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12898006 No.12898006 [Reply] [Original]

ITT: perfect opening sentences

>The Man in Black fled across the desert and The Gunslinger followed.

>> No.12898018

Whats so perfect about it?

>> No.12898028

>>12898006
that book was so shit desu the writing was lackluster as fuck its so obvious king was on cocaine then it picks it up in the end but the rest of the book is ass

>> No.12898053

>>12898018

It’s concise, tight, has great word economy and tells the reader everything they need to know. It also serves as a summary of the entire book in retrospect.

>> No.12898068

>Hey everybody, welcome to The Stand, I'm your author Stephen King, and I hope you enjoy my book, enjoy!

>> No.12898278

>Aujourd’hui, maman est morte. Ou peut-être hier, je ne sais pas.

>> No.12898292

It was a dark and stormy night....

>> No.12898332

>>12898053
>concise, tight
aka virgin way of writing
This is how you Chad Prosody:
>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 consider’d 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.

>> No.12898576

Mother died today

>> No.12898592

>>12898576
dont be so sure it might have been yesterday

>> No.12898599

The entire first paragraph of cannery row

>> No.12898797

I remember as an adolescent I read the first two books and really liked them, so much so that I bought the entire series. I think I got a few chapters into book 3 and never picked it up again. All I remember is some retarded nonsense about a big teddy bear robot or something

>> No.12898829

>Mandatory Nabokov.
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. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.

>> No.12898839

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.

>> No.12898843

>>12898829
He said sentence, not paragraph

>> No.12898849

Only one enemy remained, two if you counted God

>> No.12898858

>>12898829
>loins

dropped

>> No.12898867

>>12898006
OP is a faggot.

>> No.12898876

>>12898006
All this happened more or less.

>> No.12898881

>>12898843
>Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.

Happy faggot now?

>> No.12898902

>>12898839
Terrific. Makes me want to read that book. Marqueze skillfully captures a very deep feeling here. :)

>> No.12898903

>>12898849
true goat

>> No.12898917

The first line of Infinite Jest just breaks all the post modern irony, something that affects Hal during all the book. And considering the time the first scene is set on it makes perfect sense.

>> No.12898923

>>12898332
Based Shandy

>> No.12899044

Call me Ishamel.

>> No.12899083

>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.12899184

It is possible I already had some presentiment of my future.

>> No.12899193

>>12898332
Truly the chad of books

>> No.12899201
File: 3.49 MB, 3953x3112, ernest-hemingway.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
12899201

>>12898332
Verbosity isn't a virtue, bozo.

>> No.12899205

>>12898006
>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

>> No.12899210

>>12898839
Kino

>> No.12899223

>>12898849
What book is this from?

>> No.12899226

>>12899223
Anon...

>> No.12899230

>>12898843
Actually, he said sentenceS (plural).

>> No.12899400

>>12898332
Unironically this is the chad stride of writing, just not giving a fuck going off on tangents with incredibly complex sentences filled with clauses

>> No.12899446

>>12899223
The Greatest Line by R. Dit

>> No.12899452
File: 12 KB, 342x342, 1511275506536.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
12899452

>>12899205
>moocow

>> No.12899467

"Antes que me hubiera apasionado por mujer alguna, jugué mi corazón al azar y me lo ganó la Violencia."

>> No.12899471

>>12898902
Don't get too excited, it only goes downhill from there.

>> No.12899491

>>12898006
>A destiny that leads the English to the Dutch is strange enough; but one that leads from Epsom into Pennsylvania, and thence into the hills that shut in Altamont over the proud coral cry of the cock, and the soft stone smile of an angel, is touched by that dark miracle of chance which makes new magic in a dusty world.

>>12899044
>>12899083
These

>> No.12899543

>>12899226
Just answer the fucking question you fucking root vegetable.

>> No.12899555

>>12899543
My diary

>> No.12899557

>>12899555
Agriculture was a mistake.

>> No.12899568

>>12898278
This

>> No.12899573

The Party Rockers were in the house that night.

