opening lines to essays

'Whack at Your Reader at Once': Eight Great Opening Lines

Examples of How to Begin an Essay

• Writing Essays
• Writing Research Papers
• English Grammar
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

In "The Writing of Essays" (1901), H.G. Wells offers some lively advice on how to begin an essay :

So long as you do not begin with a definition you may begin anyhow. An abrupt beginning is much admired, after the fashion of the clown's entry through the chemist's window. Then whack at your reader at once, hit him over the head with the sausages, brisk him up with the poker, bundle him into the wheelbarrow, and so carry him away with you before he knows where you are. You can do what you like with a reader then, if you only keep him nicely on the move. So long as you are happy your reader will be so too.

Good Opening Lines for Essays

In contrast to the leads seen in Hookers vs. Chasers: How Not to Begin an Essay , here are some opening lines that, in various ways, "whack" the reader at once and encourage us to read on.

• I hadn't planned to wash the corpse. But sometimes you just get caught up in the moment. . . . (Reshma Memon Yaqub, "The Washing." The Washington Post Magazine , March 21, 2010)
• The peregrine falcon was brought back from the brink of extinction by a ban on DDT, but also by a peregrine falcon mating hat invented by an ornithologist at Cornell University. . . . (David James Duncan, "Cherish This Ecstasy." The Sun , July 2008)
• Unrequited love, as Lorenz Hart instructed us, is a bore, but then so are a great many other things: old friends gone somewhat dotty from whom it is too late to disengage, the important social-science-based book of the month, 95 percent of the items on the evening news, discussions about the Internet, arguments against the existence of God, people who overestimate their charm, all talk about wine, New York Times editorials, lengthy lists (like this one), and, not least, oneself. . . . (Joseph Epstein, "Duh, Bor-ing." Commentary , June 2011)
• Before the 19th century, when dinosaur bones turned up they were taken as evidence of dragons, ogres, or giant victims of Noah's Flood. After two centuries of paleontological harvest, the evidence seems stranger than any fable, and continues to get stranger. . . . (John Updike, "Extreme Dinosaurs." National Geographic , December 2007)
• During menopause, a woman can feel like the only way she can continue to exist for 10 more seconds inside her crawling, burning skin is to walk screaming into the sea--grandly, epically, and terrifyingly, like a 15-foot-tall Greek tragic figure wearing a giant, pop-eyed wooden mask. Or she may remain in the kitchen and begin hurling objects at her family: telephones, coffee cups, plates. . . . (Sandra Tsing Loh, "The Bitch Is Back." The Atlantic , October 2011)
• There is a new cell-phone ring tone that can't be heard by most people over the age of twenty, according to an NPR report. The tone is derived from something called the Mosquito, a device invented by a Welsh security firm for the noble purpose of driving hooligans, yobs, scamps, ne'er-do-wells, scapegraces, ruffians, tosspots, and bravos away from places where grownups are attempting to ply an honest trade. . . . (Louis Menand, "Name That Tone." The New Yorker , June 26, 2006)
• Only a sentence, casually placed as a footnote in the back of Justin Kaplan's thick 2003 biography of Walt Whitman, but it goes off like a little explosion: "Bram Stoker based the character of Dracula on Walt Whitman." . . . (Mark Doty, "Insatiable." Granta #117, 2011)
• I have wonderful friends. In this last year, one took me to Istanbul. One gave me a box of hand-crafted chocolates. Fifteen of them held two rousing, pre-posthumous wakes for me. . . . (Dudley Clendinen, "The Good Short Life." The New York Times Sunday Review , July 9, 2011)

What Makes an Opening Line Effective

What these opening lines have in common is that all have been reprinted (with complete essays attached) in recent editions of The Best American Essays , an annual collection of crackling good reads culled from magazines, journals, and websites.

Unfortunately, not all the essays quite live up to the promise of their openings. And a few superb essays have rather pedestrian introductions . (One resorts to the formula, "In this essay, I want to explore . . ..") But all in all, if you're looking for some artful, thought-provoking, and occasionally humorous lessons in essay writing, open any volume of The Best American Essays .

• Hookers vs. Chasers: How Not to Begin an Essay
• How to Begin an Essay: 13 Engaging Strategies
• Write an Attention-Grabbing Opening Sentence for an Essay
• What Are the Different Types and Characteristics of Essays?
• Examples of Great Introductory Paragraphs
• A Guide to Using Quotations in Essays
• The Difference Between an Article and an Essay
• 50 Great Topics for a Process Analysis Essay
• What Is a Compelling Introduction?
• Writers on Writing: The Art of Paragraphing
• The Title in Composition
• Development in Composition: Building an Essay
• Bad Essay Topics for College Admissions
• How to Write a Great College Application Essay Title
• How to Structure an Essay
• List of Topics for How-to Essays

36 Engaging opening sentences for an essay

Last Updated on July 20, 2022 by Dr Sharon Baisil MD

An essay’s opening sentence has a tremendous impact on the reader. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing an argumentative essay, a personal narrative, or a research paper; how your text begins will affect its tone and topic. You can write about anything as long as it is relevant to your thesis—starting with an engaging opening sentence may be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful essay.

