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/lit/ - Literature

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6107853 No.6107853 [Reply] [Original]

What are the essential ingredients of the first sentence of a story?

>> No.6107861 [DELETED] 

ACCEPT JESUS

>> No.6107862

Words.

>> No.6107874

something that could be interpreted as sexy or violent, then by the time they realize it's actually about something boring it's too late and feel obliged to buy that copy of the new yorker so the indian guy glaring at them from behind the cash register will chill out

>> No.6107888

BOY PUSSY

>> No.6108053

once upon a time

>> No.6108073

Opening lines offer authors their first and best opportunity to make a statement about their stories. Many first lines seem to include an inherent question to the reader to make them wonder what's going on, or a hook of some type.

Obviously, I want to draw the reader in but is it better to start with a "hook" or just try to set the tone? Does
the first line really matter that much to the reader?

I struggle with the first line and always judge it pretty harshly when writing. I tend to change it repeatedly.

>> No.6108087

>>6107862
fi . . . mayb. . . bu. . . wern. . .

maybe he's right.

>> No.6108093

With legs M'd and blushing like a perfect little slut he looked nude into the floor mirror in front of him, cupping pink testes up gently to better see what gold lie beneath: some pale, puckering, boy pussy; once upon a time man accepted Jesus.

>> No.6108098

>>6108093
8/10

>> No.6108167

A short blurb about the weather.

>> No.6108173

It needs to be interesting enough for the reader to want more while being as short as possible.

>> No.6108203

>>6108093
It sounds like you've either done this before or seen someone do this. I don't care which. It's disgusting.

>> No.6108256

>>6108203

i'd like to see a secular anti-gay movement, i mean anthropologists always go a long about how every culture has fags, but every culture also has laws against sodomy, nothing against gays but that shit should be frowned on, also i'm sick of fucking bdsm and "kinky" sex, chicks think they are being sexy when they say how they like to be tied up and sodomized or whatever but i'm like, no that's shit, enough of this libertinism

>> No.6108271

>>6108256
as a virgin with zero prospects I don't really understand the outrage to be honest

>> No.6108279

>>6108256
>not wanting to tie up and sodomize women
faggot

>> No.6108280

>>6108271
that's because you've been warping your mind with all kinds of ridiculous pornos and have no idea what a healthy sexual relationship looks like and it doesn't involve prolapsed anuses

>> No.6108290

It came upon me, that my aunt slept with my father. There was always this rattle and hum when we had this family dinner.

>> No.6108292

>>6108280
The length of a prolapsed anus is just another axis of oppression.

>> No.6108295

>>6108280
I've moved beyond sensory stimulation and it's been years since I've actually had to touch myself in order to orgasm. These days I just lie naked on my bed while picturing warm imagery and vibrating my pelvis until I cum.

>> No.6108298

>>6108290
now that's fuckin pro

>> No.6108311

>>6108280
>Healthy sexual relationships.
>Not involving prolapsed anuses.

Do you feel a thrill, down there, when you think about a fresh woman's thicket, too?

>> No.6108312

When the knock came at the door, Parker was just turning to the obituary page.

>> No.6108315

>>6108280
Just a harmless question: when was the last time you had an original thought?

>> No.6108320

>>6108312
and just what sort of creature is 'the knock'?

>> No.6108321

You do need a hook. But you also need to avoid purple prose, edgy cursing, etc. For most of the writers on /lit/ the second part is harder. The trick is to be subtly interesting without trying too hard.

>> No.6108323

>>6108315
yeah, because being a tumblr tranny is so original and not just following your self-indulgent generation over a cliff

>> No.6108344
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6108344

>>6108073
I seriously dislike the idea of trying to write some sort of hook. I feel that it leads to gimmicky and tacky writing and makes me suspect the quality of the whole. Aim to make it best serve the purposes of the story as the first words, just as your second sentence should best serve the purposes of the story as the next words. Don't try to force your attention on me, don't try to prove the merits of your story in opening sentence. Let the work as a whole do that.

>> No.6108350

>>6108344
have you ever looked at the opening sentences of anything? go open the nearest fiction book and put the sentence, i bet it's a "hook", unless it's some ancient shit that predates mass media

>> No.6108352
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6108352

>>6108256

>Stop liking what I don't like!
>Heh heh I'm so contrarian better not have sex wrong or it will activate my autism tantrum!

