I’ve not blogged for a couple of weeks with half term and family stuff going on but sitting to write this week I got thinking about beginnings.

In particular, novels and how they draw you in. As you’ll know from past posts I love to start new things and so when I start a novel I want to be caught up! It’s the same when I’m writing one. Some of my favourite novels start with such incredible first lines that I had to share some of them!

It’s hard for me to think about opening lines without referring to the classic ‘Pride and Prejudice’ – “A single man in possession of a fortune must be in want of a wife!” Can that be beaten?!

Another book that doesn’t just have a great opening line – “I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time.” but the whole first few pages are so beautifully written I had to read them aloud to Sean and insist that he agree with me that it was incredible prose! (You can feel sorry for him!) The book’s called ‘Shadow of the Wind’ by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

What’s interesting about Dickens is that as some of his novels were serialised in newspapers so the beginning of each chapter had to grip you to keep the reader intrigued! Probably my favourite Dickens (so far) is ‘Little Dorrit’ which starts ‘Thirty years ago, Marseilles lay burning in the sun one day.’ This beginning was one that meant I had so many questions it kept me reading.

I’ve been piling books onto my desk from the bookshelves around the house and realised that I could bore you with dozens of opening lines! But you can exhale because I won’t!

All this is to say, beginnings matter. Whether literary or life! Throw yourself into them and brace yourself for the journey your taking or being taken on. That’s my plan over the next few weeks as I think about the start of the school holidays, starting editing another novel, starting a new decade myself in September. Beginnings matter, whether big or small, I want to embrace the journey.