An introduction is the first section of any paper that allows you to introduce your thesis and provide an overview of your argument or discussion. A good introduction should grab your audience’s attention and entice them to read on, summarising what you’re trying to say concisely. It’s a good idea to think of your introduction as a hook, writing an opening sentence that will leave your reader wanting more.

Writing a thesis statement is the first thing you need to do when planning your paper. Although there are multiple strategies for creating a thesis statement, you must express yourself clearly and answer three simple questions: What is the main idea of my essay? Why is it important? How do I plan to prove it in a paper?

There are countless ways to begin an essay or a thesis effectively. As a start, here are 36 introductory strategies accompanied by examples from a wide range of professional writers.

1. “Is it possible to be truly anonymous online?”

This is an engaging opening sentence because it immediately poses a problem that the reader will likely want answered. It’s also interesting that this question applies directly to internet usage, something everybody has experience with. The subject of the opening sentence is “online anonymity,” which allows the writer to discuss two related concepts.

2. “I was shocked to awake one morning to find I had turned into a snail.”

The opening sentence immediately grabs the reader’s attention with its play on words, leaving them unsure if it’s meant as a joke. It continues to entertain by combining an unlikely image (a person turning into a snail) with waking up more common. The sentence also establishes the essay’s tone, which is humorous and personal.

3. “I didn’t want to study abroad.”

This opening sentence immediately intrigues the reader because it presents an opinion that contradicts what would be expected in this type of assignment. The writer then follows with a statement about their decision to study abroad, discussing the reasons for this choice and explaining their position on the matter.

4. “The three dogs had been barking for over an hour before my neighbor finally came out to investigate.”

This opening sentence introduces a narrative about something that happened in the past, starting with dogs barking at night. The next sentence provides background information by revealing that the neighbor came out after an hour and then reasons for this delay. The fact that the writer does not reveal why this is significant until later on makes the opening sentence even more effective because it keeps the reader engaged with what will happen next.

5. “I have always been interested in fashion.”

This opening sentence immediately sets the topic for the entire paper by discussing interest in fashion. It also establishes the tone, clearly portraying the writer’s voice while informing the audience about their personal experience with the subject matter.

6. “I remember when I first realized I didn’t have a home.”

This opening sentence begins a personal narrative about a time before moving out of their family home when the writer realized they didn’t live there anymore. It uses flashbacks to set up the rest of the essay by showing what happened before they moved out and how this made them feel.

7. “When I was in middle school, my dad told me not to get into fights.”

This opening sentence establishes a relationship between the writer and the subject of their essay, creating a more personal tone. It also establishes an expectation for what will be discussed by telling something that happened in the past. The sentence ends with a twist, so it’s more interesting than just stating something that was told to them, making this opening sentence effective.

8. “When I first sat down to write this essay, I was absolutely certain of the thesis.”

This opening sentence immediately introduces conflict because it tells about something that didn’t occur as expected. It also implies that there will be an alternate solution or angle for this paper that will be explored in the following paragraphs. The vocabulary (like “absolutely”) suggests more certainty in this opening paragraph than presented, making it interesting to read.

9. “I remember the first time I killed a man.”

This opening sentence offers an unexpected statement that intrigues the reader and immediately draws them into the essay, wanting to know more about what happened. This type of sentence is called a gripping opener because it does just that. The sentence is also effective because it creates suspense and anticipation in the reader’s mind about what will happen next in this story .

10. “There are two sides to every story: my side and your side.”

This opening sentence introduces a topic that will be revisited multiple times throughout the essay, making it effective for an introduction. It also creates a sense of mystery about the two sides and how they relate to each other, which will be resolved later on once it becomes clear that there are three sides.

11. “I should start this essay by introducing myself.”

This opening sentence includes an explanation for why this paragraph is being written (to introduce oneself) before it ends with a question (“who am I?”). This is effective because it gets the reader to think critically about who the writer is and what they want to say. It also permits them to stop reading after this sentence if they don’t feel like it, making it one of the less intimidating opening sentences.

12. “At the age of seven, I knew my life was going to be amazing.”

This opening sentence establishes a confident, optimistic tone by mentioning something that happened in the past. It also implies that the writer had this positive outlook before anything particularly special happened to them yet, which will likely be mentioned later on, making it more interesting to read.

13. “I don’t know when I lost my sense of excitement for learning.”

This opening sentence presents a conflict that the writer will likely try to resolve in this essay, which gives the reader something to look forward to. It also establishes voice by expressing how they feel about their education so far and suggesting what could be done about it.

14. “Coming home after a long day of school and work is like walking into a warzone.”

This opening sentence creates a sense of conflict that will likely be discussed later on and establishes voice because it shows the writer’s attitude towards their environment. It provides an example of why this subject has been brought up by describing what happens during this “warzone” of a day.

15. “I’ve always loved school.”

This opening sentence is effective because it provides an example of how their life used to be before the issue was introduced (in the next few sentences), making it more interesting to read. It also creates a sense of nostalgia about how good things used to be, making it more engaging.

16. “I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

This opening sentence is effective because it creates a voice by describing the writer’s experience and establishes conflict, so the reader knows what to expect in this essay. It provokes an emotional response in the reader, making them more interested.