>> No.12900205

NIGGAS IFFY UH

>> No.12900210

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times

>> No.12900216

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit

>> No.12900225

>>12898278
Les gens devraient citer La Peste plutôt que L'étranger. Camus a un style de merde quoi qu'il en soit.

>> No.12900232

"Harry locked his mother in the closet."

>> No.12900276

“- Money...?”

>> No.12900343
File: 63 KB, 640x960, the dark tower origins.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
12900343

>>12898006
I was checking out books one time at the library, opened The Gunslinger, read that sentence, and decided immediately to get the book.
Now The Dark Tower is a series I look back on fondly, even if it has a bunch of missteps.

>> No.12900348

>>12898332
>If my mom and dad didn't fuck I'd be happier
Is what I got out of that.

>> No.12900399

>>12898839
Nothing ever beats this one. I think about it all the time

>> No.12900424

>>12898839
Love in the Time of Cholera has a great opening line too

>> No.12900438

>In some place in La Mancha whose name I don't want to remember

>> No.12900482

>>12900438
Based and quixotepilled

>> No.12900932

>>12898006

Way too much use of 'the'

>> No.12900943

>>12898006
pulp tier
not that great

>> No.12901372

First of all, let me get something straight: this is a JOURNAL, not a diary.

>> No.12901377

>>12898053
It's cliche as hell. Boring.

>> No.12901380

>>12901372
based

>> No.12901387

>>12898332
Garbage

>> No.12901704

>>12901372
b+r

>> No.12901725

What would happen if a year-old baby fell from a fourth-floor window onto the head of a burly truck driver, standing on the sidewalk?

>> No.12901738

>>12898006
"You suck me I suck you, deal?"
Hemingway

>> No.12901739

>>12898829
I prefer the original version with Big Chungus and the meme version that made fun of Nabokov more.

>> No.12901802

Not a first line but a note from the author:

" All I can do is mention her name at the beginning of this story, which, like all others, is sbout finding happiness"

>> No.12901818

>>12898576
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/lost-in-translation-what-the-first-line-of-the-stranger-should-be

tl;dr 'Today, Maman died' works better - expresses relationship between protagonist and his mother, emphasizes protagonist's sense of the present moment.

>> No.12901848
File: 345 KB, 485x750, 1550535747134.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
12901848

>>12898006

>> No.12901895

>>12901848
lol pass

>> No.12902017

>>12901818
>jew yorker

>> No.12902055

>>12898053
>concise, tight, has great word economy
unlike you

>> No.12902064

>>12900276
The whole book in one whispered word. You got to love Gaddis.

>> No.12902091

>Only one enemy remained; two if you counted God.

>> No.12902101

>>12902091
Someone already posted it, fuck. I guess I gotta post that "CRASH!" one now.

>> No.12902121

>>12898006
>See the kid.

>> No.12902193

>>12898849
>>12902091
I commented above about OP's opening sentence, and how I thought it was longish. Laxnut, your opening line is a superb example of not only being concise, but providing an awesome hook. A great opening line causes the reader to want to more. In this case, my immediate reaction was "why is god the enemy?" Great concept, with great contrast, and I would love to read more.

Great prose also has great flow-great rhythm. Again, yours is a perfect example. The cadence is so perfect. Sounds great and feels great.

My friends and clients know me as often being over critical. On the other hand, when I see greatness, I am equally blunt. Your opening line is nothing less than superb.

>> No.12902287
File: 245 KB, 1280x979, 1280px-Arnold_Böcklin_-_Mondscheinlandschaft_mit_Ruine.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
12902287

>>12898006
>It was a dark and stormy night.

>> No.12902301

>>12902121
Ah, monsieur

>> No.12902307

>>12902121
Ooooooweee. U ever seen his first draft? Elucidating.

>> No.12902316

>>12902307
Why do you type like a faggot?

