starting lines for creative writing

First Line Generator: 101 Sentences To Get You Started Writing

Sometimes, the muse speaks through creative writing prompts .

And sometimes all you need is a single sentence to get you started on your next epic story .

Among the one sentence prompts you’ll find below, you’re sure to find at least one first line generator for a story you’ll love writing.

So, whether you’ve got a first name already picked out for your next main character or you’re starting with nothing but the will to write, enjoy the prompts below.

List of 101 First Line Generator Ideas

The best way to use a sentence generator is to start free-writing on the first one that grabs your interest and write as quickly as you can.

This is not the time to edit. Let the words flow out as the story forms in your mind.

Short Story First Line Generator

Fantasy first line generator, random first line generator, poetry first line generator, novel first line generator, historical fiction first line generator, first line generator tools .

Enjoy these first line generator ideas for writing a short story .

1. With his background and fierce appearance, no one expected Bruno the mastiff to be a good dog for small children.

2. She frowned thoughtfully at the tarot cards arranged before her.

3. Writing down her thoughts about their relationship wasn’t as cathartic as she’d hoped.

4. She bent down to pick up what she thought was a half-buried seashell.

5. No one suspected that every one of the vaccine syringes sent to those areas would render their receivers sterile for life.

6. It was there the billionaires of the world gathered to announce their joint decision, either oblivious or indifferent to the revolution brewing next door.

7. Just when she thought she’d finished crying, the phone rang.

8. On a night like this, the sky should be full of stars, but as she looked up, her legs almost gave out.

9. She’d forgiven everyone and emptied her home of all that gave it meaning.

two people brainstorming while writing first line generator

10. Three times, now, she’d almost died, and no one had noticed.

11. Her fifteen-month-old son tensed up in his shopping cart seat when the man approached.

12. “Oh, spare me the theatrics, and go cry somewhere else,” he said, adding, “No one wants to see that.”

13. Her voice broke over the phone when mine did, but she said, “It’s actually pretty nice here.”

14. “Okay, before I tell you, mom, you have to promise not to be mad.”

15. If they don’t find Ben attractive, they at least find him compelling. That’s the problem.

16. Once she catches your scent — a scent like yours, especially — she learns everything about you.

17. “I need something to look forward to that doesn’t come in a bottle. You got any ideas?”

18. It was his living room art display that finally convinced her to leave him.

When you’re writing your next page-turning fantasy novel , a good first line can get the creative ideas flowing.

Use these as a springboard, even if you end up changing the first line in your final draft.

19. This world was never meant to survive her.

20. As far as she was concerned, he was a typical teenager with a hoodie.

21. It’s not every girl who finds out her mom is a centuries-old superhero.

22. My first tutor was a dragon with a terrible sense of humor.

23. I looked into the crystal ball and saw myself walking hand-in-hand with my mortal enemy.

24. What I made for my mother’s birthday was supposed to be a harmless pendant.

25. I spent a thousand years in that bottle before a child freed me from it and called me “Mama.”

26. He made it sound as though the very worst thing I could be was a witch.

27. She was changed into something else while her parents stood nearby, watching the others.

woman busy in writing and facing her laptop first line generator

28. The label on the bottle said “Drink me,” and Alice rolled her eyes and snickered as she poured herself a glass.

29. The freeway was completely deserted, and the only words on the marquee near my exit were “Supplies have run out, and shelters are full.”

30. She told me I was the perfect candidate for their weaponized shifter program; and their target was someone easy to dislike.

31. I knew she’d been scratched during the attack, but until now, full moons hadn’t been a problem.

32. He shouldn’t have made me choose between my world and this one.

33. The one thing my mother hadn’t told me about her past was the reason I now lived in an icy cave near the top of the highest peak.

34. The trolls in that valley are the ones who found me and gave me my name.

35. I’m unusually tall for a dwarf. My mother was not prepared.

Don’t underestimate the creative power of random thoughts from memories or recent experiences.

Use one of the following to launch into a story that weaves elements of your own or someone else’s history into it.

36. If only she hadn’t bought the red one.

37. One bite, and his eyes closed, his focus turned inward, while she quietly exhaled.

38. She was the kind of person who loudly insulted others’ intelligence while neglecting her own.

39. Doctors told her she could never diet again.

40. I don’t sleep with that stone unless I want to wake up feeling as though I spent the whole night running.

41. It was enough for her that he’d found a lost child and returned him to his parents.

42. You’d think a winning lottery ticket was just what we needed.

43. In exchange for the apartment, she had agreed to bring the inmate his meals.

44. Her father always said driving would be the death of her.

45. What if I told you the separation of church and state is an illusion?

46. The largest golden maple leaf I’d ever seen landed at my feet as I turned the corner.

47. “Help me! I’m not your enemy,” he said.

48. For some reason, no one thought to question the other housekeeping staff.

49. As soon as he stepped across the threshold, she caught a whiff of something.

50. Even with a baby in her arms and her hair loose, I knew her. And it all came back.

51. He waited, nervously clearing his throat until my husband left the room.

52. His bike still hung on the rack, covered in dust, and one wheel bent into a moon shape.

Sometimes, all you want to write is a poem to express the ideas circulating in your mind.

Use any of the following to open the spigot and let the uncensored words out onto the page. Editing can wait.

53. The sky feels as empty as my chest.

54. The trees would miss you if you left.

55. The sunlight brought me back to you.

56. I was tired before my first sip of wine.

57. Memory is all around us, as well as within.

58. Don’t tell me what I need.

writing in notebook while in front of laptop first line generator

59. No expensive funeral for me, if I even have one.

60. The first step toward you was the hardest.

61. My hope literally took form inside of me.

62. I fight for what you’ve had from birth.

63. I come to shatter this fortress— not protect it.

64. You were born to make mistakes and to change the world as you learned from them.

65. The burn is what gets me.

66. There’s something in the water that now lives in me.

67. Why should I get away with it?

68. One bloom outlasted the rest before suddenly dropping.

69. I wish I could tell you this has nothing to do with me

First Line Generator at WritersDenPantomimepony.co.uk

Click on the giant blue button, and this generator will give you an opening line inspired by careful analysis of classic openers. The secret to writing a compelling opener is creating a story within a single line. And that’s something the makers of this generator understand.

Keep clicking until one of the options gets you thinking. Then brainstorm as many follow-up ideas as you can.

Opening Line Generator at Plot-Generator.org.uk

This generator gives you ten opening line ideas right away. Below them, you can select the number of new opening lines or ask them to suggest a number. Click on “Write me an opening line” to generate as many or as few openers as you like.

On the left, you’ll see their “Top 10 Generators,” including “Character Name” and “Rap Lyrics.” On the right, you’ll see “Newest Generators,” including “Pirate Name” and “Coronavirus Activity.”

Random First Line Generator at WritingExercises.co.uk

The Writing Exercsies website has a wide selection of content generators, including this one for random first lines. You can also find a rhyming dictionary (in case you prefer traditional, rhyming poetry), as well as generators for plots and random bits of dialogue .

Click on “Generate a First Line” as many times as necessary to find something you can use to get started.

If you had to choose one first line generator from the selection in this post, which ones spoke to you the loudest?

Or have you already started writing something that has you brimming with creative energy and excitement?

If this will be a long story , remember to do yourself a favor and stop for the day when you still want to keep going.

When you already have an idea of what happens next, sitting back down to it is much easier.

May the words keep flowing. And may at least one of these writing prompts set you on the path to writing something you and your readers will love.

Sometimes all you need is a single sentence to get you started with your story. These 49 first line generator prompts will set you off on the best writing path in different genres.

Daily Writing Tips

20 great opening lines to inspire the start of your story.

As Glinda the Good Witch says in The Wizard of Oz , “It’s always best to start at the beginning.” That’s where editors and literary agents generally get going, so perhaps you should, too. Here are some strategies, accompanied by exemplars from literature, for making the first line of your novel or short story stand out so that the reader can’t help but go on to the second and the third and so on to see what else you have to say:

“‘Take my camel, dear,’ said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass.” — Rose Macaulay, The Towers of Trebizond

Are you in the mood for amusement? This opening line makes it clear that farce is in force.

“The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children’s games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Napoleon of Notting Hill

Astute observations accompanied by a implied sigh of disgust are tricky to master, but Chesterton, one of the most multifaceted men of letters, lights the way for you with this sample of the form.

“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” — William Gibson, Neuromancer

Oh, by the way, just in case you missed the forecast? Don’t expect any fluffy bunnies or fragrant blossoms or dulcet giggles to show up in this seminal cyberpunk story. A spot-on metaphor expresses the story’s nihilism, letting you know what you’re in for and lugubriously inviting you in.

4. Confiding

“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” — C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The author of the Chronicles of Narnia no sooner introduces by name a new character in the latest installment than, in just five more words, he succeeds in telling you everything you need to know about him. Well, got that out of the way.

“Justice? — You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law.” — William Gaddis, A Frolic of His Own

Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning — and maybe the bed’s shoved up against the wall, and that attitude is a permanent condition. The stage is set for an unhappy beginning, middle, and ending.

6. Disorienting

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” — George Orwell, 1984

Ho-hum — huh? Orwell’s opening line creates a slight but immediate discordance that sets you up for an unsettling experience.

7. Enigmatic

“Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.” — Anne Tyler, Back When We Were Grownups

It will not surprise you to learn that the protagonist sets about retracing her steps and striving to correct the error, but after reading this subtle but striking first line, can you resist finding out how she does it?

8. Epigrammatic

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” — L. P. Hartley, The Go-Between

This offbeat observation from Hartley’s novel of painful reminiscence is a blindsidingly original statement that one will feel compelled to read about just how the writer acquired this wisdom.

9. Expository

“In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ’s disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen, and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman.” — Norman McLean, A River Runs Through It

By the end of this paragraph, you already know a great deal about the narrator’s family (especially the father) — but thanks to the introduction, as clear as a snow-fed mountain river, you want to know more.

10. Foreboding

“I have never begun a novel with more misgiving.” — W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s Edge

The author is a bit intrusive here, true enough, but it is kind of him to let us know that we’re in for a bit of unpleasantness. But if he can express such profound reluctance, it must be quite a story.

“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.” — Raymond Chandler, Red Wind

Chandler, the master of hard-bitten crime noir, makes it obvious that this story is not going to end well. You can almost hear the smoky, whiskey-soured, world-weary narration in your head. And this quote comes from one of Chandler’s half-forgotten short stories.

12. Inviting

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.” — Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

Dickens extends his arm toward the passageway within, welcoming you to enter what promises to be an entertaining story.

13. Picaresque

“In the last years of the Seventeenth Century there was to be found among the fops and fools of the London coffee-houses one rangy, gangling flitch called Ebenezer Cooke, more ambitious than talented, and yet more talented than prudent, who, like his friends-in-folly, all of whom were supposed to be educating at Oxford or Cambridge, had found the sound of Mother English more fun to game with than her sense to labor over, and so rather than applying himself to the pains of scholarship, had learned the knack of versifying, and ground out quires of couplets after the fashion of the day, afroth with Joves and Jupiters, aclang with jarring rhymes, and string-taut with similes stretched to the snapping-point.” — John Barth, The Sot-Weed Factor

Oh, but you know this novel is going to be juicy. This snide introduction to the main character conveys a promise of a continuous feed of schadenfreude.

“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.” — Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

Every once in a while there comes an opening line that seems to have an entire story folded up inside it. But it’s just the label on the envelope. And I challenge you to withstand the urge to open it up and read the message.

“We started dying before the snow, and like the snow, we continued to fall.” — Louise Erdrich, Tracks

A somber, stately metaphor draws us in despite the pervasively gloomy imagery.

16. Prefatory

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Many people associate Dickens with whimsy and eccentricity, but A Tale of Two Cities is a stern study of the insanity of mob rule, and this floridly eloquent prologue sets the stage like the presenter of a Shakespearean prologue: “Epic Ahead.”

17. Romantic

“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.” — Raphael Sabatini, Scaramouche

Romantic, that is, in the sense of lust for life, not love for another. This author of swashbucklers like The Sea Hawk and Captain Blood (and, of course, Scaramouche ) lets you know right away that you are about to meet someone larger than life.

18. Sarcastic

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” — Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Austen didn’t invent the word snark — but she certainly refined the application of the quality. Notice, though, how subtle this line is. It’s a bon mot — understated, yet with teeth behind that prim smile.

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” — J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

Can you find it in your heart to forgive this young man his grievously bad attitude? More likely, you’ll be impressed by — and want to immerse yourself in more of — his insolence.

20. Unexpected

“Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu.” — Ha Jin, Waiting

This seemingly pedestrian introduction upends itself with an intriguing premise that raises a question in the reader’s mind that must be answered.

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22 thoughts on “20 Great Opening Lines to Inspire the Start of Your Story”

Thank you for sharing these fabulous opening lines! I love Jane Austen — Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books.

Thanks for posting this list. It’s a lot of fun and a great way to start a writing day 🙂

Well I have to share my favourite opening lines now:

“It was the day my grandmother exploded!” – The Crow Road, Iain Banks

“I write this sitting in the kitchen sink” – I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith

In fact the full opening from the Crow Road is even better:

“It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach’s Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach.”

I’m simultaneously inspired and intimidated. I can hardly imagine writing anything that draws readers in the way these introductions do. Must keep practicing!

What a great list of opening lines!

4, 5, 12, 17 & 20 are my favorites.

Thank you for compiling this list. I thought a lot about my own style and strategies while reading it, and I’m pretty much all over the place. I do notice my tendency to start each book with dialogue, whether the style is sarcastic, foreboding, or bleak etc. Most often, the dialogue is pushed behind a beginning paragraph during edits, changing the feel of the opening.

Thanks for the great read, Allure Van Sanz

I will always love “Once upon a time, ” the best.

This is fabulous – thanks for sharing!

Phew! I’m glad I didn’t bypass this e-mail. By the title, I thought this article was going to offer 20 sentences that subscribers could expand upon.

I love the format this article is in, though. 🙂 I knew these different types of beginnings existed, just not consciously.

I like the openner which is something like this:

“Well unlike last time when I got too involved and gave you the run arround, this time I’m going straight for the jugular and cut out all that crap about my private life”.

of course he doesn’t.