17. “On day two of our honeymoon, my wife passed out.”

This opening sentence creates suspense by mentioning what happens before revealing why this is significant. It also establishes conflict because it implies that the writer’s wife’s health will be an issue throughout the essay. This leads to a likely discussion about whether or not they should continue their honeymoon, making it engaging for the reader.

18. “I’m a college student, and I hate it.”

This opening sentence establishes conflict for the rest of the essay because it implies that something negatively affects their education. It also establishes voice by showing what they think about being a student and how they feel about college so far, which makes it more interesting to read.

19. “The first time I heard the word ‘stan’ was when Eminem released his song in 2000 by the same name.”

This opening sentence establishes conflict for what will likely be discussed later on and also creates a sense of nostalgia because it takes the reader back to a significant point in recent history that they might remember (rare for essays). It also establishes voice because it shows the writer’s knowledge about rap music.

20. “I used to hate when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up because I never knew how to answer them.”

This opening sentence helps the reader understand why this essay was written to tie into their own experiences. It also establishes conflict by revealing something that the writer used to be troubled by. It also makes them seem relatable because everyone has problems with their future at one point or another.

21. “All my life, I’ve been told I was destined for greatness.”

This opening sentence establishes that the writer had difficulties in their life despite being seen as destined for greatness so far. It also creates a sense of conflict because it implies that they will have to convince the reader otherwise, making it more interesting to read.

22. “My friend once told me that I should never say ‘I’m just being honest when discussing our differences, but I always do.”

This opening sentence creates conflict by showing the reader that there is always tension between the writer and their friend because of this issue. It also establishes voice because it shows how honest they are about their differences, which makes them more relatable. This makes it engaging for the reader to read on.

23. “I’ve never been one to keep my emotions bottled up, and now that I’m pregnant, that’s been amplified.”

This opening sentence establishes emotion from the writer because it shows that they are uncomfortable keeping their emotions to themselves and continue to do so even when they become pregnant. It also creates a sense of conflict because the reader will probably wonder how this lack of emotional inhibition might affect them later on.

24. “The first time I read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ it changed my life.”

This opening sentence grabs the reader’s attention and shows what impact this book has had on the writer so far. It also establishes how passionate the writer is towards literature and makes them more relatable because many people have been affected by great works of literature in some way. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

25. “As I walked out of class one day, my professor asked me what I wanted to do with my future.”

This opening sentence establishes conflict by showing that there was a time when the writer did not have an answer to this question despite being capable of doing anything in their mind. It also establishes voice by showing that the writer can stand up for themselves when pushed and makes them seem more relatable because everyone struggles with thinking about their future at some point or another. This is engaging for the reader to continue reading.

26. “I’ve always been taught that it’s impolite to talk about money, but I want to share my experience with you.”

This opening sentence establishes voice by showing that the writer does not abide by this code of conduct because they believe it’s more important to be open and honest. It also creates a sense of conflict so that the reader might have their own contrasting opinions, which will create tension while reading. This is engaging for the reader to continue reading.

27. “Growing up, I never liked math, and it wasn’t until college that I realized why.”

This opening sentence establishes voice because it shows how passionate the writer was about their dislike of math despite not knowing why. It also creates conflict because they will have to explain their reasoning to the reader, which makes it more interesting to read, and it is engaging for the reader to read on.

28. “There are so many factors that go into determining how much someone should be paid, but I believe that everyone deserves equal pay.”

This opening sentence establishes conflict because the writer believes in something that not many people support, and they will have to explain their reasoning. It also establishes voice because it shows that the writer is passionate about this belief and makes them more relatable for other people who share the same opinion. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

29. “Many things have been said about Millennials, but no one has asked us what we think.”

This opening sentence creates a sense of conflict because the reader might be wondering what this person thinks as a Millennial. It also establishes voice by using “us” to show that they are not alone in their beliefs and makes them seem more relatable. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

30. “I finally found a job that I love, and as it turns out, it’s located in a city that has been my dream destination since I was little.”

This opening sentence establishes voice because it shows how the writer feels about their new job and makes them sound passionate about their work which makes the reader want to read on. This is engaging for the reader to continue.

31. “It was the summer of 2001 when I first came across an anime dubbed in French.”

This opening sentence establishes voice through personal experience and makes it relatable because many people have watched their favorite movies or shows in another language. It also creates a sense of conflict by making the reader wonder why they continued watching even though they didn’t understand much of what was being said. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

32. “For years, I thought my life was perfect, until one day when I realized that there’s nothing more important than your mental health.”

This opening sentence establishes voice by showing that the writer used to have this belief but then had a heart change, making them more relatable because everyone’s beliefs change over time. It also creates a sense of conflict by questioning what the reader believes about their mental health, which will make them want to continue reading. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

33. “As children, it’s easy to dream about becoming an astronaut or a firefighter, but I never imagined that my greatest passion would be writing.”

This opening sentence establishes voice by showing how the writer is passionate about what they are currently doing. It also creates a sense of conflict because the reader may have different interests, making it more interesting to read. This is engaging for the reader to continue reading on.

34. “If you would’ve asked me a few months ago, I wouldn’t have said that my life was perfect. However, after some time and perspective, I’m grateful for the twists and turns.”

