10 Ways to Write an Incredible First Sentence

Someone once said that the first sentence of a story is like a lover’s first kiss. It titillates and excites, sets the tone for everything that follows, and bonds the reader to the story in an instant.

To research this article, we began by reading hundreds of the most famous first sentences in literature and, in doing so, we made an interesting discovery. We were able to identify ten distinct categories that almost all of the most admired opening sentences fit neatly within.

We used these categories to create our ten approaches to writing a memorable and effective first sentence.

In this blog post we’ll go through each one, give examples from famous works of literature, and give some tips on how you can write your own version.

Begin with a statement of principle or philosophy

Tips:

Think about the human condition.
Use generalities, not specificities.
You’ll probably want to tie your statement to the plot or themes of your story.
Try to come up with something unique and original, ideally something the reader hasn’t heard somewhere else or thought about before.

2. Begin by introducing the reader to the unique voice of your protagonist

Tips:

Best for First-Person POV or beginning with dialogue.
Writing in First-Person POV should usually be reserved for stories where the protagonist has a distinctive voice. In writing, voice doesn’t just relate to the way someone speaks in dialogue, it refers to the mixture of vocabulary, tone, point of view, and syntax that makes phrases, sentences, and paragraphs flow in a particular manner. It usually relates to the voice of the writer or the voice of the protagonist in a story written in First-Person POV.
This type of opener could suit a longer sentence. This will give you more time to include the particular vocabulary choices, tone, point of view, and syntax that makes the voice of your protagonist unique.

3. Begin by setting the scene

Tips:

Think about time and place.
Try to add a surprising element. The goal of the opening sentence should be to capture the reader’s attention. The easiest way to do this is to add an element of surprise. Incorporate something unusual in your setting to grab the attention of your readers, for example:
'the sun not shining’ in the opening sentence of The Big Sleep.
‘the drugs began to take hold’ in Fear and Loathing. . .
‘the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs’ in The Bell Jar
and pretty much the whole opening sentence in The Hitchhiker’s Guide. . .
You can even try to do more than just set the scene. You could also use your first sentence to raise questions in the reader’s mind. This will give you an opening sentence that makes the reader want to continue reading.
Why is the protagonist in New York? Why are they feeling this way? (The Bell Jar)
Why are they on drugs? What kind of drugs? What will happen next? (Fear and Loathing)

4. Begin by telling the reader what the story is about (sort of)

Tips:

Only use this kind of opening sentence if you don’t mind breaking the fourth wall and telling your reader that they are in a story. If you choose to begin this way, you may need to continue to use elements of this writing style throughout the piece.
Make sure you aren’t simply telling the reader what the story is really about. Your opening sentence must still raise more questions than it answers.

5. Begin with dramatic action

Tips:

The action should be dramatic or surprising in nature.
For maximum impact use simple, direct language. Shorter words are going to work better.
Use a matter-of-fact tone.
dramatic event + matter-of-fact tone = easy to achieve impact
dramatic event + dramatic tone = often too congruous, boring, melodramatic
undramatic event + dramatic tone = possibly overwritten and silly, although could be interesting if done well
undramatic event + matter-of-fact tone = difficult to make interesting
A short sentence will work especially well for this one.

6. Begin with an intriguing line of dialogue

Tips:

Make it an interesting, surprising, or shocking line of dialogue.
Keep it simple. Something dramatic written in simple, direct language will always have more impact than something written in an overly dramatic tone or crowded with unnecessary words.
Make sure it raises questions:
What shouldn’t they tell anyone but God? What would kill their mammy? (The Color Purple)
Where is papa going with an axe? What’s he going to do? (Charlotte’s Webb)
Why don’t they have any Christmas presents? (Little Women)
What have they done to make the director so angry? (My Life)
For a great guide on dialogue, check out our How to Write Good Dialogue blog post!

