Hooked: Great Opening, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice
It’s an opening that’s been quoted many times, and with good reason. This opening sets a tone for the narrator, goes directly to theme and introduces the plot that’s about to unspool beginning a paragraph later with the opening scene.
That’s an impressive feat for one small sentence, which stands alone as the opening paragraph of the novel.
Though this particular opening might not suit today’s market (Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how this novel would be received if it were unknown and hit the slush pile at a literary agency?) an opening this compact, with so much of the story encapsulated into the first sentence, is definitely something agents look for. At least that’s the advice given at conferences and seminars.
So as I work on my novel, I will spend as much time as needed during the revision process to craft the richest, most intriguing opening sentence I can. A writing teacher once told me that a writer will never regret any amount of time spent perfecting the first and last paragraphs of their novel. I can believe it.