The author is Don von Elsner.

Superb! This is a charming, outstanding and quite practical posting. These devices are such wonderful tools to be used to enchant readers, create flows, spark drama, awaken minds… and so much more.

Practice is key. What I deeply love about such tools is they may be applied to so many forms of writing such as fiction, poetry and most other types of narrative. Even “tweets”!

With “tweets” in mind I will have a least 20 new tweets to apply and practice these ideas on today. I am cheating here a wee bit.

Creating tweets for “bestdeedswords”, helps understand how to apply these tools and also selfishly carves them into the dark caverns of my eclectic memory facilities. This is a simple personal way to store them for later use.

Mark, these great posts are very useful. Thanks for your hard work and research. Thanks so very much.

Personally, I like the way I have started all my stories. I love getting right to the action, and explaining later or in different, unique ways. I am only 14 and on my 3rd story.

Great post! I’ve been testing out story ideas at the Creative Copy Challenge and received favorable feedback. I think it’s time for me to write a novel.

Well unless someones already done it I think it would be not only right but, satisfying to have endings as well.

That’s the subject I’ve been researching today – one spot of advice I read was to leave the first and last lines until the novel was complete – I think it’s a useful excuse for procrastinators like me.

Great post! I’ve read some of these books and never really gave any thought to the reason why. Now I know.

These are all good lines. Good lines are what matter, not their location in the book. Go back and look at your favorite literature. Most of mine begin with ordinary lines. The opening sentence and paragraph do not truly need to stand out. All the better if they do, but it is not necessary.

All seem to have missed Snoopy’s classic: “It was a dark and stormy night.” One of my favourites.

Although the lines are intriguing, and certainly I am appreciative of this post, I am more impressed by the one who compiled it. Your comments and labels were as educational to read as the quotes themselves. Thank you for sparing the time to educate us both with the wit of others and your own unique style of narration to spur us onward to the end.

The opening line of a book I read freshman year of high school still sticks with me. “When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy. I would figure out this or that way and run it down through my head until it got easy.” -Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons I still think that to this day that line motivated me to read the book in half an afternoon.

I’ve always enjoyed the (usually ignored, always contradicted) first line of “Gone With the Wind:”

‘Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful… though her suitors rarely took notice of this when as enthralled by her charm as the Tarleton twins.’

I love this article! This was great!!! My favorites were 1, 5, and 6! I used something similar to 6 in my book! Too funny!!!

I made this one up: When I was overtaken by poisonous vines, I never thought I would grow wings.

And also this- The teacher said “if John has nine pancakes, and Adam gives him eighteen pencils, why are ant green?” I knew, of course, that the answer was horses have six legs, but I let a newer student get it wrong. “It’s because aliens don’t wear hats.” his words went up in pitch at the end, showing he was unsure. The teacher said,” try again, Mark.”

Writing Prompts

60+ First Line Writing Prompts

Did you know that the opening line of a story is one of the hardest parts of writing a great book? Spark your imagination with these 100+first line writing prompts for all ages! These simple one-liners are the perfect way to get those creative juices flowing and find inspiration for your next big short story or flash fiction .

We have a mix of first-line writing prompts, ranging from fantasy prompts to non-fictional and realistic events. As well as prompts written in the first and third-person view. The one-line writing prompts in this post are a great way to challenge yourself to write something new. In fact, you can even set yourself a challenge to write at least 300 words every day for each of these cool prompts!

60+ Random First Line Writing Prompts

Here are over 60 one-line opening sentences to help you write your next big story:

“Er… I hate this song. Why is it always playing on the radio?”
Every story has a hero and I’m the hero of this one.
Thunder rattled outside, as Emily tossed and turned trying to sleep.
Life wasn’t great at all for Mr Pea. It wasn’t even mildly good.
They keep calling me “special”, but what’s so special about me?
Gavin was always getting the best presents. For once I wish I could be like him.
Balloons popping, confetti dropping and food flying. That’s how Katie spent her birthday each year.
Every night, Peter went out to save the world in his own little way.
If dogs could speak, then Spike would be thanking Chris right now.
Money is everything.
Was it really Jane’s fault?
Every day the same thing keeps happening.
For the first time in her life, Janie felt powerful.
5 AM and still no phone call.
Mom’s always telling me to come straight home.
There’s an old legend that talks about magical fairies living in the forest.
Snow fell, as Clarissa made her way home.
After the accident, Nelson never felt safe again.
Katie’s living the dream up in the hills of Hollywood.
The world seemed like such a big place, until the recent discovery in Antarctica.
“Dear diary, today I learned something about myself…” Katie mumbled to herself.
Blinded by a bright light outside his window, Jake jumped up in horror.
Sitting at his computer, Martin noticed something odd about his favourite computer game.
Rain trembled down the window, as the car radio played in the background.
“Ready or not, here I come!” shouted Millie in the distance.
Once upon a time, there lived a young prince with extraordinary powers.
James had it all, but still, it was not enough.
Her red hair glistened in the sun, as she walked across the car park.
Mel was always haunted by her dreams.
“Shhhh! It’s your turn now” whispered Kelly.
The room was a dump, as Jack frantically searched every corner.
This time daddy brought a strange teddy bear home.
There’s no cure for a beast like me.
People ran inside their homes, as the alarm rang.
Tracking through the woods, Christian found something strange.
Home. What is home anyway?
Legend says that if you breathe in and out ten times in front of a mirror something strange happens.
Tick… tock… tick… tock… time was going so slow.
The pain was too much, he had to leave right now.
Slipping out of reach, she lost it forever.
Money, clothes, food, everything you need for a quick getaway.
In the faraway kingdom of Rainbow Popsicles, everything was sweet, apart from one strange-looking thing.
In the damp streets of Manhattan, there lived a fierce little cat.
Being the ‘odd one out’, the ‘weird’ one wasn’t fun at all.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” Shelly screamed in her sleep.
Some say the number 7 is unlucky, but to me, it wasn’t.
Every Saturday, Joe went to his Grandma’s house, but something was very different this week.
Chores, chores and more chores.
For once I wish I could get my way.
The sun shone brightly on Oakland farm, but not all was bright.
“I got one! I got one!” shrieked Sally, jumping up and down in excitement.
She was everything I wanted to be and more.
The same words over and over again scattered all over the floor.
The scariest creatures lived deep in the forest where no-one ever went.
“Abra Kadabra, turn these ripped trainers into the fastest trainers in the world!” exclaimed Victor.
The desert-like sun burned his skin as he lay scorching in the sand.
The sound of rustling leaves turned George’s heart to stone.
Sunny Slimeville was just a normal town with a funny name.
The phone did not stop ringing all week.
Another tea party, another game.
How’s a country girl like me ever going to survive the big city?
Did you know that not all zombies eat brains?

How To Use These One-Line Writing Prompts

There are a number of ways you can use these first-line writing prompts to inspire your story writing , such as:

Pick one of the opening sentences and free-write for at least 60 seconds. Don’t stop to think, just keep on writing whatever comes to mind!
Don’t keep skipping through all of the prompts above. Challenge yourself and give the ‘hard’ or ‘boring’ ones a go! You never know how they’ll inspire you unless you give them a go.
Feel free to adapt these first-line writing prompts in any way you like. You can change the character names, point of view and any other details you feel like.
Explore your imagination. Don’t be afraid to add more characters, add conflict, add dialogue , add anything you like to really have fun with these prompts!

For more inspiration, check out this list of over 150 story starters . Now go and choose an opening sentence from the above list! And if it inspires you to write something cool, let us know in the comments! You can even publish your story online – Just sign-up to create your free account .

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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50 Creative One-sentence Writing Prompts That Will Make You Want To Write

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Need a few great first lines to get the ball rolling on your next story? Each of these one-sentence writing prompts gives you an opening sentence that hooks readers from the beginning. Have fun with these creative ideas as you craft your next short story or novel.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you click one of these links and make a purchase, we may receive a commission. This commission is paid by the retailer, not by you. Learn more .

Why Use Story Starters in Your Creative Writing Process?

You need a spark of inspiration.

Sometimes, coming up with short story ideas feels overwhelming. Maybe you have an assignment due and you don’t know where to start or perhaps you’re looking to write a little at the end of a long day but your creative juices have dried up. Perhaps you have a standard case of writer’s block.

Creative writing prompts with sentence starters or first lines help you overcome these challenges. Without forcing you into a certain direction, they give your story an interesting starting point. They are the kindle you use to start the fire, but tending it is up to you. Fifty people could take the exact same writing prompt and run with it in different directions, and we’d end up with fifty completely different short stories.

As you read through the list of one-line writing prompts below, don’t overthink it. Pick the one that stands out to you the most, the one that instantly inspires a dozen questions in your mind.

For example, if you read the first one-sentence writing prompt below, The message inside the fortune cookie, which contained only four words, has become my fate, you immediately wonder things like who ate the cookie? where did they get it? who was it intended for? what were the four words? how did they become his/her fate?

If a first line turns you into an interrogator, you know you’ve found an idea worth exploring.

If you still have writer’s block and need some more inspiration, read these narrative sentence examples for suggestions on how to write compelling sentences that develop character, settings, themes, plots, an conflict.

You Want to Try Something Different

Writers often get stuck in ruts. We find a formula that works for us and we repeat it. This can be great for meeting deadlines or selling stories, but it can also be limiting and boring. An occasional venture outside our comfort zones expands us as writers, exposes us to styles and storylines we might not normally pursue, and lets us play around with unfamiliar concepts.

If you’ve never explored science fiction or fantasy before, you might choose a story starter that offers an escape from reality. Or maybe you want a contemporary setting with just a touch of modern realism. Or, conversely, if you’re used to creating complex fictional worlds and magic systems, a realistic setting with a main character who’s just gotten some bad news could be out-of-the-box for you. You may even want to try your hand at writing a melancholy love story with our sad romance writing prompts .

You’re Not a Planner—Or You Need a Break from Being a Planner

I confess: I’m a serial planner. ( This is my go-to guide for novel planning. ) The notes I make before writing a book usually come close to matching the book in length. I like to know everything before I ever write a single word. (This level of planning is probably also a form of productive procrastination).

Planning is helpful, but sometimes it feels like a barrier too. Planners can feel like they can’t write a story unless they’ve done all the planning, and if they don’t have the time or inspiration for the planning, they don’t write. It’s a convenient excuse, but it gets us nowhere.

For extreme planners like me, one-sentence writing prompts permit us to write without a plan. We’re not trying to come up with the best way to lay the scene for the coming action or set the stage for character development. We’re parachuting into the middle of the action and it’s sink or swim.

Those questions we talked about a moment ago? The ones generated by the first sentence? They’re in charge here. They’re calling the shots. Instead of carefully mapping out a series of plot points, we need to figure out the answers to those questions and reveal them to the reader in the most tantalizing way possible.

The questions—and their answers—will take us where they want to go, not the other way around.

I’m not saying this method will make us leave plotting behind for good—perish the thought!—but it does allow us to tackle our writing from a different angle, an experience that will only sharpen our writing skills.

50 One-Sentence Writing Prompts

The message inside the fortune cookie, which contained only four words, has become my fate.
I’ve walked by that old house hundreds of times in the past two years, but today was the first time I caught the little girl watching me from the window.
Just when I thought my life couldn’t get any more complicated, my mother decided to open her new business—a coffee shop—in our living room.
My little sister thought she’d found the best hiding place in the house…until she realized it wasn’t exactly part of the house.
Susan hadn’t expected the hot air balloon to be filled with two dozen baby animals, but when your great uncle sends you a modern-day ark, you roll with it.
When I heard that familiar jingle coming down the street, I assumed it was the ice cream truck; I never knew they had mobile deliveries of those.
The cruise ship was supposed to be the setting for the perfect vacation, and it was—until that stupid movie star showed up and decided we were all going to be part of her game.
The first step in surviving middle school is easy—always be prepared—but the second rule? That’s not so simple.
Confused and disappointed, Marcus tossed aside the photo album his mom gave him for his birthday but when voices started coming out of it, he decided to pay attention.
“Don’t look at me, I thought we were going for tacos.”
Late for work, I throw open the front door and find myself face-to-face with a UPS driver standing next to the biggest box I’ve ever seen.
You know that dream where you’ve gone back in time and you’re reliving the craziest moment of your entire life?—I’m living it.
The house shook with a violent surge like a hurricane had whipped right through it and, just as suddenly, was still.
We danced until the sun went down and the floor gave way beneath our feet.
Professor Soto said the assignment would be easy; he never mentioned we’d have to do it on a roller coaster.
The old man in the seat next to me on the train speaks loudly on his cell phone; I’m pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to let that information out.
Joanna’s favorite band is playing a sold-out show tonight but thankfully, she’s figured out a way to get in.
When Jaden and his best friend took the blank page out of the notebook and drew their map of Ancient Egypt on it, they had no idea of the chain of events they’d set in motion.
“Pick a number, any number,” she said, her voice a taunt, “And I’ll show you your future self.”
Constance was planting daffodil bulbs in her flower bed when her trowel struck a most unusual object in the soil.
“In other news,” Zach leans over and whispers to Marie, “they’re expecting you to go up on stage and resign in about, oh, sixty seconds.”
Hup two three four, hup two three four—wait, shouldn’t we have been there by now?
Why did she burst through the door like that if she wasn’t going to tell me the truth?
Though Evie knew the dog was special, she’d never realized he was magical.
The return address on the gold envelope is in Greenland—had they really tracked me down from the other side of the world?
I always thought good historical fiction should transport you to another time and place, but when a man in a waistcoat and a top hat enters my room, I realize the book I’m reading has taken that to a whole new level.
The checkout line at the grocery store wouldn’t have been my preferred place to “be discovered”—fluorescent lights and all—but who am I to say no to Elizabeth Van Zee?
Is it even worth showing up here again if nobody’s ever going to come and answer my questions about my grandma?
I can’t justify the crimes I committed, even though they saved lives.
“Does this purple shirt make me stand out?” asked the giant one-eyed cat.
I wish I could tell you that everything went as planned, and no one got hurt, but that would be a lie.
They found my mom’s ratty ball cap by the edge of the creek around a month after she went missing; I wish they hadn’t.
She’d eaten a lot of pie during her career as a restaurant critic, but never before had she tasted one quite like this.
It was no problem catching the thief; he left his fingerprints everywhere.
I knew Jax was meant to be my best friend, from the moment we met right up until his death.
My knuckles were white as I gripped the armrests of my seat, hoping desperately that our pilot could get the plane back on course before it was too late.
Riley Davis always said that I was his whole world, but if that was true, he wouldn’t have destroyed my life.
I didn’t want to have to hurt him, so I ran away as soon as August got down on one knee.
At first, I had thought telepathy would be a cool superpower, but that was before I knew of the chaos that lives in every person’s mind.
“Why do you think you’re here?” Dr. Judy asked when I took a seat in her office.
I had just finished crocheting the small grey elephant for my nephew and was placing it in a gift bag when it let out a little trumpeting noise.
Teddy had always known there was something fishy about that new girl, and his suspicions were confirmed as soon as he saw the live salmon in her backpack.
She was on the hunt for a way to ease her anxiety, and it didn’t take her long to discover that goat yoga was not the answer.
I had never taken an interest in Randy until we both attended the teen fantasy club at the local library.
Beauty is everything, something I learned from a very young age.
I’ve been to at least a hundred weddings since I began my career as a photographer, each one a reminder of the love I will never have.
My sister had always loved flowers, and I felt bad for only ever giving them to her after she died.
When people ask what happened to my wife, I say it was a car accident, because no one would believe the real story.
I had no idea how big a polar bear’s stomach really was until I was inside of one.
When I began my study on ducks throughout the multiverse, I had no idea it would later solve world hunger.

