The Most Important Sentence

Welcome to another edition of our blog for new writers of fiction. We diverted from our usual comments about writing for the past three weeks to provide some entertaining subjects relative to the holiday season. Hopefully, you enjoyed our diversions into Christmas subjects.

We emphasize the short story art form, but any composition contains parallels that apply to all writing. This week we are focusing on the single most important element to capture our readers’ interests. It’s the first sentence that influences a reader to keep him or her interested enough to keep reading.

A skillfully composed introduction grabs a reader’s interest.  That interest in the written word must compete against all the distractions that surround us every conscious minute. The first sentence carries the most important stimulus to keep the reader reading. It must bring you into the picture, present an image and the main character of the story.  A first sentence can be surprising and even funny.

Franz Kafka wrote a novella in 1915. The first sentence is a perfect example of how to start a story.  The work of fiction is “The Metamorphosis.” It begins with the sentence, “One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin.”

That 20-word sentence tells us the name of the protagonist, the setting (his bedroom), and the conflict that he must attempt to overcome. The opening is very interesting and designed perfectly to keep the reader engrossed in the story.  Gregor is never called a cockroach or a specific animal at all.  However, literary critics often use the roach reference in describing him.

A famous first line comes from Melville’s “Moby Dick.”  “Call me Ishmael” starts the novel and lets us know who the main character is.  The location and story conflict are shown quickly in the next few sentences. 

“Mark worked at a desk crammed into a small office.”  That’s the first sentence of a new short story written by me. The main character is portrayed as someone who works as a manager in a small, seedy office.

 Stephen King said during an interview that he goes back to a first sentence several times while he is composing a story.  Then he goes back to a finished story after several days.

It’s a cliché that good writing comes from rewriting.  Taking time to rewrite the first sentence to give it impact will make an improvement in any story.   

Thank you for reading this blog.  In about a week we will have a new blog that will explore another topic of fiction writing.