>> No.6108357

>>6108352
gay sex is bad taste, when it comes to A2M literally even

>> No.6108392

>>6108350
>>6108344
>>6108321
>>6108173

Solid advice, Thank u.

>> No.6108393

>>6108350
I think we have different definitions of "hook". A hook and a good opening are different things to me.

>> No.6108411

>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.

>> No.6108448

>>6108411
Is this supposed to be your opening sentence or an entire novel?

>> No.6108460

>>6108448
It's Pynchon.

>> No.6108463

>>6108448
Sorry I'm new to writing

>> No.6108467

>>6108460
It's garbage.

>> No.6108479

>>6108411
OP here. No, that's not me or my post. It's from a book called 'The crying of lot 49' by Pynchon. I have never understood why it's considered such a well written opening though. It's such a long sentence.

>> No.6108483

>>6108411
damn now i read that in the voice of narrator chick from the inherent vice movie, i used to read pynchon with that george guidall voice from the gravity's rainbow audiobook

>> No.6108513

>>6107874
you're a pretty good writer. id read more sentences by you.

>> No.6108518

>>6108073
>>6108344
but if you're writing for publication you'll likely need SOMETHING to make the tired editorial assistant keep reading your introductory paragraph. that's why hooks are important. not to the eventual readers, but to get published in the first place.

>> No.6108526
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6108526

>>6108479
>Pynchon. I have never understood why it's considered such a well written opening though. It's such a long sentence.
>"Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr'd the Sides of Outbuildings, as of Cousins, carried Hats away into the brisk Wind off Delaware,-- the Sleds are brought in and their Runners carefully dried and greased, shoes deposited in the back Hall, a stocking'd-foot Descent made upon the great Kitchen, in a purposeful Dither since Morning, punctuated by the ringing Lids of Boilers and Stewing-Pots, fragrant with Pie-Spices, peel'd Fruits, Suet, heated Sugar,-- the Children, having all upon the Fly, among rhythmic slaps of Batter and Spoon, coax'd and stolen what they might, proceed, as upon each afternoon all this snowy December, to a comfortable Room at the rear of the House, years since given over to their carefree Assaults."

>> No.6108549

I just have to consciously make myself slow down anytime I read Pynchon. I lose the timing and track of the sentence structure if I don't.

>> No.6108557

>>6108549
I know what you mean but then you re-read and/or do that thing where you hook in words above or below the sentence you're reading and the whole meaning comes together and it's glorious.

>> No.6108697

>>6108203
Thanks for the compliment.

>> No.6108714

I've always loved the first paragraph of the lottery in babylon.

>> No.6109094

Ishmael.

>> No.6109190

>>6107853
>What are the essential ingredients of the first sentence of a story?
Letters, as in symbols from an alphabet of some written language. If you're writing in English then spaces and punctuation will help too.

>> No.6109235

The first sentence is not very important.

The first chapter is.

>> No.6109242
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6109242

>>6108256
>mfw someone isn't a libertine around me

>> No.6109280

>>6108256
it's underground but exists
you just don't talk to people who trust you about these things

>> No.6109310

>>6108518
While it is necessary to draw the reader in, hooks are 4th grade tier bullshit that is not necessary whatsoever. Just make the first chapter or so interesting enough to keep the reader reading.

>> No.6109478

Song lyrics.

>> No.6111758

>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
The only perfect opening sentence I've read.

>> No.6111776

>>6111758
That's the ending sentence, silly.

>> No.6112436

>>6107853
The harder you try to make your first line profound the worse it will end up reading.

Write it and forget about it. The only people who place such an autistic amount of attention on it are those types who get their writing advice from bloggers that make top 10 x lists and write mainstream romance fiction while acting like they know what they're talking about.

It's not up to you, if your first line will ever be remembered as something profound it will be because someone else says so. So don't worry about it.

>> No.6112444

>>6108093

it's sad I live in a world where even something moderately funny and clever like this feels cliche'd at this point

>> No.6112455
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6112455

>>6109310

But wouldn't having an "interesting" first chapter just be an extension of having an "interesting" first sentence? They both work the exact same way, except the former is quick and band-aid-painless.

That being said, the latter is far more impressive and is more likely to hook any self-respecting reader.