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How are you using these one-sentence writing prompts in your own writing practice? Leave a comment and let us know or share a short excerpt from your writing.

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First Line Generator: 100+ First Sentences to Spark Creativity

She had never known that a human body could twist into that position.
The bookcases tilted at a precarious angle over the sleeping infant.
He was a brave man except when it came to small, tight spaces like the tunnel in front of him.
The rich couple was never generous, with their time or with their compliments.
Richard Garlong Champion III believed that though he had never ridden a horse, it would come naturally to him.
After his seven children had gone to sleep, the father piled the ten puppies into a sack and drown them in the river, but one managed to escape.
The young couple, who’d just gotten engaged ten minutes earlier, didn’t think the hot air balloon was supposed to make a hissing sound.
He thought he was the bully online, until a message popped up on his screen one night.
If her husband had believed her when she said she was getting migraines every day, maybe she wouldn’t have left him.
She got drunk even before the food arrived.
He got her alone in his car on the darkened street.
Everyone said that Amelie was a genius, but Albert never expected what she did one day at school.
One flashlight flash meant danger, two flashes meant it was safe; but she saw three flashes that night from beyond the bog, and they had never talked about what three flashes meant.
The new boy liked making tiny little origami weapons — swords, spears, axes — and leaving them on his desk for the next class to find.
78 wasn’t very different than 77, Earl was discovering the day after his birthday.
He would have married her all over again for their ten year anniversary, at least until the morning he discovered the emails between her and his colleague at work.
I don’t want to work, ever, I don’t want to study, and I refuse to play this little life game that you all have set up for me.
The best part of hating life is that nobody ever calls you an optimist.
I wanted to be a winner, and that meant I was willing to cheat.

[Writer’s note: I used to have 120 sentences, and a computer error erased them. Please be patient — I will rebuild them again.]

Stuck in a writing rut? Or just want to write something outside your normal genre?

This first line generator provides you with hundreds of first sentences to rev up your imagination.

What kind of creative writing prompts are these?

These first line prompts are written in the 3rd person
They are mostly realistic, not fantastical
They are 100% original to Bookfox

Every single one of these first lines should provide you with the energy to create some amazing stories.

4 Ways to Get the Most out of this First Line Generator:

Write as fast as you can without thinking. Go with the first ideas that come to you.
If you look at more than twenty, you can start to become a writing tourist, skipping through ideas for the fun of it rather than settling down and committing to just one. Don’t just window shop. Buy one and play with it.
Do you want the main character to be a woman or a girl instead of a man? Change it. Do you want the tense to be different? Change it. Do you want the location to be different? Change it.

photo writing prompts
musical prompts
creative nonfiction prompts
first line generators

If you end up writing something from one of these writing prompts, please leave a comment below on which first line gave you the inspiration. And certainly if you end up publishing something based on one of these prompts, let us know in the comment section so we can all congratulate you with some hearty electronic pats on the back.

Co-Authors:

Cassandra Hsiao is a rising senior at OCSA (Orange County School of the Arts). Her work has been nationally recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and National Student Poets Program. She has been chosen as finalists of national playwriting competitions held by The Blank Theatre, Writopia Labs, and Princeton University. Her poetry, essays and reviews have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, TeenReads, Jet Fuel Review, Feminine Inquiry, Aerie International and more. She also conducts print and on-camera interviews as a Star Reporter and Film Critic for multiple online outlets.

11 comments

Really Helpful. Thanks a lot for these.

THIS WEBSITE IS AWESOME!

I think the generator doesn’t work anymore 🙁

yeah. ii didn’t find anything that would work either.

My English professor posted this as an aid for our “short short” assignment. I’ve tried to open it using 2 separate browsers and it hasn’t worked for either. Think something is wrong with the generator, would have been very helpful though!:)

I loved the way you wrote #19. I might use it.

nothing really sparked for me but they are awesome!

i do this stuff naturally XD i cant believe i do this kind of stuff like just write and don’t think naturally but my biggest problem is creating the first scene , I’ve got the characters, the will and happiness to write but where do is start? i cant start in the middle of a fight because i want to first grow the characters as in why he will jump in front of her to save her life from the thundering bullets . what is their relationship . i rewrite some times , i sometimes even put myself on a cliff hanger .

It was good and my book is almost ready!

Every writer NEEDS this book.

It’s a guide to writing the pivotal moments of your novel.

Whether writing your book or revising it, this will be the most helpful book you’ll ever buy.

25 Creative Writing Prompts to Ignite Your Creativity

Creative writing is a vast and dynamic field that offers a platform for individuals to express their ideas, emotions, and stories in an imaginative and original way.

It plays a crucial role in enhancing communication skills, fostering empathy, and also promoting a deep understanding of the human experience. If you’re not sure how to get started, consider these helpful writing prompts – let’s get creative!

The Importance of Creative Writing

In the realm of literature and beyond, creative writing holds a pivotal role. It not only allows for personal expression but also:

fosters critical thinking
enhances vocabulary
improves writing skills
conveys complex ideas and emotions
serves as a therapeutic medium
enhances empathy

From short stories and poetry to novels and screenplays, creative writing spans a wide array of genres and styles, and offers endless opportunities for exploration and expression.

In the professional realm, creative writing skills are highly valued. They can lead to various creative writing jobs in fields like publishing, advertising, journalism, and content creation. For those interested in pursuing higher education in this field, you might want to explore whether a degree in creative writing is worth it .

Understanding Creative Writing Prompts

When it comes to igniting creativity and fostering unique ideas, creative writing prompts play an invaluable role. They provide a starting point, a spark that can lead to a flame of inspiration for writers.

How Prompts Can Ignite Creativity

While creative writing is an exciting field, it can sometimes be challenging to kickstart the creative process. This is where creative writing prompts come into play. These prompts are designed to ignite the imagination and inspire writers to create original and compelling pieces.

They help to overcome writer’s block , encourage experimentation with different styles and genres. So, whether you’re a seasoned writer or a beginner, creative writing prompts can be an invaluable tool to spark creativity and enhance your writing skills.

What are Creative Writing Prompts?

Creative writing prompts are essentially ideas, questions, or topics that are designed to inspire and stimulate the creative writing process. They serve as a catalyst, helping to ignite the writer’s imagination and encourage them to explore new themes, concepts, or perspectives.

These prompts can take a myriad of forms. They might be a single word, a phrase, a sentence, or even an image. Remember, regardless of the format, the goal of a creative writing prompt is to trigger thought and also encourage writers to delve deeper into their creative psyche, producing unique and compelling pieces of writing.

For more understanding of what creative writing entails, read our article on what is creative writing .

Types of Creative Writing Prompts

There are various types of creative writing prompts, each tailored to stimulate different forms of writing, cater to various genres, or inspire certain ideas. For example, you might encounter:

Fiction Writing Prompts : These prompts are designed to inspire stories. They might provide a setting, a character, a conflict, or a plot point to kick-start the writer’s imagination.
Non-Fiction Writing Prompts : These prompts are geared towards non-fiction writing, such as essays, memoirs, or journalistic pieces. They might pose a question, present a topic, or propose a perspective for the writer to explore.
Poetry Writing Prompts : These prompts are tailored for writing poetry. They could suggest a theme, a form, a line, or a poetic device to be used in the poem.
Dialogue Writing Prompts : These prompts focus on conversations and are designed to inspire dialogue-driven pieces. They generally provide a line or a snippet of conversation to act as a starting point.
Story Starter Writing Prompts : These prompts serve as the opening line or the first paragraph of a story. The writer’s task is to continue the narrative from there.

Understanding the different types of creative writing prompts is essential to making the most of them. For example, when you choose the right type of prompt, you target specific writing skills , push boundaries of creativity, and provide the necessary spark to bring your ideas to life.

25 Creative Writing Prompts

Using creative writing prompts is a great way to jumpstart your creativity and get the ideas flowing. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or a beginner, these prompts can help inspire your next piece. Here, we’ve broken down 25 prompts into five categories: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, dialogue, and story starters.

Fiction Writing Prompts

Fiction allows writers to flex their imaginative muscles. The following prompts can help to stir up new ideas for a unique storyline:

Write a story where the main character finds an old, mysterious letter in the attic.
Imagine a world where animals can talk.
Create a tale where a character discovers they have a superpower.
Write about a character who wakes up in a different era.
Write a story set in a world where money doesn’t exist.

Non-Fiction Writing Prompts

Non-fiction writing can help you explore real-life experiences and lessons. Here are some prompts to get you started:

Write about a time when you faced a significant challenge and how you overcame it.
Describe the most influential person in your life.
Share a moment when you learned a valuable lesson.
Write about an unforgettable trip.
Discuss a current event that has impacted you personally.

Poetry Writing Prompts

Poetry allows for artistic expression through words. These prompts can inspire new verses:

Write a poem about a dream you can’t forget.
Create a sonnet about the changing seasons.
Write about an emotion without naming it directly.
Craft a poem inspired by a piece of art.
Pen a haiku about nature’s power.

Dialogue Writing Prompts

Dialogue writing can help you improve your dialogue creation skills. Try these prompts:

Write a conversation between two people stuck in an elevator.
Describe a heated argument between a character and their best friend.
Create a dialogue where a character reveals a deep secret.
Write an exchange between a detective and a suspect.
Craft a conversation between two people who speak different languages.

Story Starter Writing Prompts

Story starters are great for sparking an idea for a story. Here are some to try:

“When she opened the door, she couldn’t believe her eyes…”
“He’d waited his whole life for this moment, and now…”
“It was a town like no other, because…”
“She was the last person on earth, or so she thought…”
“The letter arrived, marked with a seal she didn’t recognize…”

These creative writing prompts are designed to challenge you and spark your creativity. Remember, the goal is not to create a perfect piece of writing but to ignite your imagination and hone your writing skills. Also, don’t forget, you can always revise and refine your work later .

For more on the art of writing, check out our article on what is creative writing .

Making the Most of Your Creative Writing Prompts

Now that you have a list of creative writing prompts at your disposal, it’s important to understand how to utilize them effectively. The value of a prompt lies not just in the initial idea it provides, but also in how it can be expanded and developed into a full-blown piece of writing.

How to Use Creative Writing Prompts Effectively

Using creative writing prompts effectively requires an open mind and a willingness to explore. Here are some strategies to make the most of your prompts:

Brainstorming: Allow yourself to brainstorm ideas after reading the prompt. Jot down whatever comes to mind without self-judgment or censorship.
Freedom: Give yourself the freedom to interpret the prompt in your own way. Remember, prompts are starting points, not rigid guidelines.
Experimentation: Experiment with different genres, perspectives, and writing styles. A prompt can be turned into a poem, a short story, or even a script for a play.
Consistency: Try to write regularly. Whether you choose to do this daily, weekly, or bi-weekly, consistency can help develop your writing skills.
Reflection: Finally, reflect on the prompt and your writing. Consider what worked, what didn’t, and also what you would like to improve in your next piece.

In addition to this, check out our article on what is creative writing .

Tips to Expand on a Prompt

Expanding on a prompt involves transforming a simple idea into a fully developed narrative. Here are a few tips:

Character Development: Flesh out your characters. Give them backgrounds, motivations, and flaws to make them more relatable and interesting.
Plot Building: Develop a coherent plot. Consider the key events, conflicts, and resolutions that will drive your story forward.
Show, Don’t Tell: Show the reader what’s happening through vivid descriptions and actions rather than simply telling them.
Dialogue: Use dialogue to reveal character traits and advance the plot. Make sure it’s natural and adds value to your story.
Editing: Finally review and revise your work. Look for areas where you can improve clarity, tighten your prose, and also eliminate any inconsistencies or errors.

Editor’s Note : Don’t get rid of old ideas or unfinished works – you never know when looking back over these might spark inspiration or two ideas might mesh to form something cohesive and new!

The Right Prompts Grow Your Skills

By using these strategies, you can take full advantage of creative writing prompts and improve your writing skills. So, whether you’re pursuing a career in creative writing or just looking for a new hobby, these tips can help you unlock your full creative potential.

For more insights on creative writing, check out our articles on creative writing jobs and what you can do with a creative writing degree and how to teach creative writing .

Also, don’t miss our master list of more than 250 journal prompts .

Brooks Manley

Creative Primer is a resource on all things journaling, creativity, and productivity. We’ll help you produce better ideas, get more done, and live a more effective life.

My name is Brooks. I do a ton of journaling, like to think I’m a creative (jury’s out), and spend a lot of time thinking about productivity. I hope these resources and product recommendations serve you well. Reach out if you ever want to chat or let me know about a journal I need to check out!