>> No.12902400

>>12901372
underrated, desu

>> No.12902524
File: 150 KB, 508x1589, Wimpy Kid first pages.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
12902524

>>12901372
Unironically great, communicates the entire tone of the series and character of Greg effortlessly.
I'm not even memeing, it's genuinely a great opening

>> No.12902723

>>12898332
There is room for both, and space for the knowledge of when to use each. If you go all out all the time the pacing is horrible. You have to have moments, lows and highs. Even Joyce knew this. A writer that doesnt know restraint is juvenile at best.

>> No.12902876

>>12902524
Unironically teaching children to be assholes

>> No.12902900

>>12900348
I think he meant it's their fault he's the way he is because they didn't try hard enough (whatever it's supposed to mean).

>> No.12902913

>>12898006
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

>> No.12902928

>>12898829
Not bad for a book about a thinking man's fetish.

>> No.12902982
File: 63 KB, 924x560, 1547261004979.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
12902982

>it's an author starts apologizing for writing the book opening

>> No.12903037

>>12898839
Genuinely feels like a perfect sentence. Un-improvable in any way.

>> No.12903119

>>12900348
he's saying his parents didn't give him a good enough upbringing

>> No.12904506

>>12898006
pleb tier

>>12898292
Strange how most attribute that to Bullwer "bad writing" Lytton when it was also the opening line for Wrinkle in Time.

>> No.12904512

>>12899573
Thank you so much.

>> No.12904587
File: 37 KB, 794x772, 1512694057134.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
12904587

I went down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon the son of Ariston, that I might offer up my prayers to the goddess

>> No.12904600

A screaming comes across the sky.

>> No.12905675

>>12898332
What book is that from?

>> No.12905682

>>12898829
>Doritos, light of my life, cheese on my fingers. My hunger, my munchies. Do-ree-toes: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Do. Ree. Tos. It was chips, plain chips, during lunch, weighing one-point-eight ounces in one hand. It was Nacho Cheese for snacks. It was Cool Ranch at school. It was Salsa Verde in the shopping line. But in my mouth it was always Doritos.

>> No.12905683

i fucked up my tooth and decided not to go to the dentist

>> No.12905705

>>12898332

God, the 18th century sure was a boring one. Alexander Pope had to carry the full weight of it on his shoulders.

>> No.12905795

>>12902121
I'm pretty sure the line is "see the child."

>> No.12905979

>>12900348
>>12902900
>>12903119
Wrong.

>>12900348
At the time it was believed that the moment of conception was crucial in forming the child's personality. The narrator goes on to tell how his mother interrupted his father during ejaculation with a stupid unrelated question and that's why he's a little odd (and constantly digressing in his tale).

>>12905675
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy

>> No.12905992

>>12905979
So I was right you stupid fuck, they didn't try hard enough during the conception to do everything right.

>> No.12906006

>>12905979
So:
>If my mom and dad didn't fuck I'd be happier
you fuckin pseud

>> No.12906021

>>12898006
>The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

>> No.12906086

One one screen the man played a videogame. It was Space Invaders. On another, he watched a classic movie from the 80s.

>> No.12906565

>>12901818
Who the fuck used 'Maman'?

>> No.12906573

>>12898053
just boring and clunky. Not memorable in any sense outside fanboy western wank. It's funny how you psueds love to talk about 'word economy' then seethe whenever Daddy Hemingway is mentioned.

>> No.12906617

>>12906006
how could he be happier if he didn't exist, you fucking blithering moron. He says if his parents fucked better, he might be more stable as an individual.

>> No.12906625

>>12898006
'Flitter flatter!' and fluff flew from the writing desk as Justice Adderly exercised his incompetence.

>> No.12906800

>>12906021
based and cyberpilled

>> No.12906803

>>12906617
he is probably talking about his father getting cucked

>> No.12906881
File: 33 KB, 394x550, 1312492-Louis-Ferdinand_Céline_en_1914.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
12906881

>>12898006
>Nous voici encore seuls.