7. Begin by introducing a character or characters

Tips:

Very suited to books and stories for children, so if you’re writing a story for adults, consider carefully if this is the right type of first sentence for your story.
Consider not using the name of the character, for example:
‘He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.’ (Scaramouche)
Use this type of first sentence very carefully. This is one of the most overused story openers and highly favoured by new writers. The goal of the very first part of any story should be to make the reader curious about what is happening and what will happen next. The easiest way to do this is to write something that raises questions instead of answering them. If you begin your story by simply introducing a character, you can often turn the first part of your story into the answer to the question:
who is this story about?
To avoid this, make sure that your first sentence both introduces the reader to the character and raises more questions, for example:
Why are the Dursley’s so concerned about being perfectly normal? Are they really perfectly normal? What’s the relevance of this? Who isn’t perfectly normal? Is something extraordinary going to happen? (Harry Potter)
First sentences that name and describe a character can also work against you because they can give the impression that the character is fictional and has been invented for the purposes of the story. To avoid this, try to add highly specific detail about your character when you introduce them. Specific details in fiction help us to believe in the characters and events. For example, compare:
‘When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle, everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen.’
‘When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle, everybody said she was the most unattractive child ever seen.’
The word ‘unattractive’ is less specific than ‘disagreeable-looking’ and therefore makes Mary Lennox and the story seem slightly less real.
Let’s make things worse. . .
‘Mary Lennox was the most unattractive child ever seen.’
When we remove the specific details of the manor, her uncle, and everybody who said she was unattractive/disagreeable-looking, things get even less credible.
Now let’s write something that sounds completely made-up:
‘‘Mary Lennox was twelve years old and not very attractive.’
Even though the addition of her age could be seen as adding an extra detail, actually telling the reader her age makes her seem even less credible.
Name + age + unspecific description of a character at the beginning = the easiest way to make a story feel flat and phony.

8. Begin with a startling proclamation

Tips:

Make it startling, strange, unexpected, quirky, or absurd.
Short sentences will work best.
Simple, direct language. Shorter, more impactful words.
Matter-of-fact tone.

9. Begin with retrospection

Tips:

Usually works best with stories that have a very dramatic incident somewhere, usually at the climax.
Unlike beginning with dramatic action, which starts at a dramatic moment then continues in a linear fashion, this technique begins at a dramatic moment, but then takes you back to the beginning of the story.
For a first sentence to begin with retrospection in this way, it must allude to the present situation and bring the reader back to the beginning in the same sentence. This is done by including retrospective thoughts from the narrator, protagonist, or a character.
You’ll probably need to actually mention or allude to your dramatic incident. In High-rise, J. G. Ballard instead writes from the aftermath of the climax, but he gets away with it because his main character is eating a dog. Without that you would have this first sentence:
‘Later, as he sat on his balcony, Dr Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months.’
This version isn’t particularly interesting. Simply saying that the events were unusual isn’t enough for us to take his word for it and it would seem like a pointless way to begin a story.
Add an interesting specificity to your opening sentence to justify beginning this way. For example, the death of Bunny in The Secret History, the alluded to horror in The Exorcist, the dog eating in High-rise, and the firing squad moment in One Hundred Years of Solitude.

10. Begin with intrigue or mystery

Tips:

Begin by describing an event that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain. This can be either due to the mysterious nature of the event itself or because of the way you have written it.
The first sentence of City of Glass contains a mysterious event, whereas the first sentence of Waiting contains a mystery because of the way it is written. If the first sentence of Waiting was:
‘Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to attempt to divorce his wife, but she always refused.’
There would be no mystery, no questions raised.
The mystery should probably be solved to the reader’s satisfaction later in the story. It could take the rest of the story to solve or it could even be solved somewhere near the beginning.
Crash begins with the first sentence:
‘Vaughan died yesterday in his last car-crash.’
It is difficult to explain how one person can suffer multiple car-crashes. But the mystery is solved as soon as we find out that Vaughan stages and participates in car-crashes for his own sexual gratification.
The first line from 1984 is:
‘It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.’
It is impossible to explain how a clock can strike thirteen, but the mystery is somewhat resolved when we discover more about the dystopian world in which 1984 exists.
Waiting begins with the first line:
‘Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu.’
It is difficult to explain how someone can divorce their wife every year. Even if we parse this sentence by assuming that Lin Kong is always unsuccessful, and so must attempt to divorce his wife again and again, the mystery of why this takes place and why Lin Kong is always unsuccessful prevails.
The mystery in the first sentence of Paul Auster’s City of Glass is slightly different. In this example, it is not only the reader who is mystified, but also the protagonist.

Top Tips for Writing an Incredible First Sentence:

Add a surprising or unusual element. Remember, you’re trying to grab the reader’s attention.
The more shocking and arresting you want your first sentence to be, the more simple and matter-of-fact it should be in tone and structure.
No matter how long or short your first sentence is, you should clear away any and all unnecessary words so that the ones that matter really sing.
Make sure your first sentence raises questions. This will make your readers want to keep reading!