Here’s my favorite journal for 2024:

Gratitude Journal Prompts Mindfulness Journal Prompts Journal Prompts for Anxiety Reflective Journal Prompts Healing Journal Prompts Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Journal Prompts Mental Health Journal Prompts ASMR Journal Prompts Manifestation Journal Prompts Self-Care Journal Prompts Morning Journal Prompts Evening Journal Prompts Self-Improvement Journal Prompts Creative Writing Journal Prompts Dream Journal Prompts Relationship Journal Prompts "What If" Journal Prompts New Year Journal Prompts Shadow Work Journal Prompts Journal Prompts for Overcoming Fear Journal Prompts for Dealing with Loss Journal Prompts for Discerning and Decision Making Travel Journal Prompts Fun Journal Prompts

Is a Degree in Creative Writing Worth it?

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Good story openings: 8 lessons from famous first lines

Good story openings are challenging to write but an inviting or catchy first sentence reels readers into your fictional world. Here are 8 famous first lines that teach us how to begin a novel in style:

Post author By Jordan
86 Comments on Good story openings: 8 lessons from famous first lines

Good story openings are challenging to write but an inviting or catchy first sentence reels readers into your fictional world. Here are 8 famous first lines and what they teach us about how to begin a novel in style:

What do great story introduction examples teach us?

Good story openings make us curious
Strong opening sentences introduce novel themes
Enticing story beginnings make bold statements
Hook-driven openings set story development in motion
Effective openings set fitting tone
Creative first lines may play with narrative time
Inviting first lines of novels orient us with context
The best first lines introduce strong narrative voice

Let’s dive in by examining examples of the first lines of stories that supply the above insights:

1. Good story openings make us curious

A strong story opening immediately makes you want to know more. The author tantalizes you with incomplete knowledge. When you want to submit a book to an agent and get published , your first line is probably what you’ll polish most.

Take the opening line of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History (1992), for example:

The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. Donna Tartt , The Secret History (1992), p. 3.

Referring to the death of a character with an unusual nickname makes us want answers to ‘who’ and ‘why’. Who’s Bunny and why’s he dead?

Tartt’s use of past-perfect tense (‘Bunny had been dead for several weeks before…’) extends the sense of mystery to the events following on from Bunny’s death. Bunny hasn’t died right this moment or 5 minutes ago. It’s been weeks, and those weeks are a blank space the reader wants filled in.

We intuit that we’ll find out not only how and why Bunny died but the aftermath, too. The first person plural in ‘our situation’ conjures a cast of shadowy characters in the background.

This is a lot to compress into a first sentence. The opening teases us with unanswered questions, hinting at the narrator’s possible complicity (along with the involvement of other, not-yet-introduced characters).

2. Strong opening sentences introduce novel themes

Many great novels open with narration or description that doesn’t immediately suggest the themes of the story. There is no absolute ‘rule’ for first lines (other than to craft a good sentence) when writing a novel .

Yet many celebrated novels do open with lines that establish theme.

The opening to Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is one of the most famous first lines in fiction:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859), full text available via Project Gutenberg .

Dickens’ first line is an excellent example of a catchy first sentence. The parallel construction contrasting extreme opposites is memorable due to its repetitive, epic-poem-like structure. It also clearly establishes theme. It suggests the book’s preoccupation with historical processes (specifically the French Revolution).

The societal extremes of poverty and wealth, power and powerlessness that Dickens examines are introduced by the polar opposites of his opening sentence.

Improve your story from first line to last

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3. Enticing story beginnings make bold statements

The opening sentence of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (Constance Garnett translation) is another famous first line from classic fiction:

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (1878, trans. 1901 ), p. 3.

Tolstoy’s first line introduces the domestic strife that drives the story’s tragic events, using a bold, sweeping statement.

The opening line is effective for two reasons. On one hand, it makes a claim we might argue with. ‘Happy families are just as diverse as unhappy ones,’ we might object.

Secondly, the opening sentence is well constructed. The opposition between happy and unhappy families has symmetry. The sentence structure draws our attention to this opposition. Its clear structure makes us dwell on the statement and become curious about how this bold claim will be proven by the story.

4. Hook-driven openings set story development in motion

Interesting first lines of novels often begin with striking character actions that prepare the stage for further developments.

The opening sentence of George Orwell’s famous novella about farm animals staging a revolt introduces the antagonist, the farmer who is the villain to the revolutionary animals:

Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. George Orwell, Animal Farm (1945), p. 3.

Orwell shows his character making a mistake in the first line. Because Orwell mentions Jones’s oversight, it becomes significant – we surmise there will be consequences for this drunken mistake.

Through this, plot development (the conditions necessary for the animals meeting to organize their rebellion) is shown from the start.

5. Effective openings set fitting tone

The first sentence of a novel doesn’t necessarily need to focus on your protagonist or a central character. Take this fantasy first line example from the prologue to George. R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones :

“We should start back,” Gared urged, as the woods began to grow dark around them. “The wildlings are dead.” George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones (1996), p. 13.

There is a clear, immediate tone of danger. Despite many blogs and books advising to the contrary, Martin begins with dialogue (many assume that beginning with dialogue is somehow wrong whereas here we can see how effectively it can introduce character, tone, and place rolled into one).

This fantasy opening sentence example is effective for several reasons. The two sentences:

Introduce characters on the cusp of a possible change for the worse (creating immediate suspense).
Lend the action a sense of urgency (the stakes of the party not turning back are implied to be mortal in the reference to the dead wildlings).
Establish not only place (the woods) but its morbid mood, too.
There is already a sense of GMC – Goal, Motivation and Conflict, or what characters want, why they want it, and potential drama in the works.

For a brief explanation of GMC, watch this extract from our monthly writing craft webinars where Now Novel writing coach Romy Sommer explains the concept:

Opening sentence exercise:

Write a few opening sentences beginning with dialogue. Before you write these practice opening lines, jot down a:

Character who will speak the line
The mood of the current scenario (e.g. cheerful, ominous, celebratory, melancholic, etc.)
The place where the dialogue is being spoken – how can you involve the setting in curiosity-building?
The speaker’s current desire, their reason for that desire, and a potential conflict said desire might lead to further on

6. Creative first lines may play with narrative time

There’s nothing to say that your story absolutely must begin at the beginning.

Many story openings cut forward to later events or recall much earlier ones than the main time-frame of the story.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s brilliant opening sentence to his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) is a good example of how to create a novel with a beginning scenario that plays with place and time:

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), p. 2.

There are many reasons why Marquez’s opening sentence works.

We have a sense of the character’s future from the start, and it’s a dramatic, unusual future. Why will Buendia face a firing squad? This is something we read on to find out.

Marquez’s first line is a strong example of clever opening lines that play with narrative time because it looks forwards and back simultaneously. We have a sense of the character’s nostalgia for the past (his excursion with his father) along with the ominous future that awaits him.

We know we’ll find out more about the character’s curious past and dangerous future if we continue reading the story.

7. Inviting first lines of novels orient us with context

Inviting opening lines of novels lay down context for the events that follow. We’re introduced to a setting or a point in narrative time.

The first line of Harper Lee’s celebrated To Kill a Mockingbird , for example, establishes the teenage viewpoint of the narrator Scout’s world:

When he was nearly thirteen my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), p. 3.

The line itself perhaps doesn’t rank with the greatest openings of all time: it’s simple and doesn’t tease any great mystery. Yet it’s precisely this simplicity and the family-oriented voice of Scout that leads us into the story.

Scout reports the events of the story, from the racist trial at the story’s heart to the antics of the town recluse, Boo Radley. Scout as narrator is a witness to the pain of others: Her brother’s arm, her father’s engagement with social injustice, or the trauma of Boo Radley.

As Jeff O’Neal says in his close reading of Lee’s opening line , Scout establishes her journalistic ‘position as witness and reporter’.

From the opening line we start forming a sense of Scout’s young but mature, empathetic character.

8. The best first lines introduce strong narrative voice

A great aspect of first person narrators is the immediacy of the first person pronoun, ‘I’.

Starting a story using first person means introducing a character’s worldview and psychology from the start. Tweet This

J.D. Salinger does this brilliantly in The Catcher in the Rye (1951), creating a vivid impression of the cynical Holden Caulfield:

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye (1951), p. 3.

Holden’s words come across as sarcastic and world-weary, creating a vivid portrait of a disaffected teen.

The direct address to the reader takes the reader into the narrator’s confidence, rapidly establishing intimacy, too. This inviting voice gets us to invest emotionally in the narrator quickly.

What are your favourite famous first lines? Share them in the comments, or tell us what the focus of the first line of your work-in-progress is.

Once you have a great opening line, you still need the rest of the scene to deliver. Go here to get your free guide to beginning, developing and ending compelling scenes.

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Tags how to start a book , story openings

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

86 replies on “Good story openings: 8 lessons from famous first lines”

I was just thinking about first lines this week, and one of my all-time favorites is from “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” by CS Lewis.

“There was once a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb and he almost deserved it.”

Tells you theres a boy with a ridiculous name, and you just know that he’s going to be a hand full.

That is a great first line! It’s quite a common stylistic element in British fantasy writing (J.K. Rowling does similar) to begin with a ‘once upon a time -like’ introduction and throw in a touch of humour.

“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.”

I like this start

Been there, done that, except it was by the banks of a river, and we were naked, and when the drugs kicked in we all thought our dicks had disappeared.

Sounds like a rough trip, Ron.

“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.”

Great opening line! Isn’t that from Zora Neale Hurston’s ‘Their Eyes were Watching God’?

Yes, ma’am!

“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”

Great example by William Gibson (had to Google the source). Thanks for the contribution.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

An iconic Austen opening. Thanks for the addition, Melissa.

“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.”

Perhaps it isn’t the first sentence for me but the first two sentences. Nabakov crafted the most repulsive and beautiful opening of a novel I’ve ever read. If I wrote an opening half as gorgeous I’d call myself a success and never write again.

My other favorite novel has an intriguing first line as well:

“In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages.” -The Perfume by Patrick Suskind

Love your examples, Christina. Nabokov is so clever how he makes the reader physically feel how Humbert Humbert says Lolita’s name while reading. The Suskind is great too, thanks for sharing.

I’m a little late to the game here, but that hasn’t stopped me from enjoying your engaging and actionable post. Nice!

My favorite first lines? I, too, dedicated an entire post to them not too long ago: http://greglevin.com/scrawl-space-blog/the-best-opening-lines-in-literature

Thanks for sharing yours — along with some good advice!

Hi Greg – never too late! Thanks for sharing your post, I’ll take a look.

I love this from Jane Eyre : ‘There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question.’

The detail is wonderful. Thanks for sharing, Liberty.

“Joel Campbell, age eleven at the time, began his descent toward murder with a bus ride.”

~Elizabeth George.

Question: Are hook and first line the same thing?

That’s a great opener, Elva. ‘Hook’ refers more to the function of a first line (or first few lines) – that of seizing the reader’s attention. The hook is what makes reading on irresistible (e.g. in your example, the shock factor of an eleven year old becoming a murderer – the reader wants to know why).

The primroses were over. Watership down

Always thought this was such an odd and interesting way to start a novel. 🙂

It is an interesting setting detail to open the story with. Echoes the ephemeral element of some of the animals’ lives.

One by Nora Roberts, although I don’t remember the title: “It all started with a letter from a dead man.” Another favorite is Charlotte’s Web: “Wherever is father going with that axe?”

Two great examples, Veda.

My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.”

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Great example, Elvis. Thanks for sharing.

why such a gloomy one?

It’s just one of those openings that really stuck out when I read it. Books that grab me right away are the ones that tend to stay with me.

The birds flew around for the hell of it, it was that kind of day.

(but I can’t remember the author – does anyone know?)

Great example, Deborah. I believe it’s from ‘An Expensive Place to Die’ by Len Deighton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Expensive_Place_to_Die

“My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it” – Liz Nugent, Lying In Wait

That’s a strong one, thanks for sharing.

I love all of France’s Hardinge’s books, and I especially liked the beginning of ‘A Face Like Glass.’ ‘On a certain murky hour about seven years after that fateful day, a skinny figure could be seen capering sideways beside Grandible as he growled and slouched his way through the tunnels with a great white loop of braided rope-cheese over one shoulder, and a ring of keys bristling in his fist.’

It’s perhaps a little overwrought in its sentence construction but does create curiosity about Grandible and the mysterious figure. Thanks for sharing this.

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”

Great suspense.

Thanks for the great article

It’s a pleasure, Isa. Thanks for reading!

Knock knock the door called; tring trying the telephone yelled, swish cried the cooker on the stove. I didn’t knew where to start from…. ( here using various sound we can create an atmosphere of panic. One of the character is seen messed in this chaos. )

I like the way you’ve personified the various objects and their demands for attention, Sania.

thanks … waiting for your peice

Pain. That is what I am feeling: pain. Every inch of my body feels like I have bolts of electricity shooting through me at the speed of lightning.

‘ “There is one mirror in my house. It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs. Our faction allows me to stand in front of it on the second day of every third month, the day my mother cuts my hair.” –Divergent by Veronica Roth

‘ He began his new life, standing up, surrounded by cold darkness, and stale, dusty air.” – The Maze Runner.

‘ I wake with his name in my mouth. Will. Before I open my eyes, I watch him crumple to the pavement again. Dead.” – Insurgent

Thanks for sharing, Kennedy!

once upon a time in a land far far away, there lived a prince whose name was Prince Dincun. best one

Hi Misan, I’m unfamiliar with this opening. Thanks for sharing!

“It was June of 2025 and I was on my way to school when suddenly the world around me ceased to function and turned into lifeless gray.”

I’m new to writing but I like to make a novel someday ^_^

Great example, Ryzen. Thanks for sharing.

alone. stale. rotting. fated to an eternity of solitude. under the shadow of the trees it looked remotely pleasant but when you neared then you realised the horrible truth. made it up

Good atmospheric opener, Alex. Thanks for sharing!

“None of them knew the color of the sky.” — Crane

Great first line, Maxbert. Thank you for sharing!

