YOUR OPENING SCENE
[first lines]
HUMBERT:
“She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning standing four
feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was
Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms, she was always— Lolita. Light of live,
fire of my loins. My sin. My soul.”
[whispered]
HUMBERT:
“Lolita.”
—Lolita,
1997, Adrian Lyne.
How
do I begin a novel?
First lines are quite tricky to write.
Most likely the author will rewrite them several times until they show the pretended
expectation to the reader: The promise.
What’s
your promise?
Your promise can be emotional—I want
the reader to laugh, to cry, to thrill…—
or an intellectual challenge—If you read this, you’ll see the world from
a different perspective or you’ll confirm what you believe about this world.
So the writer must know what promise
their novel makes, and write a killer opening line with the following traits:
1. A character to care about.
2. Conflict. The beginning should tell
some indication that something isn’t going as expected. Of course, the
development of the conflict comes later.
3. Details. You should know what you are
talking about. Details convey reality to the story.
Here are some examples.
“Somewhere
in La Mancha , in a place whose name I do not
care to remember, a
gentleman lived not long ago, one of
those who has a lance and ancient shield on a shelf and keeps a skinny nag and
a greyhound for racing.”—Don
Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes.
Magic’s
Promise: Adventures of a knight
errant. What?
“They
found him in Ponta Porã, a pleasant little town in Brazil , on the border of Paraguay
Magic’s
Promise: They found someone
who’s missing. Who? Why?
“Helen
opened the window to air the living room, for that Sunday they expected a crowd
to come in and out. She eyed her watch and rushed out to the convenience store,
while her roommate Marleen tried to jam her toilet kit into the suitcase.”—Deconstructing
INFATUATION, Merce Cardus.
Magic’s
Promise: Marleen’s departure and
someone’s arrival. Who?
“It
is the saddest night, for am I living and not coming back. Tomorrow morning,
when the woman I have lived with for six years has gone to work on her bicycle,
and our children have been taken to the park with their ball, I will pack some
things in a suitcase, slip out of my house hoping that no one will see me, and
take the tube to Victor’s place.”—Intimacy, Hanif
Kureishi.
Magic’s
promise: The narrator abandons
his family. Why?
Now, it’s your turn. Write a bunch of
opening lines quickly, with different ways to show the information. It may give
you some surprises. Enjoy your writing!
Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All
rights reserved.
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