Today is a game day. It was inspired by Tricia J. O'Brien on her blog, Tailspinning, from her September 30th post that talked about the importance of snagging your reader on the first line of your story. She demonstrated good first lines by giving us a few samples from famous stories.
I thought that was a neat idea, so I copied (hee hee!). Below are the first lines from well-known books (ranging from classics to present day, romance to horror, children to adult stories). See how many titles and authors of each first line you can figure out (yeah, yeah, the answers are at the bottom).
Plus... I slipped the first bit of my story, The Stillburrow Crush, in with these famous pieces of literature. Did you find me... or have to cheat?
Here's the titles/authors you have to chose from:
a.
1984 by George Orwell
b.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
c.
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
d.
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
e.
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
f.
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
g.
Cry No More by Linda Howard
h.
Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon
i.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
j.
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
k.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
l.
High Noon by Nora Roberts
m.
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.
n.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
o.
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
p.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
q.
Paradise by Toni Morrison
r.
Temp Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas
s
. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
t.
The Client by John Grisham
u.
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
v.
The Green Mile by Stephen King
w.
The Holy Bible
x.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
y.
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
z.
The Stillburrow Crush by Linda Kage
aa.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis
bb
. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
cc.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
dd.
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
ee.
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The person who matches up the most correct answers gets, well, the satisfaction of being the winner!
FIRST LINES1. "A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green.”
2. "At the first gesture of morning, flies began stirring.”
3. "Ba-room, ba-room, ba-room, biripity, biripity, biripity, biripity—Good. His dad had the pickup going.”
4. "Call me Ishmael.”
5. "Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife."
6. "Eleven-year-old Anne Shirley sat stiffly on top of some cartons at an empty train station. She clutched a shabby bag in her skinny hands.”
7. "Her chances of a decent marriage were about to be dashed—and all because of a ferret.”
8. "'Honey, you need to get laid.’”
9. "I couldn’t believe it. Not until I was standing there along with the rest of the town in the cemetery did it really hit me. She was dead. "
10. "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”
11. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
12. "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
13. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
14. "Jumping to your death was a crappy way to spend St. Patrick’s Day.”
15. "Mark was eleven and had been smoking off and on for two years, never trying to quit but being careful not to get hooked.”
16. "Milla had fallen asleep while the baby was nursing.”
17. "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”
18. "My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue.”
19. "Rain fell that night, a fine whispering rain. Many years later, Meggie had only to close her eyes and she could hear it, like tiny fingers tapping on the windowpane.”
20. "Robert Langdon awoke slowly. A telephone was ringing in the darkness—a tinny, unfamiliar ring.”
21. "Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were.”
22. "The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon.”
23."The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting.”
24. "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”
25. "They shoot the white girl first.”
26. "This happened in 1932, when the state penitentiary was still at Cold Mountain. And the electric chair was there, too, of course.”
27 "When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.”
28. "When I left my office that beautiful spring day, I had no idea what was in store for me.”
29. "When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.”
30. "'Where’s Papa going with that ax?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.”
31. You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.”
ANSWERS
1.
P - Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.2.
F - Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier3.
D - Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson4.
O - Moby-Dick by Herman Melville5.
BB - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum6.
C - Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery7.
R - Temp Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas8.
H - Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon9.
Z - The Stillburrow Crush by Linda Kage10.
S - The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger11.
W - The Holy Bible12.
A - 1984 by George Orwell13.
B - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens14.
L - High Noon by Nora Roberts15.
T - The Client by John Grisham16.
G - Cry No More by Linda Howard17.
K - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling18.
DD - Twilight by Stephenie Meyer19.
M - Inkheart by Cornelia Funke20.
U - The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown21.
J - Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell22.
N - Lord of the Flies by William Golding23.
Y - The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane24.
AA - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis25.
Q - Paradise by Toni Morrison26.
V - The Green Mile by Stephen King27.
CC - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee28.
EE - Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls29.
X - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins30.
E - Charlotte's Web by E.B. White31.
I - Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
