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Attention-Grabbing First Sentences from Contemporary Novels
currently being updated
The first sentence of your novel should grab the agent's or editor's attention as well as your pitch for your book does. Here are some examples of attention-grabbing first sentences from contemporary, published novels.
Again, your first sentence doesn't necessarily have to be extremely short, although it shouldn't be hundreds of words long either. You can use semi-colons and subordinating conjunctions to help you out with your opening sentence, but it still has to be one sentence that's intriguing and attention-grabbing. If you don't understand the concept of "urgency," or "hook," or "attention-grabbing," read Sherri Szeman's article from The Writer (reprinted in The Writer's Handbook 1997) about how to get urgency into your work: "Urgency: Good Writing Needs It." And by the way, urgency applies as much to non-fiction and poetry as it does to fiction. Reading attention-grabbing opening sentences and great titles can also help you with your pitch. Evaluate your opening sentence. If you read only that sentence, would you want to continue reading? Be honest with yourself. Otherwise, you'll never succeed in the writing world. Ask your friends to read it. Ask strangers in the library and in bookstores to read it: ask them if they'd like to continue reading the book. If they say "yes," you're on the right track. If they ask where they can buy your book, call RockWay immediately. We want to hear that pitch and that opening sentence. \
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