That’s the start of one of the most famous opening sentences in English literature. It sets the theme for what will come after; it draws the reader in. A lame opening sentence won’t wreck a book, but it doesn’t help; a brilliant one hooks the reader from the start.
I’m reading the Narnia Chronicles (for the first time, at age 68; no, dunno why I waited so long) and have come to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which opens thus:
I read that, and laughed. Out loud. Had to pause and admire the perfection of that sentence before going on. Am I alone in thinking that that “almost” puts the cherry on the sundae? Read it out loud; it’s the oomph word in cadence; it suggests so much of what will follow. The whole thing is a gem of the story teller’s art.
Which leads me, in true Doper fashion, to ask: What are your favorite opening sentences?
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 100 Year of Solitude.
One of the best narrative hooks ever (actually it’s the first nine words that make this work). You want to find out why he faced a firing squad (and later why that memory was so important to him) and are immediately drawn into the story.
The Lewis line you cited is one of my favorites, too. I think my all-time favorite is from John D. MacDonald’s Darker Than Amber, one of the Travis McGee novels. It starts:
“We were about to give up and call it a night when somebody dropped the girl off the bridge.”
It’s the quick cuts in point of view. First, third party observer, setting time of day and location. Then Mr. Bush, who establishes that the routine of the ship is iron-clad, because the captain wants it that way. And that the captain wants to be alone with his thoughts, even after seven months of no contact with the outside world.
In one crisp paragraph, we know the scene, the relevant parts of the history, and a good deal about the character of the captain, his situation, and how he deals with it.
The next paragraph starts narrating from inside Hornblower’s head, and it remains there almost uninterrupted for the rest of the novel.
If we’re doing Crime/Mystery as well as High Art, there’s the great opener from Jim Crumley’s THE LAST GOOD KISS.
“When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog called Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon.”
Also, Richard Stark is tough to beat.
“When the phone rang, Parker was out in the garage, killing a man.”
Also fond of “The manhunt extended across more than one hundred light years and eight centuries.” (Vernor Vinge, A Deepness In The Sky). Brisk open in medias res.
“A Saturday afternoon in November was approaching the time of twilight, and the vast tract of unenclosed wild known as Egdon Heath embrowned itself moment by moment.”
“It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured.”
“I’ve watched through his eyes, I’ve listened through his ears, and I tell you he’s the one. Or at least as close as we’re going to get.” - Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card.