There was an abandoned house that stood on a hill for over hundred years its unbelievable that the bricks are still intact, the floor is still strong, the walls haven’t moved an inch.

Interesting scene-setting, Donatella – makes one curious about who lived there and what role the house plays in the story.

It was exactly four p.m. when the swat team showed up, dressed in black with large weapons decorating their sides as they pulled me from my comfortable seat on the couch. I never expected them to catch me, let alone figure out what I did. The only thing they know is that I’m Mare Donavan and I killed the president. Let’s just hope they don’t find out about the rest.

-I just wanted to know if this sounded good

Hi Ali, this is an intriguing opening, thank you for sharing it. I’d suggest perhaps taking out ‘with large weapons decorating their sides’ as it’s assumed a swat team would be armed (and ‘decorating’ reads more innocuously than their purpose). The paragraph built well to the fact Mare has killed the president. I hope this helps!

I’d never given much thought to how I would die — though I’d had reason enough in the last few months — but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this. When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it’s not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end. -Twilight By Stephanie Meyer

Thank you for sharing that, Marcey. It’s interesting to start with a character referring to their own death (though Meyer’s style here is a little convoluted, perhaps, due to the many abstractions she uses). Thank you for reading our blog!

How about mine? Could you maybe check it?

Once there was a– wait no. It doesn’t seem right. Okay. Once upon a tim— no it isn’t this either. Okay, time. Well how do you open up a story?

For me, it’s this.

Just another story. No Once upon a time. Because once a upon a time always have a happy ending. While mine doesn’t. Why? Because happy ending doesn’t exist. I was once a fool to believe that i have my very own ‘Once upon a time’ that would lead to a beautiful ‘Happy Ending’. I was blinded. For a long time. Now let me show you what kind of story this is.

Hi Princess, thank you for sharing that (and Happy New Year!). I like the conversational tone you’ve created by having your narrator go back on what they’ve said and doubt it, as well as your use of short sentence fragmnets and line breaks.

It definitely conveys a sense of your narrator’s view of the world, with a sense of a slightly jaded perspective due to the ‘blinded’ state they’ve emerged from. I would say it’s intriguing and does make the reader wonder what exactly lead to the narrator’s ‘new vision’. Keep going and re-read your beginning once you’ve finished a draft – maybe by then there’ll be tweaks you want to make based on what happens throughout the story. Good luck!

Just how much can you remember about something you didn’t know happened ten years after you are told it happened? If you are like me, you’d probably say ‘Nothing at all’. And that’s what I said at the central police station.

A great twist in that opening, Robert.

Great article, thanks. It has given me some inspiration for my own opening paragraph:

“In the summer I turned twenty-one I sat on a rock in San Francisco Bay and listened to my grandfather tell me that people are like little jigsaw puzzle pieces made of glass. It was the summer of everything: of Jenny Mason and the promises of youth, of Bugsy Dean and the Turquoise Motel, and when all of these things converged like crashing planets along the great mother road west.”

Thanks, Matt! I’m glad you found inspiration. Great detail in your opening paragraph, good hook in how it creates curiosity about Jenny Mason and Bugsy Dean and the Turquoise Motel and how exactly all of the above will converge for your narrator. Keep going.

Standing here seeing my boy go to college, made me realise how far we have come, from that distant sunny day of 13th November, Friday. Or Life is a circle. Now I know how true it is when I see my boy go to college.I remember that distant sunny day of 13th November Friday, that changed my life.

Which should I use?

Hi Drisana,

Thank you for sharing. I would suggest a combination of the two, perhaps, as the first has a strong emotional component while the second implies a life-changing event which is interesting for a hook:

‘Standing here seeing my boy leave for college, I realise how far we’ve come from that distant Friday in November that changed my life.’

Thank you for reading our blog, I hope this is helpful to you.

I think that Once upon a time is not good because it sounds BORING. I like to write suspense/action/psychopathic stories cuz that’s what I can only think of. Eg: In the realm of hell, many people were tortured/tormented to the extent where they couldn’t bear it anymore. The people then decided to revolt the Devil himself. That would be a very difficult, but not an impossible task.

Hi Karan, thank you for sharing that. ‘Once upon a time’ isn’t the most exciting option for an opening, no, you’re right on this (though it fits stories that are fable or fairytale-like, or subvert these traditions). One creative way it’s been used is to precede situations that are nothing like fairytales, like the Hell scene you described. I would say write what you enjoy; there are so many ways to start a story.

“Odious Oats was an obnoxious little kid, mouthy and rude, safe in the shelter of his young age, knowing that no adult would dare to spank his ass.”

From my first short story about a name from the past. My sister wondered what might have become of him, so I invented a future for him.

Hi David, I’m curious to learn how he acquired the nickname ‘Odious Oats’, so it definitely piqued my curiosity, and I like the immediate sense of cheekiness in the characterization. Keep going with it and thanks for sharing your opening line.

Hi Jordan, thanks for your comments. You can read the story here: https://evercleverwilson.com/the-sad-saga-of-odious-oats/ I wrote it 4 years ago and am thinking that I might re-write it, but first I have to finish the sequel to it that is about half completed.

Thank you for sharing it, David. I’ll definitely have a read. As they say, all writing is re-writing. It’s usually a useful exercise.

[…] Start with a bang! The first paragraph of a chapter is meant to catch your readers’ […]

[…] is the key to success. It could be that a different character is all you need, too. I found a post on Now Novel about famous opening sentences and was reminded that A Game of Thrones does not start with any of […]

I have begun a short story, mainly for my own enjoyment, and took inspiration from this article for my introduction (I apologize if it’s long):

“Why is it that you idiots always try to rob me, of all people?” Looted coin purse in hand, and fresh rain in the air, the stranger kicks one of many brigands that lay around him, dark yet verdant trees loom over the blood stained scene. Their still-warm corpses ooze blood from their wounds, adding to the already damp soil. Some still alive, their groans and moans adding to the relatively calming song of the forest. The stranger then sits in a relatively dry spot and begins to count out how much coin today’s attack gifted to him. “Is it my extravagant clothes? My gentle mannerisms? Do I have a sign stuck to my back pleading to be robbed?!” Pleased with the coin he “earned”, and after kicking the corpses a few more times, he takes up his lute leaning against a particularly gnarled trunk and continues his small journey down the old cobbled path to the city.

Hi Ethan, no apologies necessary. A few thoughts/suggestions:

I like the fact you open with a dramatic situation (a robbery) and a character’s voice as they ask a question. It creates some intrigue from the start
Watch for tense drift, e.g. we go from present (‘the stranger kicks’) to past (‘that lay around him’ – though in US English ‘lay’ is also used interchangeably with ‘lie’ for the present tense verb, here it could read ambiguously as a flip into past tense). ‘That lie around him’ would be unambiguous
I would remove ‘Their’ in ‘Their still-warm corpses…’ since it comes right after reference to the trees, creating momentary confusion potentially (that the narration might be referring to the trees having corpses). Making it ‘Still-warm corpses ooze blood…’ thus makes it clearer that the subject focus has shifted without the ambiguous pronoun.
I like how the stranger’s voice and questions about why the brigands try to rob him seem so unaffected and blasé – it makes him seem unflappable, like one who is used to dispatching bandits without so much as batting an eye, so it makes me curious about how he is such a seasoned fighter (particularly if he’s a musician, as carrying a lute wouldn’t make one think by default, ‘This is an aggressive/dangerous man’)

Could you give me your thoughts on this opening to a historical novel, please?

If things go on like this, Seamus can kiss any thought of profit goodbye. The fault lies entirely with the Arab in the tent next to his. Three days into the High Fair at Dhún Pádraig, and for all the scarlet and gold banners, saucy young girls in their spring attire, flying acrobats, fools and jugglers, Seamus O’Connell is unhappy. Only one of his Sheela na Gigs has sold and at half price, to boot. His finest oak carvings, displaying grinning women stretching her private parts wide open, guaranteed top sellers, were it not for his competitor Nur-ad Din.

Hi Casey, thank you for sharing your story opening. It took me down a NSFW rabbit hole of looking up Sheela Na Gigs (I was only familiar with the term from the PJ Harvey song of the same title, which makes a lot more sense now). It did create curiosity – I’m wondering what Nur-ad Din is selling that competes with these grotesques. One tiny suggestion I’d make is that the women in these carvings aren’t usually grinning so much as grimacing – their smiles do not seem joyful or mirthful to my eyes but rather almost creepy (maybe because of their wide-eyed or dead-eyed stares), and this is part of what makes them gargoyle-like I’d say (in addition to the extremely graphic element). This nitpicking aside, it is an intriguing opening as I know from reading up that the origins of these carved figures are debated. I hope this is helpful.

Best opening: Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief”

“Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.”

Thanks for sharing, Moe. It is interesting in suggesting a character’s hybridity and their having no say in the matter. Thanks for reading our blog.

i dissagree to evrything here, noy intersting at all

Sorry to hear that Max.

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Opening Lines

12 ways to start a novel.

First lines. We all obsess over our novel’s first lines, and rightly so, because from it the rest of the story must flow naturally and without a pause. Here are 10 strategies to use on first lines for your novel. I’ve illustrated them with the “ 100 Best Lines from Novels ,” as chosen by the editors of the American Book Review. The number at the beginning of each quoted line indicates its position in the Best 100 List. This was inspired by an article by Susan Lumenello, “The Promise of the First Line,” (The Writer’s Chronicle, Volume 38, Number 3, December 2005. 57-59).

It was. . .

	Quote	Author	Year
2.	It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.	Jane Austen	1813
8.	It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.	George Orwell	1949
9.	It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.	Charles Dickens	1859
18.	This is the saddest story I have ever heard.	Ford Madox Ford	1915
22.	It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.	Edward George Bulwer-Lytton	1830
24.	It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not.	Paul Auster	1985
26.	124 was spiteful.	Toni Morrison	1987
35.	It was like so, but wasn’t.	Richard Powers	1995
49.	It was the day my grandmother exploded.	Iain M. Banks	1992
53.	It was a pleasure to burn.	Ray Bradbury	1953
59.	It was love at first sight.	Joseph Heller	1961
67.	It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.	Sylvia Plath	1963
86.	It was just noon that Sunday morning when the sheriff reached the jail with Lucas Beauchamp though the whole town (the whole county too for that matter) had known since the night before that Lucas had killed a white man.	William Faulkner	1948

Viewpoint on Life Opening Lines

	Quote	Author	Year
6.	Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.	Leo Tolstoy (trans. Constance Garnett)	1877
20.	Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.	Charles Dickens	1850
41.	The moment one learns English, complications set in.	Felipe Alfau	1990
42.	Dr. Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature.	Anita Brookner	1981
44.	Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.	Zora Neale Hurston	1937
52.	We started dying before the snow, and like the snow, we continued to fall.	Louise Erdrich	1988
54.	A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.	Graham Greene	1951
63.	The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children’s games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up.	G. K. Chesterton	1904
68.	Most really pretty girls have pretty ugly feet, and so does Mindy Metalman, Lenore notices, all of a sudden.	David Foster Wallace	1987
78.	The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.	L. P. Hartley	1953
80.	Justice?—You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law.	William Gaddis	1994
88.	Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I’ve come to learn, is women.	Charles Johnson	1990
96.	Time is not a line but a dimension, like the dimensions of space.	Margaret Atwood	1988
99.	They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did.	Jean Rhys	1966

More on Openings: First Page: An Editor Discusses Why It Is Important Prophetic Openings: How to Set Up the Ending at the Start Openings: 5 Ways they Go Wrong How to Improve Your Weak Opening SCENE 19: Special Scenes: Openings 4 Goals for the Opening Chapters of Your Novel Just Write It: Stop Second Guessing until You Revise 9 Tips on Opening Lines & Opening Chapters of Your NaNoWriMo Novel

Mid-action Opening Lines

	Quote	Author	Year
3.	A screaming comes across the sky.	Thomas Pynchon	1973
11.	The Miss Lonelyhearts of the New York Post-Dispatch (Are you in trouble?—Do-you-need-advice?—Write-to-Miss-Lonelyhearts-and-she-will-help-you) sat at his desk and stared at a piece of white cardboard.	Nathanael West	1933
21.	Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.	James Joyce	1922
23.	One summer afternoon Mrs. Oedipa Maas came home from a Tupperware party whose hostess had put perhaps too much kirsch in the fondue to find that she, Oedipa, had been named executor, or she supposed executrix, of the estate of one Pierce Inverarity, a California real estate mogul who had once lost two million dollars in his spare time but still had assets numerous and tangled enough to make the job of sorting it all out more than honorary.	Thomas Pynchon	1966
25.	Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting.	William Faulkner	1929
33.	Once an angry man dragged his father along the ground through his own orchard. “Stop!” cried the groaning old man at last, “Stop! I did not drag my father beyond this tree.”	Gertrude Stein	1925
37.	Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.	Virginia Woolf	1925
46.	Ages ago, Alex, Allen and Alva arrived at Antibes, and Alva allowing all, allowing anyone, against Alex’s admonition, against Allen’s angry assertion: another African amusement . . . anyhow, as all argued, an awesome African army assembled and arduously advanced against an African anthill, assiduously annihilating ant after ant, and afterward, Alex astonishingly accuses Albert as also accepting Africa’s antipodal ant annexation.	Walter Abish	1974
51.	Elmer Gantry was drunk.	Sinclair Lewis	1927
65.	You better not never tell nobody but God.	Alice Walker	1982
70.	Francis Marion Tarwater’s uncle had been dead for only half a day when the boy got too drunk to finish digging his grave and a Negro named Buford Munson, who had come to get a jug filled, had to finish it and drag the body from the breakfast table where it was still sitting and bury it in a decent and Christian way, with the sign of its Saviour at the head of the grave and enough dirt on top to keep the dogs from digging it up.	Flannery O’Connor	1960
82.	I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.	Dodie Smith	1948
97.	He—for there could be no doubt of his sex, though the fashion of the time did something to disguise it—was in the act of slicing at the head of a Moor which swung from the rafters.	Virginia Woolf	1928