This opening sentence establishes voice by showing how this person’s perspective has changed over time. It also creates a sense of conflict because it questions what the reader thinks and makes them want to read on. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

35. “Everyone has goals in life, whether it’s saving up enough money to buy a house or finally writing that book.”

This opening sentence establishes conflict because it questions the reader’s goals and shows how they may be different from the writer’s. It also creates a sense of connection because many people share the same goals and make them want to keep reading. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

36. “I’m not sure if I’ve ever told you this, but my favorite show as a child was A Little Princess.”

This opening sentence establishes voice by showing that the writer shares a secret and makes them sound like they’re talking directly to someone. It also creates a sense of conflict because it’s difficult to imagine that the reader doesn’t know this information and makes them want to read on. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

Final Words

To conclude, there are countless ways to begin an essay or a thesis effectively. These 36 opening sentences for an essay are just a few examples of how to do so. There is no “right way” to start, but it will become easier to find your voice and style as you continue writing and practicing. Good luck!

Harvard University

Purdue University

Royal Literary Fund- Essay Writing Guide

University of Melbourne

Amherst College

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Benjamin McEvoy

Essays on writing, reading, and life

How To Write A Great Opening Line (10 Techniques From Famous Writers)

September 15, 2016 By Ben McEvoy

First lines are like foreplay. 

You’ve already hooked your reader with the cover, title, and blurb. You’ve picked them up. Now they’re back at your place. 

Seduction time.

What’s your opening move? 

How do you set the stage for what’s about to happen? Is it going to be tantric, rough, tender, completely lacklustre, or completely mind-blowing? 

Will they even want to go through with it? Will they change their mind, cite a headache or an early meeting as an excuse, and make their hasty exit, putting you back on the shelf and choosing another? Or will they fork over ten bucks and lay prostrate on the bed as the experience unfolds?

Okay… enough with this weird metaphor. Let’s get to the techniques. Whether you want to be a Pulitzer Prize winner or pen fast-paced pulp, a great opening line is key. Here are 10 techniques to nail it.

1. Make the first line mirror the last –  American Psycho (Bret Easton Ellis) 

Study the first line in Bret Easton Ellis’  American Psycho :

ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER here is scrawled in blood red lettering on the side of the Chemical Bank near the corner of Eleventh and First and is in print large enough to be seen from the backseat of the cab as it lurches forward in the traffic leaving Wall Street and just as Timothy Price notices the words a bus pulls up, the advertisement for Les Miserables on its side blocking his view, but Price who is with Pierce & Pierce and twenty-six doesn’t seem to care because he tells the driver he will give him five dollars to turn up the radio, “Be My Baby” on WYNN, and the driver, black, not American, does so.

Now study the last line:

Someone has already taken out a Minolta cellular phone and called for a car, and then, when I’m not really listening, watching instead someone who looks remarkably like Marcus Halberstam paying a check, someone asks, simply, not in relation to anything, “ Why? ” and though I’m very proud that I have cold blood and that I can keep my nerve and do what I’m supposed to do, I catch something, then realize it:   Why?  and automatically answering, out of the blue, for no reason, just opening my mouth, words coming out, summarizing for the idiots:  “Welll, though I know I should have done  that instead of not doing it, I’m twenty-seven for Christ sakes and this is, uh, how life presents itself in a bar or in a club in New York, maybe  anywhere , at the end of the century and how people, you know, me, behave, and this is what being  Pat rick means to me, I guess, so well, yup, uh…” and this is followed by a sigh, then a slight shrug and another sigh, and above one of the doors covered by red velvet drapes in Harry’s is a sign and on the sign in letters that match the drapes’ color are the words THIS IS NOT AN EXIT.

The first and last lines mirror each other in pace and structure and the inane interior monologue of the central protagonist, Patrick Bateman.

But they do more than that. Look at the first capitalised words. Then look at the last capitalised words.

This is a self-conscious nod to the act of reading itself. Those words (“ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE”) are not just scrawled on the wall. They are a direct instruction to the reader. You are entering a novel but you are also entering Bateman’s mind. To do that, you need to abandon all hope because there is no hope.

The ending mirrors this self-conscious nod again. “THIS IS NOT AN EXIT” says that, although you are putting the book down, it is not over. It will stay with you. Bateman also has no redemption.

American Psycho as a whole is a masterful lesson in writing. The beginning here does a lot of things – things you will need to read the book to understand – but the key lesson here is this:

Consider your work as a whole when writing your first line. Anticipate the themes and foreshadow the ending.

2. Start “in medias res” – ‘Floating Bridge’ (Alice Munro) 

Alice Munro, one of the best short story writers of all time, knows a thing or two about opening lines. Study the opening line to her short story ‘Floating Bridge’ from  Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage :

One time she had left him.

That’s it. What does that mean? Who is ‘she’? Who is ‘him’? Why did she leave him? Why did she return? We assume she returned because Munro writes “one time”.

So many questions. Just six simple words and yet we find ourselves with almost six different questions that all require complex answers.

This is classic Munro. She dumps us in the middle of a story, almost like we’re in the middle of a conversation, and then she lets us flounder to find out what’s going on. Yet, despite the confusion in piecing things together, we feel a familiarity. We know this person. We know the narrator. We know “she” and “him”. 

