The first sentance of a book is the most important. Well recently I was horrified to learn that mine was 'clunky'. Does anyone have any ideas on how to (pardon the phrase) 'declunkify' my work? I want to make sure my first sentance flows, its something I've always had trouble with? Can anyone give me any pointers?
Ideally, the first sentence should grab the reader's attention and provide a hint at what the story might bring. The length of the sentence depends on the amount of information necessary to alert the reader that a great story is about to unfold. A good example is Edgar Allan Poe's opening sentence of The Fall of the House of Usher:
'During the whole of a dull, dark and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.'
There's this very famous one, 'The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.'
The Go-Between, L.P. Hartley.
'Hale knew, before he had been in Brighton three hours, that they meant to murder him'.
Graham Greene - Brighton Rock.
Many authors have took their inspiration from Greene's dramatic opening line.