# Prospective novelists: what's your first sentence? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 21, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790 "2005-09-21T22:43:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/1 "2005-09-21T22:43:24Z")
Mine is… “Andy Taliaferro hated his name.” ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/2 "2005-09-21T22:51:58Z")
“I was born in the house that I built…” ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/3 "2005-09-21T22:57:26Z")
Lukas thought to himself “Fascists,” but it had been beaten into him that he should never say the word. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/4 "2005-09-21T22:57:33Z")
Some folks call it a murder, I reckon I call it a masturbation material. ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/5 "2005-09-21T22:58:28Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > Mine is… > > “Andy Taliaferro hated his name.” Is that pronounced “Tolliver”? ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/6 "2005-09-21T23:00:58Z")
> [@CBCD](#): > > “I was born in the house that I built…” How is that possible? Time travel? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/7 "2005-09-21T23:07:57Z")
I swore that I would never do this ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/8 "2005-09-21T23:15:09Z")
> [@brownie55](#): > > Is that pronounced “Tolliver”? I hope you’re a woman, because I’m in love. ;j Yes, it is. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/9 "2005-09-21T23:50:15Z")
_After Big Meemaw ate the contaminated squirrel brains and shot the Jehovah’s Witness things started to go downhill._ ---
**Author:** ![Shibumi\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@Shibumi\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shibumi_II)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/10 "2005-09-21T23:53:03Z")
Sam did not remember what she was running from, only that she was running for her life. ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/11 "2005-09-21T23:53:53Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > I hope you’re a woman, because I’m in love. ;j > > Yes, it is. While I do merit the ;j I am a guy. A great big gun shooting, straight guy. I won’t say I am sorry, it’s a macho thing. OK, I blow glass, but that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/12 "2005-09-21T23:55:37Z")
> [@brownie55](#): > > While I do merit the ;j I am a guy. A great big gun shooting, straight guy. I won’t say I am sorry, it’s a macho thing. OK, I blow glass, but that’s all. Ah wel, I retract the love bit. But if I am ever acclaimed God-King I shall put you on the “do not execute without good reason” list. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/13 "2005-09-21T23:59:07Z")
“Believe me,” the priest said, “If there were any other way, I would gladly take it.” ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/14 "2005-09-22T00:02:29Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > Ah wel, I retract the love bit. But if I am ever acclaimed God-King I shall put you on the “do not execute without good reason” list. I can’t ask for more than that. Write the damned thing, I would lve to buy your novel. ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/15 "2005-09-22T00:04:26Z")
> [@Harimad-sol](#): > > “Believe me,” the priest said, “If there were any other way, I would gladly take it.” OK, this makes me want the second line. Which is what you want in a novel. Pray, continue… ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/16 "2005-09-22T00:11:00Z")
From the air, the city takes your breath away, its rolling green hills gradually giving place to a compact, thriving downtown of skyscrapers, inviting squares and plazas, and mighty bridges spanning two rivers: a city he could hardly have foreseen from the tiny plane he built as a youth in the early 'teens, but nevertheless a city he hoped would be, and helped create. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/17 "2005-09-22T00:16:52Z")
I’m not sure which of these stories I’m going to write, so I’ll give you the first lines of both… My life began to change while I was still asleep. Light seeped under the doorsill, pooling in the dark hallway like spilled water. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/18 "2005-09-22T00:20:17Z")
> [@brownie55](#): > > OK, this makes me want the second line. Which is what you want in a novel. Pray, continue… Certainly. \*"There is not. The Dragon has called your daughter by name, and she must go to him.” I shivered. It was true enough.\* And thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/19 "2005-09-22T00:31:17Z")
The ridiculous thing is that every day he could feel himself slipping away. ---
**Author:** ![from\_a\_to\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5fc32e/32.png) [@from\_a\_to\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/from_a_to_z)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790/20 "2005-09-22T00:34:07Z")
“Thanks in advance for buying my book,” Abbie snickered. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prospective-novelists-whats-your-first-sentence/322790.md?page=2)