This week I have read over 200 first sentences for research. I often wonder how writers decide on first sentences. I haven’t been able to start a single book until I KNEW that line and it rarely changes during edits.

The biggest lie I was told when it comes to writing is that you have to start with a bang. I believe it was @dongwon who was tweeting this a few weeks ago and I second it. I don’t want to be confused in the beginning to the story. Shake me up, inform, surprise but don’t confuse.

On first sentences: What’s enough information? What’s generic? Can I make the sky interesting? Probably not bc who the fck cares? But, then I started THE KING OF CROWS by Libba Bray and her opening sentence is so tactile I could eat it. Yes it mentions the sky.

We want readers to give our books a shot. But how much time do you actually give a sample, arc, or purchase? Really. Pick one below.

If I like the voice, I will give it 100ish pages as long as I can see the movement and action (which does not mean fights and explosions).
But, I usually won’t get past page 1 if the opening sentences doesn’t deliver. I know, this is not fair.

I try to finish 100 books a year in many genres. I’m sent tons of books and request the ones I’m not sent On netgalley and edelweiss. I should really keep a better system, but anyway, all that to say that first sentence matters.

BUT HOW? What works for me won’t work for all. I know I want to feel the following:
- anticipation that I WANT to know what comes next
- a promise that this book is going to be different
- understanding that I (the reader) have been invited in to a secret club

“But, Zoraida, just give it a chance!” You night say.
I get it. The biggest hope is that someone will open our books, fall in love with our brilliance, and make it to the end, only to want more. But that not the reality of consumers.

At the risk of being THAT GUY here’s a Vonnegut quote: “Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that [they] will not feel the time was wasted.”

Readers don’t owe us anything. But we do owe them the very best wordsmithing we’ve got.

TL;DR: go work on your books