First Lines
The first line of a short story should make the reader want to continue reading.
Usually the first line will begin in the middle of action already in progress.
The first line will also either introduce a character or set the scene.
These examples set the scene of the story:
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The woods were already filled with shadows one June evening, just before
eight o’clock, though a bright sunset still glimmered faintly among the
trunks of the trees. – A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett
It was December – a bright frozen day in the early morning. – A Worn
Path by Eudora Welty
Orientation games began the day I arrived at Yale from Baltimore. –
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer
The morning of June27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a
full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass
was richly green. – The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour
when the Christian Brother’s School set the boys free. – Araby by James
Joyce
It was eleven o’clock of a Spring night in Florida. – Sweat by Zora Neal
Hurston
The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. – Hills Like
White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway
These examples introduce one or more characters in the story:
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The Daddy was around the side of the house hanging a door for the tenant
when he heard the child’s screams and the Mommy’s voice gone high
between them. – Incarnations of Burned Children by David Foster
Wallace
I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy
yesterday afternoon. – Everyday Use by Alice Walker
First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a
junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. - The Things They
Carried by Tim O’Brien
My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America.Two Kinds by Amy Tan
Through half-closed eyes she looked at her husband.- Distant View of a
Minaret by Alifa Rifaat
Life was very hard for the Whipples. – He by Katherine Anne Porter
True! – nervous- very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but
why will you say I am mad? – The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe
These examples introduce the situation or plot of the story:
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I stand here ironing, and what you asked me moves tormented back and
forth with the iron. – I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen
In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits. – A & P by John
Updike
My father came across the field carrying the body of the boy who had
been drowned. – Miles City, Montana by Alice Munro
In the autumn of 1971 a man used to come to our house, bearing
confections in his pocket and hopes of ascertaining the life or death of his
family. – When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine by Jhumpa Lahiri
In recent decades the public’s interest in the art of fasting has suffered a
marked decline. – A Hunger Artist by Frank Kazka
They took him in. – Some Are Born to Sweet Delight by Nadine
Gordimer
I was the first one to drive a convertible on my reservation. – The Red
Convertible by Louise Erdrich
Assignments:
1. Write at least 10 first lines. Make sure that you begin your first lines in
the middle of some action already happening. Your lines should
introduce characters, set the scene, or prepare the reader for the
situation of the story.
2. Choose one of your first lines to create a fully developed short story.
Continue the character, setting, or situation you began in the first line,
there should be a conflict and a resolution with a theme that threads
through the story.
3. Choose one of the example lines above to use in order to develop your
own version of a story that begins with the line.