigan, Katherine worked as a newspaper and magazine writer and editor for more than 15 years. She then shifted into management and marketing roles for firms in industries ranging from outdoor recreation to insurance to direct marketing. Although Katherine still works as a marketing consultant, she is now focused on creative writing.
By Cassie Ciopryna
If you don’t get said-rose at the end of date, you drunk-cry in public.
Books that were turned into Bad Movies.
Grey, there was an erotic trilogy written by the then “queen of the vampire novel” – Anne Rice . Now, twenty years later, Rice is back with the fourth book in her Sleeping Beauty series – 
favorite group of hunky heroes have come back to face their most daunting villain to date. Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow square off against Ultron, a genocidal artificial intelligence designed to protect the world—played by James Spader.
experience reading a book–you know the one where we can’t help but dream of seeing a story come to life on the big screen. “This would make the best movie!” we tell our friends, and we even consider actors we would love to see in the lead roles. Then something magical happens and some executive in Hollywood decides to echo your sentiment and greenlight the story for the silver screen.
but, unfortunately, we were very poor. As a result, my dream was to marry a rich man, so that I could have everything I had to go without as a child.
has shown me that it is what’s inside a person that is so important. I always thought that looks were the most important thing–until I met Randy! He has taught me to accept the things I can’t change, and to make the best of them.
In adult gatherings, the demise of a marriage or long-term romantic relationship is a common topic. There may be revelations about physical abuse, affairs and addictions. However, sometimes, like the murderer in the news whom everyone describes as a “good son” or a “great neighbor,” these relationship deaths take people by surprise.