It’s subtle, it’s understated, it’s genius.

3. Estrange the reader – The Book Thief  (Markus Zusak) 

The Russian formalists believed that the key to great writing is to make the everyday strange. Make the familiar foreign. 

And how better to do that than make the narrator of your book Death himself?

Study how Zusak begins his #1 New York Times bestseller,  The Book Thief :

First the colors.

This is even more disorientating and strange than Munro’s beginning. At least with Munro’s opening we have some semblance of reality. We know what’s going on. But Zusak’s opening line is a real blow to the old noggin.

It’s short, it’s simple, it’s weird, and it begs for you to read on. It also – just like Easton Ellis’ opening – foreshadows a major theme/stylistic convention of the novel: kinaesthesia. 

I can’t resist. I have to go on and quote the next few lines because they are genius:

Then the humans. That’s usually how I see things. Or at least, how I try. *** HERE IS A SMALL FACT *** You are going to die.

Do you want to read on?

I certainly did. I whizzed through the book in a few evenings. 

Reading this opening, we still don’t know who’s talking. But we know he’s not human. Maybe we can figure out that it’s Death. 

Then we get that delightful notice in bold, capitalised with asterisks either side. The narrator talks to us directly and tells us a fact that pierces each one of us to our core. He’s direct. No bullshit. And it feels like we are stepping outside of the conventional structure of storytelling. Almost like we’re looking at an artefact in a museum, a photograph in an album, or a piece of evidence in a courtroom.

We’re hooked. Zusak has used structure, tone, and estrangement to hook us. 

4. Make non-fiction read like fiction – ‘A Mob Killing and Flawed Justice’ (Alissa J. Rubin) 

Pulitzer Prize winning journalism reads like a thriller novel.

Study this opening from Alissa J. Rubin’s extraordinary work examining the trial surrounding an Afghan woman’s public death:

KABUL, Afghanistan — Farkhunda had one chance to escape the mob that wanted to kill her.

We are immediately pulled in to the fray that Rubin is about to detail. We know the victim, Farkhunda, and we know her situation. It’s life or death. Time is running out. This first line is as taut as a hooked fishing line.

Almost every single word does something to increase the drama and suspense: “one chance”, “escape the mob”, “wanted to kill her”. 

If we didn’t know any better, we would think we were reading a high-octane thriller. The writing pulls us in and then we realise: this isn’t fiction.

What happens next – the details of Farkhunda’s tragic demise and the unfair lack of due process that follows – is all the more hard-hitting because we have been dragged into the narrative and forced to invest with the victim. 

5. Make fiction read like non-fiction – The Day of the Jackal  (Frederick Forsyth) 

As can be expected from a novel that won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America, Forsyth’s  The Day of the Jackal grabs the reader in the very first line:

It is cold at six-forty in the morning of a March day in Paris, and seems even colder when a man is about to be executed by firing squad.

We’ve seen a journalist using the techniques of thriller writers and now we can see a thriller writer using the techniques of journalism.

We are immediately confronted with the facts: the when, the where, the what. 

Forsyth also gives his text a pounding immediacy in the first three words: ‘It is cold’. The narrative is not written in the present tense but beginning in this way drags you full force into the narrative. We’re right there, aren’t we? We can see the frost spirals of air as we breathe out. Maybe we can see the sun rising over a gray paris landscape. And we can see many men with guns and one unfortunate man without any.

Forsyth also places the most important and striking image at the end of the sentence so it is strong in our minds.

We can’t help but read on.

6. Make intention and obstacle clear – Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger  (Stephen King) 

One of the many things I learned from the Aaron Sorkin Screenwriting Masterclass is that good writing is made up of intention and obstacle. What does the character want? And what’s stopping them from getting it?

We can see this powerful lesson in the opening to King’s fantastic fantasy series,  Dark Tower :

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.

So simple. Yet so brilliant. 

The intention and obstacle are clear. The man in black wants to get away. The gunslinger wants to get the man in black. Classic chase scenes have intention and obstacle built right in.

The first line is also beautiful in its dreamlike quality. ‘Man in black’ sounds mythical. ‘Gunslinger’ sounds like some archetype etched in by so many childhood memories of spaghetti westerns. And the desert. A barren, brutal environment. What are they doing there? 

I also geeked out about the grammar. Notice how King puts a comma after the first clause. He didn’t have to. But he chose to. He wanted to. He wanted us to pause as if summoning the distance between the two figures as they traverse the land. 

7. Tease the reader by holding back –  Twilight  (Stephenie Meyer) 

Want to learn how to write a killer opening line? Take a lesson from world class copywriters. It certainly seems like Meyer has picked up a thing or two from the language of advertisements.

Study this opening line from  Twilight :

I’d never given much thought to how I would die – though I’d had reason enough in the last few months – but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this.

Like this? Like what?! Tell us! Tell us!

Meyer’s opening line is a massive tease. It’s a matter of life and death and we’re left with so many questions. Questions that will only be answered if we read on.

Notice how she ends on the word “this”.

That’s a powerful technique that advertisers have used over and over again. And it never gets old because it always works. Next time you’re scrolling through clickbait, take note of how many headlines (particularly ones that make you click) use the word “this”.

