How to Write A Good First Line | 20+ Examples of Great Novel Openings

What makes a good first line? I'm sharing my thoughts/tips and a TON of examples, as well as going beyond the literal first line. In many cases, it's actually more a case of a great first couple of lines or first paragraph.

00:00 Introduction
01:19 First lines should be
04:54 Surprising, funny 1st line examples
07:40 Dialogue, sense of place 1st line examples
10:08 Scene-setting 1st line examples
15:21 Deceptively simple statement 1st line examples
18:55 2 thriller examples that demonstrate character
20:44 Prologue vs. 1st chapter examples
24:19 Middle grade examples
20:03 Humor & premise setup example
26:57 Classic/famous first line examples
28:47 Precision of language in great 1st lines
30:45 POV of your 1st line & character
31:30 Prologues & using format to your advantage
32:31 Final pep talk


+OTHER PROJECTS+

+BUY MY BOOKS+




+LINKS+
Goodreads:

Twitter:

Instagram:

Newsletter Sign-Up:

Website:

Wattpad:

+FILMING SPECS+
Camera: Canon t6i
Mic: Rode VideoMic Go Light
Lighting: Limo Studio Soft Kit
Editing Software: Pinnacle Studio 22

[michellecornum]

This is the opening line of my NaNoWriMo of last year: "There are times when I miss you so much, I wish I could remember where I hid your body."

[lupemie]

an elite opening:

“In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” (Douglas Adams)

[AuroraXA]

Still my favorite first line: "The building was on fire and it wasn't my fault" from the Dresden Files.

[Ransom]

My favorite is a humorous one from Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis, “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."

[mollymcintosh]

My favourite first line is from 1984 by George Orwell

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking 13”

[stickman]

The best first line I think I have read was from Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens. "It wasn't a dark and stormy night, it was supposed to be but that's weather for you. Needless to say, just because it wasn't stormy that didn't mean evil wasn't afoot."

[zeetuslupeedus]

“It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size.”

That’s my favorite opening line of any book I’ve read. And I’ve read many.

[massy]

"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit" is probably the first line that stuck with me the most.

[beachyaurora]

My FAVORITE first line is from Circe and it will always stick with me!!! “When I was born, the word for what I was did not exist” :)

[danielleb.]

My favorite first line:

“They’ve never found the body of the first and only boy who broke my heart.
And they never will.”

I will never forget this line. Ever.

It’s by Tricia Levenseller- “The Shadows Between Us” btw

[bicho]

I loved The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin from the first line, "Let's start with the end of the world, why don't we? Get it over with and move on to more interesting things."

[lizlovescookies]

"it was a dark and stormy night" from a wrinkle in time. It's so basic, and at this point it's been done a million times, but when it was written it was such an astounding line, and it went down in history for a reason.

[Reaganmayhaps]

“I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.” - The Kite Runner

The entire first chapter of The Kite Runner is beautiful because it doesn’t really have its full impact until you re-read it after finishing the book. Khaled Hosseini has one of my favorite writing styles.

[alaskau]

Famous dialogue opening:

"Where is Daddy going with that ax?" Fern asked.

From Charlotte's Web, deservedly considered one of the best first lines of all time.

[vidarfe]

One of my all tim favorite beginnings is from "Red Sister" by Mark Lawrence:
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men."

[JennsCreativityCorner]

While listening to this, I settled on this for the start of my nanowrimo book this year: " I'd never know my birth parents. No one would. No one should."

[ccstopmotionproductions]

24:38 -Percy Jackson’s opening line legit blew my fourth grade mind. I wasn’t the biggest fan of reading chapter books before that but this changed everything.

[carlosefdaluz]

I understand English? No
Am I going to watch 30 minutes of video with this nice woman? Yes

[TheFoxchild]

How do you know if a first line is too pretentious? Even in published books, I sometimes think "Boy this author is trying too hard" and it's a couple paragraphs in that they tone down the voice and vocabulary to the level the rest of the book is written at.

[altafkalam]

"The terror that would not end for another 28 years, if it ever did, began so far as I can know or tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain."

Stephen King's opening line from It. Never has another opening hooked me so much like this one.