>Nous voici encore seuls. Tout cela est si lent, si lourd, si triste... Bientôt je serai vieux. Et ce sera enfin fini. Il est venu tant de monde dans ma chambre. Ils ont dit des choses. Ils ne m'ont pas dit grand-chose. Ils sont partis. Ils sont devenus vieux, misérables et lents chacun dans un coin du monde.
Hier à huit heures Madame Bérenge, la concierge, est morte. Une grande tempête s'élève de la nuit. Tout en haut, où nous sommes, la maison tremble. C'était une douce et gentille fidèle amie. Demain on l'enterre rue des Saules. Elle était vraiment vieille, tout au bout de la vieillesse. Je lui ai dit dès le premier jour quand elle a toussé : « Ne vous allongez pas surtout !... Restez assise dans votre lit ! » Je me méfiais. Et puis voilà... Et puis tant pis.

>> No.12907158

For a long time I would go to bed early...

>> No.12907602

No shit, there I was.

>> No.12907978

>>12898849
cringe

>> No.12908002

>>12905795
Yeah, I fucked up

>> No.12908032

>In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

>> No.12908084

>>12908032
How can pagan texts even compete?

>> No.12908427

A spectre is haunting Europe, the spectre of communism

>> No.12909084

>>12908427
oooooOOOOOooooo

>> No.12909190

>>12908084
>Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus' son Achilleus
>and its devastation, which put pains thousandfold upon the Achaians

>Hearing I ask, from the holy races,
>From Heimdall's sons, both high and low;
>Thou wilt, Valfather, that well I relate
>Old tales I remember, of men long ago.

I'd say they compete pretty well

>> No.12909320

>>12906803
To you and everyone else in this thread who hasn't read Tristram Shandy, it's hilarious and completely worth reading.

>> No.12909344

All of this happened while I was walking around starving in Christiania – that strange city no one escapes from until it has left its mark on him.

>> No.12909377

It was a town full of niggers.

>> No.12909450

>>12898839
One of the best

>> No.12910746

>>12898006
Arma Virumque Cano

>> No.12910784

>>12902055
your mom thought I was pretty tight, bro

>> No.12910841

>>12898278
/r/iamverysmart

>> No.12910850

>>12898006
> My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I was wearing my favorite shirt — sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a parka.

>> No.12910859

>>12900225
Lmao. It reads like someone’s drunk inner monologue as they’re gazing over a river with the view from atop the bridge.

>> No.12910942

>This is not for you.

>Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but the emperor of the Tartars does continue listening to the young Venetian with greater attention and curiosity than he shows any other messenger or explorer of his.

>In accordance with the law the death sentence was announced to Cincinnatus C. in a whisper.

>Moldenke would remain.

>> No.12911182

>>12899223
Alright I'll put you out of your misery, It's a line written by a plebbit fag. I know that you unironically thought it was a great line.

>> No.12911204

This is not a suicide note, although it does have an end, and it is my diary.

>> No.12911968

Do letter counts?
>I’m writing to you today out of sentimental necessity — I have an anguished, painful need to speak to you. It’s easy to see that I have nothing to tell you. Just this: that I find myself today at the bottom of a bottomless depression. The absurdity of the sentence speaks for me.

>> No.12912042

>>12899543
>you fucking root vegetable
redditor retected

>> No.12913461

>ITT: perfect opening sentences

SCRIBNER

1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1926 by Charles Scribner’s Sons
Copyright renewed © 1954 by Ernest Hemingway

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
SCRIBNER and design are trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

Designed by Brooke Zimmer

First Scribner ebook edition 2002

All inquiries about print and electronic permissions (use of excerpts) for books and other works by Ernest Hemingway can be sent by email to:
hemingwaypermissions@simonandschuster.com,or by regular mail to Simon & Schuster, Inc., Permissions Dept., 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020, or by fax to (212) 698-7284.

Visit www.simonsays.com/hemingway for additional information about Ernest Hemingway.

ISBN-10: 0-7432-3733-1

ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-3733-8

>> No.12913491

>>12902524
absolutely underrated

>> No.12913901

>Ayy, ayy, plug walk (plug walk, plug, plug)

>> No.12914523

>>12898006
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.