“This” refers to something you cannot see. You don’t have the information yet. But if you read on, you will. And why wouldn’t we want to read on? We want to know what’s happened in the last few months to give the narrator reason to think of death. And where is she now? What’s happening? Is she dying? If so, how? And by whom?

Tease your reader. Make them ask questions. And promise to answer them… If they read on.

8. Be raw – Code Name Verity  (Elizabeth Wein) 

Study the first line in Elizabeth Wein’s  Code Name Verity :

I AM A COWARD.

Boom. How great is that? 

So simple. So direct. So raw.

There is so much baggage in those four words. What has the narrator gone through to reach this conclusion? We get hints of a great story to come. Of opportunities missed or lost or abandoned. What happened?

Even though we don’t know the narrator yet, we can relate to her. We can all relate to feelings of cowardice. We can all relate to failure. We can all relate to feeling like we’re not good enough, like we’ve been a traitor. It hurts. We all know the sting of defeat well. And Wein manages to conjure that up in the first line.

Now that we already feel akin to the narrator, we have something in common, and we trust her (after all, being raw fosters trust), we can’t help but keep reading. We want to get to know this person. We want to learn her story.

9. Begin with a name – Munro, King, Mitchell, Nabokov, Melville, Dickens 

You won’t realise how common this technique is until you’re conscious of it. Take note of the next 20 or so stories you read. You’ll be surprised how many of them start with a name.

They might start with just a name, a one-word sentence, calling out from the ether, like in Alice Munro’s ‘Family Furnishings’:

Or in Stephen King’s  The Stand :

‘Sally.’

Or in David Mitchell’s  The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet :

‘Miss Kawasemi?’

Some stories introduce the main character by way of the narrator talking to you, the reader, in a way that is amiable and polite. This is the case in the iconic opening of Herman Melville’s  Moby Dick :

Call me Ishmael. 

Some stories will introduce the main character by way of dissecting his or her name and how they came to it. This is the case in Charles Dickens’  Great Expectations :

My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.

Some stories will begin with a name and then play with it, as though it were music, as though the name contained the essence of the entire story to come. This is the case in Vladimir Nabokov’s  Lolita :

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.

If in doubt, begin your story with the name of the hero, villain, location, whatever. Make it vibrant. Give it meaning. Play with it. Or simply have someone call it out.

10. Make it more than a reading experience – ‘Guts’ (Chuck Palahniuk) 

One of the most striking short stories I have ever read is ‘Guts’ by Chuck Palahniuk . It begins like this:

One word. A direct instruction to the reader. 

Just like the story itself, this opening is out of the ordinary. Readers aren’t used to be spoken to directly unless it’s in a ‘call-me-Ishmael’ fashion.

So the writer wants us to take a breath? Why? Is he serious? We’ve got to read on, right?

This is what you encounter when you read on:

Take in as much air as you can. This story should last about as long as you can hold your breath, and then just a little bit longer. So listen as fast as you can.

Then the narrator dives into his story.

We’re not just reading a story now. We’re actively invested in the experience. We are conscious of our breath. And we’re wondering how it relates to the story.

Palahniuk also ends this story tremendously and makes you see why you had to take a breath in the first place. I won’t spoil it for you. Go read it .

Keep a log of first lines

Every writer should have a journal of first and last lines. Something you can refer to whenever you need inspiration. 

Collect first lines the way some people collect stamps. Examine them often and analyse exactly what makes them so great, why they grabbed you the way they did. 

Someone has even put their favourite first and last lines up on a website dedicated to this sole purpose . It makes for great browsing and might even help you find your next read.

Practice writing first lines

As well as a folder of first and last lines, I also have notebooks and journals bursting with first lines to short stories, articles, and novels that don’t and probably never will exist.

Honing first lines is one of the most important skills a writer can have. If you can write a killer first line, you’re well on your way to sucking in readers like a giant vacuum cleaner. 

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How to Write a Great College Essay Introduction | Examples

Published on October 4, 2021 by Meredith Testa . Revised on August 14, 2023 by Kirsten Courault.

Admissions officers read thousands of essays each application season, and they may devote as little as five minutes to reviewing a student’s entire application. That means it’s critical to have a well-structured essay with a compelling introduction. As you write and revise your essay , look for opportunities to make your introduction more engaging.

There’s one golden rule for a great introduction: don’t give too much away . Your reader shouldn’t be able to guess the entire trajectory of the essay after reading the first sentence. A striking or unexpected opening captures the reader’s attention, raises questions, and makes them want to keep reading to the end .

Table of contents

Start with a surprise, start with a vivid, specific image, avoid clichés, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

A great introduction often has an element of mystery. Consider the following opening statement.

This opener is unexpected, even bizarre—what could this student be getting at? How can you be bad at breathing?

The student goes on to describe her experience with asthma and how it has affected her life. It’s not a strange topic, but the introduction is certainly intriguing. This sentence keeps the admissions officer reading, giving the student more of an opportunity to keep their attention and make her point.

In a sea of essays with standard openings such as “One life-changing experience for me was …” or “I overcame an obstacle when …,” this introduction stands out. The student could have used either of those more generic introductions, but neither would have been as successful.