Spoken word–dialogue Opening Lines

	Quote	Author	Year
36.	—Money . . . in a voice that rustled.	William Gaddis	1975
66.	“To be born again,” sang Gibreel Farishta tumbling from the heavens, “first you have to die.”	Salman Rushdie	1988
76.	“Take my camel, dear,” said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass.	Rose Macaulay	1956
83.	“When your mama was the geek, my dreamlets,” Papa would say, “she made the nipping off of noggins such a crystal mystery that the hens themselves yearned toward her, waltzing around her, hypnotized with longing.”	Katherine Dunn	1983

Landscape Opening Lines

	Quote	Author	Year
15.	The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new.	Samuel Beckett	1938
17.	Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo.	James Joyce	1916
30.	The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.	William Gibson	1984
75.	In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains.	Ernest Hemingway	1929
90.	The towers of Zenith aspired above the morning mist; austere towers of steel and cement and limestone, sturdy as cliffs and delicate as silver rods.	Sinclair Lewis	1922
100.	The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting.	Stephen Crane	1895

Set up Opening Lines

	Quote	Author	Year
4.	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 García Márquez (trans. Gregory Rabassa)	1967
7.	riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.	James Joyce	1939
12.	You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of ; but that ain’t no matter.	Mark Twain	1885
13.	Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested.	Franz Kafka (trans. Breon Mitchell)	1925
14.	You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel, .	Italo Calvino (trans. William Weaver)	1979
16.	If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.	J. D. Salinger	1951
19.	I wish either my father or my mother, or indeed both of them, as they were in duty both equally bound to it, had minded what they were about when they begot me; had they duly considered how much depended upon what they were then doing;—that not only the production of a rational Being was concerned in it, but that possibly the happy formation and temperature of his body, perhaps his genius and the very cast of his mind;—and, for aught they knew to the contrary, even the fortunes of his whole house might take their turn from the humours and dispositions which were then uppermost:—Had they duly weighed and considered all this, and proceeded accordingly,—I am verily persuaded I should have made a quite different figure in the world, from that, in which the reader is likely to see me.	Laurence Sterne	1759–1767
29.	Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu.	Ha Jin	1999
32.	Where now? Who now? When now?	Samuel Beckett (trans. Patrick Bowles)	1953
38.	All this happened, more or less.	Kurt Vonnegut	1969
39.	They shoot the white girl first.	Toni Morrison	1998
40.	For a long time, I went to bed early.	Marcel Proust (trans. Lydia Davis)	1913
43.	I was the shadow of the waxwing slain / By the false azure in the windowpane;	Vladimir Nabokov	1962
45.	I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story.	Edith Wharton	1911
55.	Having placed in my mouth sufficient bread for three minutes’ chewing, I withdrew my powers of sensual perception and retired into the privacy of my mind, my eyes and face assuming a vacant and preoccupied expression.	Flann O’Brien	1939
56.	I was born in the Year 1632, in the City of York, of a good Family, tho’ not of that Country, my Father being a Foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at ; He got a good Estate by Merchandise, and leaving off his Trade, lived afterward at , from whence he had married my Mother, whose Relations were named Robinson, a very good Family in that Country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but by the usual Corruption of Words in England, we are now called, nay we call our selves, and write our Name Crusoe, and so my Companions always call’d me.	Daniel Defoe	1719
57.	In the beginning, sometimes I left messages in the street.	David Markson	1988
61.	I have never begun a novel with more misgiving.	W. Somerset Maugham	1944
64.	In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.	F. Scott Fitzgerald	1925
73.	Hiram Clegg, together with his wife Emma and four friends of the faith from Randolph Junction, were summoned by the Spirit and Mrs. Clara Collins, widow of the beloved Nazarene preacher Ely Collins, to West Condon on the weekend of the eighteenth and nineteenth of April, there to await the End of the World.	Robert Coover	1966
79.	On my naming day when I come 12 I gone front spear and kilt a wyld boar he parbly ben the las wyld pig on the Bundel Downs any how there hadnt ben none for a long time befor him nor I aint looking to see none agen.	Russell Hoban	1980
81.	Vaughan died yesterday in his last car-crash.	J. G. Ballard	1973
93.	Psychics can see the color of time it’s blue.	Ronald Sukenick	1986
94.	In the town, there were two mutes and they were always together.	Carson McCullers	1940
95.	Once upon a time two or three weeks ago, a rather stubborn and determined middle-aged man decided to record for posterity, exactly as it happened, word by word and step by step, the story of another man for indeed what is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal, a somewhat paranoiac fellow unmarried, unattached, and quite irresponsible, who had decided to lock himself in a room a furnished room with a private bath, cooking facilities, a bed, a table, and at least one chair, in New York City, for a year 365 days to be precise, to write the story of another person—a shy young man about of 19 years old—who, after the war the Second World War, had come to America the land of opportunities from France under the sponsorship of his uncle—a journalist, fluent in five languages—who himself had come to America from Europe Poland it seems, though this was not clearly established sometime during the war after a series of rather gruesome adventures, and who, at the end of the war, wrote to the father his cousin by marriage of the young man whom he considered as a nephew, curious to know if he the father and his family had survived the German occupation, and indeed was deeply saddened to learn, in a letter from the young man—a long and touching letter written in English, not by the young man, however, who did not know a damn word of English, but by a good friend of his who had studied English in school—that his parents both his father and mother and his two sisters one older and the other younger than he had been deported they were Jewish to a German concentration camp Auschwitz probably and never returned, no doubt having been exterminated deliberately X * X * X * X, and that, therefore, the young man who was now an orphan, a displaced person, who, during the war, had managed to escape deportation by working very hard on a farm in Southern France, would be happy and grateful to be given the opportunity to come to America that great country he had heard so much about and yet knew so little about to start a new life, possibly go to school, learn a trade, and become a good, loyal citizen.	Raymond Federman	1971
98.	High, high above the North Pole, on the first day of 1969, two professors of English Literature approached each other at a combined velocity of 1200 miles per hour.	David Lodge	1975

Let’s meet Jack or Jill

	Quote	Author	Year
5.	Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.	Vladimir Nabokov	1955
27.	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.	Miguel de Cervantes (trans. Edith Grossman)	1605
47.	There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.	C. S. Lewis	1952
48.	He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.	Ernest Hemingway	1952
58.	Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.	George Eliot	1872
60.	What if this young woman, who writes such bad poems, in competition with her husband, whose poems are equally bad, should stretch her remarkably long and well-made legs out before you, so that her skirt slips up to the tops of her stockings?	Gilbert Sorrentino	1971
72.	When Dick Gibson was a little boy he was not Dick Gibson.	Stanley Elkin	1971
74.	She waited, Kate Croy, for her father to come in, but he kept her unconscionably, and there were moments at which she showed herself, in the glass over the mantel, a face positively pale with the irritation that had brought her to the point of going away without sight of him.	Henry James	1902
77.	He was an inch, perhaps two, under six feet, powerfully built, and he advanced straight at you with a slight stoop of the shoulders, head forward, and a fixed from-under stare which made you think of a charging bull.	Joseph Conrad	1900
84.	In the last years of the Seventeenth Century there was to be found among the fops and fools of the London coffee-houses one rangy, gangling flitch called Ebenezer Cooke, more ambitious than talented, and yet more talented than prudent, who, like his friends-in-folly, all of whom were supposed to be educating at Oxford or Cambridge, had found the sound of Mother English more fun to game with than her sense to labor over, and so rather than applying himself to the pains of scholarship, had learned the knack of versifying, and ground out quires of couplets after the fashion of the day, afroth with Joves and Jupiters, aclang with jarring rhymes, and string-taut with similes stretched to the snapping-point.	John Barth	1960
92.	He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.	Raphael Sabatini	1921

“Let’s meet Joe, my friend.”

	Quote	Author	Title	Year
62.	Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.	Anne Tyler		2001
85.	When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon.	James Crumley		1978

	Quote	Author	Year
1.	Call me Ishmael.	Herman Melville	1851
10.	I am an invisible man.	Ralph Ellison	1952
31.	I am a sick man . . . I am a spiteful man.	Fyodor Dostoyevsky (trans. Michael R. Katz)	1864
34.	In a sense, I am Jacob Horner.	John Barth	1958
50.	I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.	Jeffrey Eugenides	2002
69.	If I am out of my mind, it’s all right with me, thought Moses Herzog.	Saul Bellow	1964
71.	Granted: I am an inmate of a mental hospital; my keeper is watching me, he never lets me out of his sight; there’s a peephole in the door, and my keeper’s eye is the shade of brown that can never see through a blue-eyed type like me.	GŸnter Grass (trans. Ralph Manheim)	1959
87.	I, Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus This-that-and-the-other (for I shall not trouble you yet with all my titles) who was once, and not so long ago either, known to my friends and relatives and associates as “Claudius the Idiot,” or “That Claudius,” or “Claudius the Stammerer,” or “Clau-Clau-Claudius” or at best as “Poor Uncle Claudius,” am now about to write this strange history of my life; starting from my earliest childhood and continuing year by year until I reach the fateful point of change where, some eight years ago, at the age of fifty-one, I suddenly found myself caught in what I may call the “golden predicament” from which I have never since become disentangled.	Robert Graves	1934
89.	I am an American, Chicago born—Chicago, that somber city—and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted; sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent.	Saul Bellow	1953
91.	I will tell you in a few words who I am: lover of the hummingbird that darts to the flower beyond the rotted sill where my feet are propped; lover of bright needlepoint and the bright stitching fingers of humorless old ladies bent to their sweet and infamous designs; lover of parasols made from the same puffy stuff as a young girl’s underdrawers; still lover of that small naval boat which somehow survived the distressing years of my life between her decks or in her pilothouse; and also lover of poor dear black Sonny, my mess boy, fellow victim and confidant, and of my wife and child. But most of all, lover of my harmless and sanguine self.	John Hawkes	1964

Misleading opening lines

	Quote	Author	Title	Year
28.	Mother died today.	Albert Camus (trans. Stuart Gilbert)		1942

Alternative Media Opening Lines

Some stories rely on other forms to tell a story such as letters, diary, autobiography, schedules, official papers, etc. Gives the author some authority. The important thing is how the form is exploited. Some forms give opportunity for an intimate voice, such as diaries. This was one of Susan Lumenello’s original categories, but I didn’t find any that fit it in this list. It is still a valid way to open a story, of course, but it seems it’s not very popular with literary critics.

Screenplay (or Graphic Novel)

Likewise, this was one of Susan Lumenello’s original categories, but it’s not on this list. It starts a novel by tag lines such as date, place, time. It’s a minimalist way to start a story, but it can establishes immediacy and imprints reader with a moment or image. Interestingly, as I looked at some graphic novels, this is the way some of them start.

I have made decisions about how to categorize each quote, but it wasn’t easy. For example, “Elmer Gantry was drunk.” This could be an introduction to the character, or it could be starting in mid-action. I categorized it as mid-action, but if you argue the other, I’d agree. Feel free to disagree: the point is that these are successful ways of starting a story, not whether I categorized them right! But hey, you can also straighten me out in the comment section – please do!

39 thoughts on “ 0 ”

Great post!

I appreciate this site more and more all the time. Thank you for taking the time to compile and share this.

Wow! This is an amazing and helpful collection, thank you. It comes at an especially good time for me, as I’ve just been pondering anew the first line of my novel.

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Appreciate any and all tips on writing. Thanks for sharing – from @Sharliebel TWITTER,

I’m still pondering possible opening lines for my novel, but somehow while reading your wonderful compilation, an entire opening scene burst into my mind, with my narrator describing another character, per your seventh category. Something I had never considered before, but now it seems so obvious. Thank you!

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What a fascinating post! Thanks, Darcy!

I’ve gone back to this 4 times since Kristin posted the link to the listserv… Thanks for being such a great teacher, as always, Darcy.

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Thank you for compiling this list! I’ve been struggling for months with a better way to start my novel, and after getting some ideas here I cranked out the first two pages!

I’ve lived on this Earth for nigh three score years and spent a few of these years in search of a opening line. There are stories bubbling inside my head, anxious to spill out. But none have the key – a good story line. Thank you darcy. I hope I can take it up from here.

For two years I’ve been working on a novel, unable to come up with a satisfactory opening. Read this and did it. Finally. Hot damn and thank you!

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David Copperfield’s opening line stole the theme of my novel… :'(

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As you know, I’m an unabashed fan of yours. On your 12 opening lines, I’m sorry to say that none of them do it for me. I recommend Les Edgerton’s great little book HOOKED. It deals with nothing but beginings. Here is what Edgerton says about the opening line: “Spend an awful lot of time on this sentence. In fact, more effort should be expended on your story’s first sentence than on any other line in your entire story. No kidding. The first sentence is the first thing the readers will see when they open the door of your manuscript or story. Make sure it’s a good ‘un! One that will create a strong impression. My own favorite is one I used in my short story “The Bad Part of Town.” which begins: He was so mean that wherever he was standing becamed the bad part of town.” I wish I’d written that Les. So then according to Edgerton the opening must contain an inciting incident, story-worthy problem, and setup.

I didn’t find any of these elements in any of the 12 openings you proposed.

It was: Weather report. Ho hum. Viewpoint in life: Story-worthy problem? Mid-action: Inciting incident? Dialogue: Who is Sloth and why should the reader care if he survived or not? Landscape: Information dump. Set Up: For what? Loosely, you could say this is the inciting incident and story-worthy problem. Laurel is missing. Meet Jack or Jill: Is Laurel’s size, per her father’s description the inciting incident? Let’s meet Joe, My Friend: Why should the reader care? I am: Frozen in time is a story-worthy problem I’d like to hear more about. Misleading lines: Just so. I’m confused. Alternative media: Never open with backstory. Screenplay: I use place, date, and time myself.

Here’s the opening of my new novel The Campeche Reprisal:

Airborne, enroute to the Safe House on the Texas side of the Rio Grande: 18 February 1968, 0645: The deafening noise of the helicopter’s engine combined with the howl of the wind whipping through the open cargo bay to drown out Kelly’s screams as cramps, beginning deep in his gut, followed by bone-crunching chills and rigors wracked his body. The painful process of his resurrection from the hell of his addiction was only just beginning.

Would you want to read on?

Again, I recommend Edgerton’s book HOOKED.

