Work. Love. Animals. Money. Family. Justice. The Weather. Travel.
These are the biggies in fiction's opening lines the last 45 years. Common sense tells you that a
lot of mysteries open with a line about justice; love statements open
romance novels; travel opens westerns. But many of these topics apply
across the board, opening science fiction, mystery, romance, western,
and mainstream novels. Some openers are shocking, some are humorous, and
each hook brings with it a sign of the times, indication of the genre
and/or time period it was written in, and perhaps for some of us, vivid,
pleasant memories.
This week I present some openers from topics concerning work, love, animals, and money.
Category key: Mystery (M), Science
Fiction (SF), Romance (R), Western (W), and Mainstream (Mn).
WORK
"My family hated my job." Susan Isaacs, Close Relations, 1980 (R)
"Saturday, the last day of August I started work before dawn. " Patricia Cornwell,
All that Remains, 1992 (M)
"He had been on the job only a week but he had got used to sitting in a dead man's chair." Dale Wilmer, Dead Fall, 1954
(M)
"If it had been up to Katie Chave she would have called in sick that
morning." Lillian O'Donnell, No Business Being a Cop, 1979 (M)
"For quite a few weeks now, Dan Willis had known he needed to begin a serious
search for a job." Frederic Bean, Hard Luck, 1992 (Mn)
AMOUR
"There are various ways of mending a broken heart, but perhaps going to a learned
conference is one of the more unusual." Barbara Pym, No Fond Return of
Love, 1961 (R)
" It was love at first sight." Joseph Heller, Catch-22, 1955 (Mn)
"Of all the rash and midnight promises made in the name of love,
none, Boone now knew was more certain to be broken than 'I'll never
leave you.'" Clive Barker, Cabal, 1985 (Mn)
"I never was a virgin." Susan
Isaacs, Lily White, 1996 (R)
Animals
"Most of the time I stayed clear of
towns, preferring my own company and that of some animals to most
people, but there are times when I enjoy getting to see some lights and
to hear some noises I haven't made myself." Frank Roderus, Sheepherding
Man, 1980 (W)
" When Ellen Wainwright was married to Richard Lancy in
July, 1873, the day was so hot that the church doors were left wide
open, and towards the end of the ceremony, a stray dog ran in and stood
howling in the central aisle." Mary E. Pearce, Cast a Long Shadow, 1977
(R)
" At dawn, if it was low tide on the flats, I would awaken to the
chatter of gulls." Norman Mailer, Tough Guys Don't Dance, 1984 (Mn)
"It was in that year when the fashion in cruelty demanded not only the
crucifixion of peasant children, but a similar fate for their pets, that
I first met Lucifer and was transported into Hell; for the Prince of
Darkness wished to strike a bargain with me." Michael Moorcock, The War
Hound and the World's Pain, 1981 (SF)
"Late in August three crows took up
residence in the chimney of the corner house on Hemlock Street." Alice
Hoffman, Seventh Heaven, 1990 (Mn)
"The crow with the red eyes sat on a
branch in the towering old white oak where the leafy boughs were
thickest and stared down at the people gathered for their picnic in the
sunny clearing below." Terry Brooks, Witches Brew, 1995 (SF)
MONEY
"All I had to do to earn some dough was kill a guy. " Bruno Fischer, The Fast
Buck, 1952 (M)
" They were old hundred-dollar bills, a little limp now,
even a little greasy, and one of them had a rip in it that somebody had
neatly mended with a strip of Scotch tape. " Ross Thomas, The
Porkchoppers, 1972 (M)
"Harrison counted the scant handful of coins twice
before he wrote down the amount on a deposit slip and entered the amount
also in the passbook. " Frank Roderus, Finding Nevada, 1985 (W)
" I accepted a commission that had been turned down by four other writers, but I
hungry at the time." Dick Francis, Longshot, 1990 (M)
" Claire won the lottery on a Wednesday afternoon in May, the same afternoon that Emma
graduated from high school, the dog ran away, and the landlord raised
the rent." Judith Michael, Pot of Gold, 1993 (R)
Contributing Editor Shara Rendell-Smock
has written more than twenty computer
software manuals, numerous newspaper
articles, including a
monthly health column
for The Sarasota
Herald-Tribune, and a
weekly column for the Sideroad -
"Go to Health! Because Life's Too Short.