This type of introduction is a true “hook”—it’s highly attention-grabbing, and the reader has to keep reading to understand.

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If your topic doesn’t lend itself to such a surprising opener, you can also start with a vivid, specific description.

Many essays focus on a particular experience, and describing one moment from that experience can draw the reader in. You could focus on small details of what you could see and feel, or drop the reader right into the middle of the story with dialogue or action.

Some students choose to write more broadly about themselves and use some sort of object or metaphor as the focus. If that’s the type of essay you’d like to write, you can describe that object in vivid detail, encouraging the reader to imagine it.

Cliché essay introductions express ideas that are stereotypical or generally thought of as conventional wisdom. Ideas like “My family made me who I am today” or “I accomplished my goals through hard work and determination” may genuinely reflect your life experience, but they aren’t unique or particularly insightful.

Unoriginal essay introductions are easily forgotten and don’t demonstrate a high level of creative thinking. A college essay is intended to give insight into the personality and background of an applicant, so a standard, one-size-fits-all introduction may lead admissions officers to think they are dealing with a standard, unremarkable applicant.

Quotes can often fall into the category of cliché essay openers. There are some circumstances in which using a quote might make sense—for example, you could quote an important piece of advice or insight from someone important in your life. But for most essays, quotes aren’t necessary, and they may make your essay seem uninspired.

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
• How to start an email
• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

The introduction of your college essay is the first thing admissions officers will read and therefore your most important opportunity to stand out. An excellent introduction will keep admissions officers reading, allowing you to tell them what you want them to know.

The key to a strong college essay introduction is not to give too much away. Try to start with a surprising statement or image that raises questions and compels the reader to find out more.

Cliché openers in a college essay introduction are usually general and applicable to many students and situations. Most successful introductions are specific: they only work for the unique essay that follows.

In most cases, quoting other people isn’t a good way to start your college essay . Admissions officers want to hear your thoughts about yourself, and quotes often don’t achieve that. Unless a quote truly adds something important to your essay that it otherwise wouldn’t have, you probably shouldn’t include it.

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A Celebration of Great Opening Lines in World Literature

Launched: January 1, 2022

This website is dedicated to the memory of John O. Huston (1945-2022)

An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know more about this.

Welcome to GreatOpeningLines.com , history’s first website devoted exclusively to the celebration of great opening lines in world literature. Even though the site is still in its infancy (it was officially “launched” on Jan. 1, 2022), it is already the world's largest online database of literary history’s greatest opening words, with 1976 current entries.

If you’re a writer or aspiring writer, an avid reader, an English teacher or creative writing instructor, a reference librarian, an editor, or simply a First Words junkie, think of this as your "Go-To" site on the subject. In addition to learning more than you now know about your current personal favorites, this site will introduce you to thousands of future favorites you might never have known about in any other way.

Be careful, though, as you begin to peruse the twenty-five “genres” below. Robert McCrum, the legendary British editor of four separate Nobel Prize laureates has warned that this "brilliant and fascinating literary site...will soon become every freelance writer's guilty pleasure."

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." Jane Austen

Short Stories

"Early one June morning in 1872 I murdered my father—an act which made a deep impression on me at the time." Ambrose Bierce

Non-Fiction

"The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women." Betty Friedan

Memoirs & Autobiographies

"I didn’t realize I was black until third grade." Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Biographies

"The black eyepatch dominated Moshe Dayan’s appearance, like some dark, spidery animal wrapped around his face." Robert Slater

Essays, Articles, & Columns

"These are the times that try men's souls." Thomas Paine

Children's Literature

"All children, except one, grow up." J. M. Barrie

Young Adult (YA) Fiction

"I'd never given much thought to how I would die — though I'd had reason enough in the last few months — but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this." Stephenie Meyer

Science-Fiction

"It was a dazzling four-sun afternoon." Isaac Asimov

Speculative Fiction

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect." Franz Kafka

Wit, Humor, Parody, & Satire

"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." C. Northcote Parkinson

War/Combat & Espionage/Spies

"A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which, to look ahead." Graham Greene

Cowboy/Western Tales

"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning." Louis L'Amour

Crime/Detective & Suspense/Thrillers

"When the guy with asthma finally came in from the fire escape, Parker rabbit-punched him and took his gun away." Richard Stark

History & Historical Fiction

"Jazz came to America three hundred years ago in chains." Paul Whiteman

Politics & Government

"A phenomenon noticeable throughout history regardless of place or period is the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests." Barbara Tuchman

Philosophy & Religion

"Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains." Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Words/Language & Writers/Books

"Writers will happen in the best of families. No one is quite sure why." Rita Mae Brown

Medicine & Health

"You know more than you think you do." Dr. Benjamin Spock

Sports, Fitness, & Recreation

"I was born to be a point guard, but not a very good one." Pat Conroy

Psychology & Self-Help

"How do you make contact with the mind of another person?" Mortimer J. Adler

Sex, Love, Marriage, & Family

"Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see." Neil Postman

Travel, Food & Drink

"An oyster leads a dreadful but exciting life." M.K.F. Fisher

Science & Technology

"It is not easy to cut through a human head with a hacksaw." Michael Crichton

Race, Gender, & Ethnicity

"I have rape-colored skin." Caroline Randall Williams

Accolades & Acknowledgments

About this site.

