It's my favorite part of a book. Conversation. movie. poem. play. I always imagine a blanket silence in a forest and all of the sudden someone YELLING.... the opening line. Because out of nowhere. Something was created from the first line. The first thought from which all other subsequent thoughts come from...
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." The opening line of Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
"Mother died today." the first line of The Stranger by Albert Camus
"My name is lester burnham. This is my neighborhood; this is my street; this is my life. I am 42 years old; in less than a year I will be dead." - American Beauty
I have this daunting dream of writing a book. I don't even want it to be published... I just want to write it. Any literate person can write a book. We're all capable. I can never get past the first line. I've written lots of possible first lines.. but I'm never quite satisfied with what I've produced. Throughout my journals and in one journal in particular there are so many opening lines that never were written any farther.
First lines really are always the hardest. Those conversations that make you nervous - a serious one, a first impression, reaching the climax in thought and then trying to rewind to get other people there. Where to start? They're so difficult. I think people who fear public speaking fear the first line the most.... the disturbing the sound of silence.
I should shower more often.
2 comments:
Just checking to see if the Burruss family had left any comments on this one :)
This entry goes down as a favorite for me. I love the way you think.
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