Best wishes,

Jim Gilliam

Hey, thanks for the recommendation of HOOKED, I’ll look at it.

If you read my original post , though, you’ll see that I I’ve illustrated them with the “100 Best Lines from Novels,” as chosen by the editors of the American Book Review.

While I understand yours and Edgerton’s advice, these 100 Best Opening Lines break those rules! Shrug. It’s why you can just never tell what an editors’ or readers’ opinion will be.

As you can see, though, I am still working on my opening line.

While I myself start stories for Middle Grade readers mid-action, because I think that age group responds best to short, emphatic sentences & paragraphs filled with action (as opposed to rumination), I would advise not starting any story with any pronoun other than “I” (despite the classic examples you have given) because ‘it,’ ‘there,’ even ‘thing’ are essentially weak, meaningless words.

I agree that your 100 examples break the rules, however, look at the authors who are breaking those rules. I may be mistaken, but I didn’t see one name that I didn’t recognize. That means that none of those authors are first time authors or even mid-list authors like C. J. Lyons or Michael Palmer, both physicians turned author are New York Times best selling authors. Enjoy HOOKED and good luck getting that opening just right. I’ve revised the opening of my new novel no less than 100 times. My neighbor across the street teaches creative writing. No one said it was going to be easy.

Thanks for sharing! Definetely going to keep this!

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This really helped! I have used this multiple times and I have gotten many great options for novel starters with it. Thank you very much!

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Research for your novel, scrivener: sculpting a story, start again. and again. and again. . ., find your novel opening: quickly, efficiently–and with more creativity, openings: 5 ways they go wrong, never visited a place you can still writing about it – here’s the secret.

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11 days ago

Survey Reveals High Cost of Course Materials Stops Students from Success

Professors share 5 myths students believe about college, anxiety among students: what do teachers think about it, how to write a character analysis essay, dorm overbooking and transitional housing: problems colleges are trying to solve, hooked from the start: the most creative, weird, and catchy opening lines in student essays.

Writer’s block is no joke! Especially when you’re thinking about engaging your reader as much as possible, if you’re writing an admission essay or any other important paper. Some students decide to take an unusual approach and come up with the most bizarre (though eye-catching) intros for their essays.

Key Takeaways:

A strong opening line is crucial for engaging readers and setting the tone for an essay.
Students can use creative, weird, or catchy lines to make their essays stand out and draw readers into the topic.
Quirky beginnings add personality and memorability to essays, making them more enjoyable to read.

A strong opening line in an essay is like a good first impression—it sets the tone and engages the reader right from the start. It’s crucial because it can determine whether the reader will be interested in continuing to read or not. A compelling opening line grabs the reader’s attention and makes them curious about what comes next.

Students use various approaches to create effective opening lines. Some opt for creative and original sentences that showcase their unique perspective. Others prefer weird or unexpected lines that surprise the reader and make the essay stand out. Then there are those who choose catchy and compelling lines that immediately hook the reader with their relevance or intrigue. One of the users on Reddit decided to engage with the community and gather all sorts of unusual intros from school and college essays.

drop it like dartmouth in rankings 😍😍😍 by u/Acceptable_Young_133 in ApplyingToCollege

Each approach has its own way of drawing the reader into the essay’s topic or argument. The key is to find the right balance between being engaging and staying true to the essay’s content. By experimenting with different styles, students can discover what works best for their writing and ensure that their essays make a strong and lasting impression. However, let’s look at what people submitted under the dedicated Reddit thread.

Should You Use Quirky Beginnings in Essays?

Quirky beginnings in essays have a unique way of engaging readers. They stand out because they are different from the usual opening lines, and this unexpectedness can immediately capture the reader’s attention. When an essay starts with something unusual or humorous, it sets a memorable tone for the rest of the piece.

“He is dressed as Santa Claus on the outside, but inside he is already dead”

“I want to let you in on a little secret: I used to be a spy.”

“The answer, of course, was found where all the brilliant solutions are. In a cartoon. “

These unconventional starts can also make the essay more enjoyable to read. They add a touch of personality and creativity, showing that the writer is willing to take risks and think outside the box. As a result, the reader is more likely to remember the essay and the points it makes.

“Unlike other bookshelves, the contents of my car are not color-coded or alphabetized.”

“Me and Henry Cavill are basically the same person”

“…bags of potato chips taught me the value of diligence.”

Overall, quirky beginnings can be a powerful tool for making an essay memorable. By starting with something unexpected, writers can create a strong and lasting impression on their readers.

The Effectiveness of Catchy and Compelling Openers

Catchy and compelling openers are crucial in drawing readers into an essay’s topic or argument . These opening lines are designed to be both attention-grabbing and relevant to the essay’s content. By starting with a strong statement, a thought-provoking question, or an intriguing fact, these openers create a sense of curiosity in the reader.

“ SOME SUPPLEMENTAL I WROTE STARTED WITH LIKE “What the mouth won’t say, your face always will.” wrote about how micro expressions helped me win a poker game “

““The <high school name> prides itself as the most academically challenging school in <hoem country>,” states my school’s homepage. Though “most academically challenging” is impossible to ascertain, one thing is certain: back pain is endemic.”

This curiosity encourages readers to continue reading to find out more about the topic or to understand the argument being presented. A well-crafted opener can also set the tone for the entire essay, indicating whether it will be serious, humorous, or informative.

“‘I want to be a dinosaur’, I responded” Lol this was for Brown’s open curriculum supp. This was my childhood response to the “what do u wanna be when u grow up” question, and I thought I could use this as an intro to showcase how I have been fascinated about the most random shit since i was literally 4.”

“?????? ??????? ?????” I started with special characters not allowed on CommonApp, used my essay to explain why these kinds of restraints are bad, and slowly decoded the message. “

In essence, catchy and compelling openers act as a hook that pulls the reader into the essay. They make the reader eager to explore the ideas that follow and engage with the writer’s perspective . This initial engagement is crucial for keeping the reader interested throughout the essay and ensuring that the message is effectively communicated.

Crafting an Engaging Opening Line for Essays

Creating an engaging opening line for your essay is essential to draw in your readers from the start. Here are some tips to help you craft a compelling opener:

Firstly, ensure your opening line is relevant to your essay’s topic. It should provide a hint of what the essay is about without giving away too much. This relevance creates a connection between the opener and the rest of the essay, making it easier for readers to follow your argument.

For example, if your essay is about the impact of social media on society, you could start with, “In today’s digital age, social media has transformed the way we connect and communicate.”

Clarity is also crucial. Your opening line should be easy to understand, setting a clear direction for the essay. Avoid using complex language or overly complicated ideas in the first sentence. Instead, aim for a simple yet powerful statement that grabs attention.

A clear opener could be, “Water scarcity is one of the most pressing environmental issues facing the world today.”

Lastly, don’t be afraid to get creative. Use your imagination to come up with an opener that stands out. This could be a surprising fact, a rhetorical question, or a vivid image. Creativity in your opening line can make your essay memorable and engaging.

For instance, you might begin with a rhetorical question like, “What if you could relive one day of your life?”

By focusing on relevance, clarity, and creativity, you can craft an opening line that effectively draws readers into your essay and sets the stage for a compelling argument.

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Last updated on Dec 23, 2022

Creative Writing: 8 Fun Ways to Get Started

About the author.

Reedsy's editorial team is a diverse group of industry experts devoted to helping authors write and publish beautiful books.

About Savannah Cordova

Savannah is a senior editor with Reedsy and a published writer whose work has appeared on Slate, Kirkus, and BookTrib. Her short fiction has appeared in the Owl Canyon Press anthology, "No Bars and a Dead Battery".

Creative writing is a written art form that uses the imagination to tell stories and compose essays, poetry, screenplays, novels, lyrics, and more. It can be defined in opposition to the dry and factual types of writing found in academic, technical, or journalistic texts.

Characterized by its ability to evoke emotion and engage readers, creative writing can tackle themes and ideas that one might struggle to discuss in cold, factual terms.

If you’re interested in the world of creative writing, we have eight fantastic exercises and activities to get you started.

1. Use writing prompts every week

Illustration of a writer getting ready for a creative writing contest

Coming up with ideas for short stories can be challenging, which is why we created a directory of 1700+ creative writing prompts covering a wide range of genres and topics. Writing prompts are flexible in nature, they are meant to inspire you without being too constrictive. Overall, they are a great way to keep your creative muscles limber.

Example of Reedsy's Creative Writing Prompts

If you’re struggling for motivation, how does a hard deadline and a little prize money sound? Prompts-based writing contests are a fantastic way to dive into creative writing: the combination of due dates, friendly rivalries, prize money, and the potential to have your work published is often just what’s needed to propel you over the finish line.

We run a weekly writing contest over on Reedsy Prompts , where hundreds of writers from all around the world challenge themselves weekly to write a short story between 1,000 and 3,000 words for a chance to win the $250 prize. Furthermore, the community is very active in providing constructive feedback, support, and accountability to each other 一 something that will make your efforts even more worthwhile.

Take a peek at our directory of writing contests which features some of the most prestigious open writing competitions in the world.

2. Start journaling your days

Illustration of a writer journaling in autumn

Another easy way to get started with creative writing is to keep a journal. We’re not talking about an hour-by-hour account of your day, but journaling as a way to express yourself without filters and find your ‘voice in writing’. If you’re unsure what to journal about, think of any daily experiences that have had an impact on you, such as…

Special moments . Did you lock yourself out of your house? Or did you catch a beautiful sunset on your way back from groceries? Capture those moments, and how you felt about them.

People . Did you have an unusual exchange with a stranger at the bar? Or did you reconnect with someone you haven’t seen in years? Share your thoughts about it.

World events . Is there something happening in the world right now that is triggering you? That’s understandable. You can reflect on it (and let some steam off) while journaling.

Memories . Did you go down memory lane after a glass of wine? Great, honor those memories by trying to recollect them in detail on paper so that they will always stay vivid in your mind.

Life decisions . Are you having an existential crisis about what to do with your life? Write down your thought process, and the pros and cons of the possible decisions in front of you. You’ll be surprised to discover that, not only is it a great creative writing exercise, but it can also actually help you sort your life out!

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3. Create an anonymous social media account

Like anonymous blogging, an incognito Twitter account sidesteps the pressure that comes with attaching your name to your work. Anonymously putting tiny stories out into the ether gives you the freedom to create without worrying about the consequences — which is great, so long as you don’t use it as an opportunity to troll people or spread conspiracy theories.

You could use the anonymous account in different ways. For example, you could…

Tweet from unique perspectives (e.g. a dog observing human behavior );
Create a parody account of real or fictional people (e.g. an English poet from the Middle Ages );
Challenge yourself to write tiny flash fiction stories that fit into Twitter threads.

Just remember, you’re not doing this to fool anyone into thinking that your account is real: be a good citizen and mark yourself a fiction account in your bio.

How to Start Creative Writing | Screenshot of a tweet by the Twitter account

But if you’re not really a social media kinda person, you may enjoy our next tip, which is a bit more on the analog side.

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Industry insiders can help you hone your craft, finish your draft, and get published.

4. Find an old photo and tell its story

Illustration of a photo-inspired journaling exercise

Find a random old photo — maybe on the web, maybe from a photo album in a yard sale — and see what catches your attention. Look closely at it and try to imagine the story behind it. What was happening? Who are the people in it and how are they really feeling? Do they share a relationship, and of what kind? What are their goals and dreams?

In other words, bring the photo to life with your imagination. Don't be afraid to take artistic license with your story, as the goal is to be creative and have fun while writing.

How do you know it’s creative writing?

Creative Writing | info card listing 5 headers below

5. Create a character from a random name

Illustration of a young poet and a warrior back to back

Just as our universe started from a few simple elements, you can create a character from a few basic information, like their name, culture, and gender. Reedsy’s handy character name generator can help you with that, offering random names based on archetypes, Medieval roots, fantasy traits and more. A few examples? A Celtic heroine named Fíona O'Keefe, a hero’s sidekick named Aderine, or a Korean track star named Park Kang-Dae.

Once you've chosen their name, begin to develop their personality. Set a timer for 5–10 minutes and write anything that comes to mind about them. It could be a page from their FBI dossier, a childhood diary entry, or simply a scene about them boiling an egg.

Just ‘go with the flow’ and don’t stop writing until your time is up. Repeat the process a few times to further hone the personality. If you like what you end up with, you can always go deeper later by creating a character bible .

If a stream-of-consciousness exercise is not your thing, you can try to imagine your character in a specific situation and write down how’d they respond to it. For example, what if they were betrayed by a friend? Or if they were elected in power? To help you imagine situations to put your character in, we made a free template that you can download below.

FREE RESOURCE

Reedsy’s Character Questionnaire

40 questions to help you develop memorable characters.

6. Construct a character by people-watching

A writer observing a person and taking notes

People watching is “the action of spending time idly observing people in a public place.” In a non-creepy way, ideally. Sit on a bench on a public square or on a road-side table at your favorite café, and start observing the people around you. Pay attention to any interesting quirks or behaviors, and write it down. Then put on your detective’s hat and try to figure out what that tells you about them.

For example, the man at the table next to you at the restaurant is reading the newspaper. His jacket and hat are neatly arranged next to him. The pages make a whipping sound as he briskly turns them, and he grimaces every time he reads a new article. Try to imagine what he’s reading, and why he’s reacting the way he is. Then, try to build a character with the information you have. It’s a fun creative exercise that will also, hopefully, help you better empathize with strangers.

7. “Map” something you feel strongly about into a new context

Placing your feelings into new contexts can be a powerful creative writing exercise. The idea is to start from something you feel strongly about, and frame it into a completely different context.

For example, suppose your heart is torn apart after you divorce your life-long partner: instead of journaling or crafting an entire novel about it, you could tell a story about a legendary trapeze duo whose partnership has come to an end. If you’re struggling with politicking and petty power dynamics at the office: what if you “mapped” your feelings onto an ant who resents being part of a colony? Directing your frustration at a queen ant can be a fun and cathartic writing experience (that won’t get you in trouble if your co-workers end up reading your story).

