The All-Important First Sentence

The first sentence of any book is hugely important. It is the first thing that readers will read (apart from the title, author’s name, blurb and dedication etc), but most likely, the first sentence will play a part in making your readers decide whether to buy the book.

First sentences have to be engaging. They have to be unique. They have to engage the readers, making them ask a question. First sentences can also set the mood or tone of the scene, and tell the reader just what type of book this is that they’ll be reading.

I love playing around with first sentences, finding something that really captures the imagination.

I find that it’s always the more unsual first sentences that stick in my head. For example, there’s one I remember, something like: ‘The goat was in the tree again’, which I absolutely love! In case you’re wondering, the books this is from is ‘Texas Gothic’. (Note: I may not have got this first sentence entirely correct, word-for-word, but you get the idea!)

Recently, I took part in an interesting competition, run by Caleb Pirtle, in which he invited others to suggest a first sentence for his book. And he guaranteed that he’d use the winning one.

Now, I thought this would be quite a fun thing to do, and so I hopped over to the post and commented with a quick line that I thought of off the top of my head.

Surprisingly, on the follow-up post, I was mentioned! Ok, I didn’t win, but I was mentioned alongside some other great writers, such as RS Guthrie, CL Withers, David Biddle and Stacey James.

So, go on! Head over here to see the winning ‘best hook’ as well as the others that were mentioned!

Do you love making up interesting first sentence? Why not comment with one below?