8. Capture the moment with a haiku

Illustration of a haiku poet inspired by the four seasons

Haikus are poems from the Japanese tradition that aim to capture, in a few words, daily moments of insight (usually inspired by nature). In a nutshell, it’s about becoming mindful of your surroundings, and notice if you can see something in a new or deeper way 一 then use contrasting imagery to express whatever you noticed.

Here’s an example:

Bright orange bicycle

Speeding through the autumn leaves

A burst of color waves

It may sound a bit complicated, but it shouldn’t be 一 at least not for the purpose of this exercise. Learn the basics of haiku-writing , then challenge yourself to write one per day for a week or month. At the end, you’ll be able to look back at your collection of poems and 一 in the worst case scenario 一 revisit small but significant moments that you would have otherwise forgot about.

Creative writing can be any writing you put your heart and soul into. It could be made for the purpose of expressing your feelings, exploring an idea, or simply entertaining your readers. As you can see there’s many paths to get involved with it, and hundreds of exercises you can use as a starting point. In the next post , we’ll look more in detail at some creative writing examples from some fellow authors.

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Creative Writing 101: Everything You Need to Get Started

Creative writing: You can take classes in it, you can earn a degree in it, but the only things you really need to do it are your creative thinking and writing tools. Creative writing is the act of putting your imagination on a page. It’s artistic expression in words; it’s writing without the constraints that come with other kinds of writing like persuasive or expository.

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What is creative writing?

Creative writing is writing meant to evoke emotion in a reader by communicating a theme. In storytelling (including literature, movies, graphic novels, creative nonfiction, and many video games), the theme is the central meaning the work communicates.

Take the movie (and the novel upon which it’s based) Jaws , for instance. The story is about a shark that terrorizes a beach community and the men tasked with killing the shark. But the film’s themes include humanity’s desire to control nature, tradition vs. innovation, and how potential profit can drive people in power to make dangerous, even fatal, decisions.

A theme isn’t the only factor that defines creative writing. Here are other components usually found in creative writing:

Connecting, or at least attempting to connect, with the reader’s emotions
Writing from a specific point of view
A narrative structure can be complex or simple and serves to shape how the reader interacts with the content.
Using imaginative and/or descriptive language

Creative writing typically uses literary devices like metaphors and foreshadowing to build a narrative and express the theme, but this isn’t a requirement. Neither is dialogue, though you’ll find it used in most works of fiction. Creative writing doesn’t have to be fictional, either. Dramatized presentations of true stories, memoirs, and observational humor pieces are all types of creative writing.

What isn’t creative writing?

In contrast, research papers aren’t creative writing. Neither are analytical essays, persuasive essays , or other kinds of academic writing . Similarly, personal and professional communications aren’t considered creative writing—so your emails, social media posts, and official company statements are all firmly in the realm of non-creative writing. These kinds of writing convey messages, but they don’t express themes. Their goals are to inform and educate, and in some cases collect information from, readers. But even though they can evoke emotion in readers, that isn’t their primary goal.

But what about things like blog posts? Or personal essays? These are broad categories, and specific pieces in these categories can be considered creative writing if they meet the criteria listed above. This blog post, for example, is not a piece of creative writing as it aims to inform, but a blog post that walks its reader through a first-person narrative of an event could be deemed creative writing.

Types of creative writing

Creative writing comes in many forms. These are the most common:

Novels originated in the eighteenth century . Today, when people think of books, most think of novels.

A novel is a fictional story that’s generally told in 60,000 to 100,000 words, though they can be as short as 40,000 words or go beyond 100,000.

Stories that are too short to be novels, but can’t accurately be called short stories, are often referred to as novellas. Generally, a story between 10,000 and 40,000 words is considered a novella. You might also run into the term “ novelette ,” which is used to refer to stories that clock in between 7,500 and 19,000 words.

Short stories

Short stories are fictional stories that fall generally between 5,000 and 10,000 words. Like novels, they tell complete stories and have at least one character, some sort of conflict, and at least one theme.

When a story is less than 1,000 words, it’s categorized as a work of flash fiction.

Poetry can be hard to define because as a genre, it’s so open-ended. A poem doesn’t have to be any specific length. It doesn’t have to rhyme. There are many different kinds of poems from cultures all over the world, like sonnets, haikus, sestinas, blank verse, limericks, and free verse.

The rules of poetry are generally flexible . . . unless you’re writing a specific type of poem, like a haiku , that has specific rules around the number of lines or structure. But while a poem isn’t required to conform to a specific length or formatting, or use perfect grammar , it does need to evoke its reader’s emotions, come from a specific point of view, and express a theme.

And when you set a poem to music, you’ve got a song.

Plays, TV scripts, and screenplays

Plays are meant to be performed on stage. Screenplays are meant to be made into films, and TV scripts are meant to be made into television programs. Scripts for videos produced for other platforms fit into this category as well.

Plays, TV scripts, and screenplays have a lot in common with novels and short stories. They tell stories that evoke emotion and express themes. The difference is that they’re meant to be performed rather than read and as such, they tend to rely much more on dialogue because they don’t have the luxury of lengthy descriptive passages. But scriptwriters have more than just dialogue to work with; writing a play or script also involves writing stage or scene directions.

Each type of script has its own specific formatting requirements.

Creative nonfiction

Creative nonfiction covers all the kinds of creative writing that aren’t fiction. Here are some examples:

Personal essays: A personal essay is a true story told through a narrative framework. Often, recollections of events are interspersed with insights about those events and your personal interpretations and feelings about them in this kind of essay.
Literary journalism: Think of literary journalism as journalism enhanced by creative writing techniques. These are the kinds of stories often published in outlets like The New Yorker and Salon. Literary journalism pieces report on factual events but do so in a way that makes them feel like personal essays and short stories.
Memoirs: Memoirs are to personal essays what novels are to short stories. In other words, a memoir is a book-length collection of personal memories, often centering around a specific story, that often works opinions, epiphanies, and emotional insights into the narrative.
Autobiographies: An autobiography is a book you write about yourself and your life. Often, autobiographies highlight key events and may focus on one particular aspect of the author’s life, like her role as a tech innovator or his career as a professional athlete. Autobiographies are often similar in style to memoirs, but instead of being a collection of memories anchored to specific events, they tend to tell the author’s entire life story in a linear narrative.
Humor writing: Humor writing comes in many forms, like standup comedy routines, political cartoons, and humorous essays.
Lyric essays: In a lyric essay, the writer breaks conventional grammar and stylistic rules when writing about a concept, event, place, or feeling. In this way, lyric essays are like essay-length poems. The reason they’re considered essays, and not long poems, is that they generally provide more direct analysis of the subject matter than a poem would.

Tips for writing creatively

Give yourself time and space for creative writing.

It’s hard to write a poem during your lunch break or work on your memoir between calls. Don’t make writing more difficult for yourself by trying to squeeze it into your day. Instead, block off time to focus solely on creative writing, ideally in a distraction-free environment like your bedroom or a coffee shop.

>>Read More: How to Create Your Very Own Writing Retreat

Get to know yourself as a writer

The more you write, the more in tune you’ll become with your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. You’ll identify the kinds of characters, scenes, language, and pieces you like writing best and determine where you struggle the most. Understanding what kind of writer you are can help you decide which kinds of projects to pursue.

Challenge yourself

Once you know which kinds of writing you struggle with, do those kinds of writing. If you only focus on what you’re good at, you’ll never grow as a writer. Challenge yourself to write in a different genre or try a completely new type of writing. For example, if you’re a short story writer, give poetry or personal essays a try.

Need help getting started? Give one (or all!) of these 20 fun writing prompts a try .

Learn from other writers

There are lots of resources out there about creative writing. Read and watch them. If there’s a particular writer whose work you enjoy, seek out interviews with them and personal essays they’ve written about their creative processes.

>>Read More: How to Be a Master Storyteller—Tips from 5 Experts

Don’t limit yourself to big-name writers, either. Get involved in online forums, social media groups, and if possible, in-person groups for creative writers. By doing this, you’re positioning yourself to learn from writers from all different walks of life . . . and help other writers, too.

I wrote something. Where do I go from here?

Give yourself a pat on the back: You did it! You finished a piece of creative writing—something many attempt, but not quite as many achieve.

What comes next is up to you. You can share it with your friends and family, but you don’t have to. You can post it online or bring it to an in-person writing group for constructive critique. You can even submit it to a literary journal or an agent to potentially have it published, but if you decide to take this route, we recommend working with an editor first to make it as polished as possible.

Some writers are initially hesitant to share their work with others because they’re afraid their work will be stolen. Although this is a possibility, keep in mind that you automatically hold the copyright for any piece you write. If you’d like, you can apply for copyright protection to give yourself additional legal protection against plagiarizers, but this is by no means a requirement.

Write with originality

Grammarly can’t help you be more creative, but we can help you hone your writing so your creativity shines as brightly as possible. Once you’ve written your piece, Grammarly can catch any mistakes you made and suggest strong word choices that accurately express your message.

IMAGES

Upper Elementary Creative Writing Planning Pages by Your Childs Classroom
61 Great Sentence Starters for Narrative Writing
150+ Story Starters: Creative Opening Lines (+Free Generator)
16 Creative Writing Sentence Starters by Angela Brown
sentence starters for informational writing
How to Use Story Starters to Get Kids Writing: 8 Strategies to Use

VIDEO

LION 10 Lines| Creative writing
Anchoring starting lines
10 lines Creative writing assignment at Manthan... #creativewriting #assignments
Double Complementary Color Scheme
Self composed poem, dedicated to honourable Principal sir. Starting lines added by editing
Flowing Lines: Creative Expression

COMMENTS

150+ Story Starters: Creative Opening Lines (+Free Generator)
150+ Story Starters: Creative Sentences To Start A Story
51 Super Story Starter Sentences » JournalBuddies.com
51 Super Story Starter Sentences
First Line Generator: 101 Sentences To Get You Started Writing
First Line Generator: 101 Sentences To Get You Started ...
20 Great Opening Lines to Inspire the Start of Your Story
10. Foreboding. "I have never begun a novel with more misgiving.". — W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor's Edge. The author is a bit intrusive here, true enough, but it is kind of him to let us know that we're in for a bit of unpleasantness. But if he can express such profound reluctance, it must be quite a story.
60+ First Line Writing Prompts
60 First Line Writing Prompts
50 Creative One-sentence Writing Prompts That Make You Want To Write
50 Creative One-sentence Writing Prompts That Will Make You Want To Write. Need a few great first lines to get the ball rolling on your next story? Each of these one-sentence writing prompts gives you an opening sentence that hooks readers from the beginning. Have fun with these creative ideas as you craft your next short story or novel.
101 Sentence Prompts to Spark Your Creative Writing
101 Sentence Prompts To Spark Your Creative Writing
99 Starter Sentences for Writing Stories
99 Starter Sentences for Writing Stories
15 Awesome Ideas To Get Your Story Started (With Examples)
15 Awesome Ideas To Get Your Story Started (With ...
How to Start a Story: 10 Top Tips From Literary Editors
How to Start a Story: 10 Top Tips From Literary Editors
101 Unique Story Starters You've Never Seen Before
21. As the clock struck midnight, a phone rang in an empty office, and the message was for you. 22. Short stories written by a deceased author started to come true one by one, and I was the next character. 23. Through the window, the moon was red, and people were walking upside down. The dream was real.
First Line Generator: 100+ First Sentences to Spark Creativity
If you liked this first line generator, check out all the other creative writing prompts here at Bookfox. Such as: photo writing prompts; musical prompts; creative nonfiction prompts; first line generators; and more; If you end up writing something from one of these writing prompts, please leave a comment below on which first line gave you the ...
25 Creative Writing Prompts to Ignite Your Creativity
Here, we've broken down 25 prompts into five categories: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, dialogue, and story starters. Fiction allows writers to flex their imaginative muscles. The following prompts can help to stir up new ideas for a unique storyline: Write a story where the main character finds an old, mysterious letter in the attic.
1800+ Creative Writing Prompts To Inspire You Right Now
1800+ Creative Writing Prompts To Inspire You Right Now
50 Exciting Sentence Starters for Writing Stories
50 Exciting Sentence Starters for Writing Stories. 7 min. Whatever type of story you want to tell, you'll find a great opening line in the list below! Simply choose one of these sentences to start a story and get writing. A lot of the time, getting started with your story can be the most difficult part of the writing process.
Good story openings: 8 lessons from famous first lines
Good Story Openings: 8 Lessons from Famous First Lines
12Ways to Open Your Novel: The Story in Miniature
First lines. We all obsess over our novel's first lines, and rightly so, because from it the rest of the story must flow naturally and without a pause. Here are 10 strategies to use on first lines for your novel. I've illustrated them with the "100 Best Lines from Novels," as chosen by the editors of the American Book Review. The number ...
199+ Creative Writing Prompts To Help You Write Your Next Story
A long list of creative writing prompts and writing ideas. 1. Symphony of the Skies. Imagine a world where music can literally change the weather. Write a story about a character who uses this power to communicate emotions, transforming the skies to reflect their inner turmoil or joy. 2.
Random First Line Generator
Random First Line Generator
Wow! 98 Story Prompts & Creative Story Starters for Kids
Above all, enjoy! Here's what you'll find in this post: Table Of Contents. List #1 — 55 Story Prompts, Creative Writing Prompts, and Story Starters for Kids. BONUS List #2 — 13 Finish The Story Writing Prompts. NEW! List #3 - 30 Story Starters for Student Writers. 367 More Story Writing Ideas.
Hooked from the Start: The Most Creative, Weird, and Catchy Opening
A compelling opening line grabs the reader's attention and makes them curious about what comes next. Students use various approaches to create effective opening lines. Some opt for creative and original sentences that showcase their unique perspective. Others prefer weird or unexpected lines that surprise the reader and make the essay stand out.
Creative Writing: 8 Fun Ways to Get Started
2. Start journaling your days. Another easy way to get started with creative writing is to keep a journal. We're not talking about an hour-by-hour account of your day, but journaling as a way to express yourself without filters and find your 'voice in writing'. If you're unsure what to journal about, think of any daily experiences that ...
Creative Writing 101: Everything You Need to Get Started
Creative Writing 101: Everything You Need to Get Started