Welcome to history’s first website devoted exclusively to the celebration of great opening lines in world literature. My goal is to make this the world's largest online database of Great Opening Lines in both Fiction and Non-Fiction. If you’re a writer or aspiring writer, an avid reader, an English teacher or creative writing instructor, a reference librarian, an editor, or simply a First Words junkie, think of this as your "Go-To" site on the subject. In addition to learning more than you now know about your current personal favorites, this site will introduce you to thousands of future favorites you might never know about in any other way.

Dr. Mardy Grothe

Become a supporter.

My goal is to make this a completely ad-free site, but this will be possible only with sufficient financial support.

To produce a world-class website, I’d appreciate any help you can provide. Become a Site Sponsor with a one-time donation at one of four sponsorship levels, indicated below.

Make checks payable to: GreatOpeningLines.com P. O. Box 802 Southern Pines, NC 28388

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Table of Contents

How to Write a Great Opening Sentence

Examples of great first sentences (and how they did it), how to write a strong opening sentence & engage readers (with examples).

“I’ve never met you, but I’m gonna read your mind.”

That’s the opening line to The Scribe Method . It does what great opening sentences should: it immediately captures the reader’s attention. It makes them want to read more.

The purpose of a good opening line is to engage the reader and get them to start reading the book. That’s it.

It’s a fairly simple idea, and it works very well—but there are still a lot of misconceptions about book openings .

Many first-time Authors think they have to shock the reader to make them take note.

That’s not true. There are many ways to hook a reader that don’t require shocking them.

I also see Authors who think the purpose of the first paragraph is to explain what they’ll talk about in the book .

Not only is that wrong, it’s boring.

Readers can sense bullshit a mile away, so don’t try to beat them over the head with shock. Don’t give them a tedious summary. Don’t tell your life story. Don’t go into too much detail.

Use your first sentence to connect to the reader and make them want to keep reading.

This guide will help you write a great opening line so you can establish that authenticity and connection quickly.

Everyone knows some of the great opening lines from fiction novels:

• “Call me Ishmael.” – Herman Melville, Moby Dick​​​​
• “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
• “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” – Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
• “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, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” – Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

The common thread between these opening lines is that they create a vivid first impression. They make the reader want to know more.

They’re punchy, intriguing, and unexpected.

The first words of a nonfiction book work the same way. You want to create an emotional connection with the reader so they can’t put the book down.

In some ways, nonfiction Authors even have an advantage. They’re writing about themselves and their knowledge while having a conversation with the reader.

They can establish the connection even more immediately because they don’t have to set a fictional scene. They can jump right in and use the first person “I.”

Let’s go back to The Scribe Method ‘s opening paragraph:

I’ve never met you, but I’m gonna read your mind. Not literally, of course. I’m going to make an educated guess about why you want to write a book.

When you read that, at a minimum, you’re going to think, “All right, dude, let’s see if you really know why I want to write a book .” And you’re going to keep reading.

At best, you’re going to think, “Wow. He’s inside my head right now.” And you’re going to keep reading.

In both cases, I’ve managed to create an emotional connection with the reader. Even if that emotion is skepticism, it’s enough to hook someone.

So where do you start when you’re writing your book ? How do you form that connection?

The best hooks usually start in the middle of the highest intensity.

In other words, lead with the most emotional part of the story.

If you’re starting your book with a story about how you got chased by the police, don’t begin with what you had for breakfast that day. Start with the chase.

A good hook might also be a question or a claim—anything that will elicit an emotional response from a reader.

Think about it this way: a good opening sentence is the thing you don’t think you can say, but you still want to say.

Like, “This book will change your life.”

Or, “I’ve come up with the most brilliant way anyone’s ever found for handling this problem.”

Your opening sentence isn’t the time for modesty (as long as you can back it up!).

You want to publish a book for a reason . Now’s your chance to show a reader why they should want to read it.

That doesn’t mean you have to be cocky. You just have to be honest and engaging.

When you’re trying to come up with a great opening line, ask yourself these 3 things:

• What will the audience care about, be interested in, or be surprised by?
• What is the most interesting story or inflammatory statement in your book?
• What do you have to say that breaks the rules?

The best opening lines are gut punches.

They summarize the book, at least in an oblique way. But they’re not dry facts. They’re genuine, behind-the-scenes glimpses into a human life. They establish who you are and what you’re about, right from the beginning.

Human beings respond to genuine connection. That means being vulnerable. You have to break down any barriers that you might usually keep around you.

That’s one of the hardest things to do as an Author, but it makes for a great book.

Reading about perfection is boring, especially because we all know there’s no such thing.

In the next section, I’ll go through examples of great first sentences and explain why they work.

Every one of these strategies helps create an instant, authentic connection with readers. You just have to pick the one that makes the most sense for your book.

1. Revealing Personal Information

When most people think about comedian Tiffany Haddish, they think of a glamorous celebrity.

They don’t think about a kid who had trouble in school because she had an unstable home life, reeked of onions, and struggled with bullying.

From the first line of her book, Tiffany reveals that you’re going to learn things about her that you don’t know—personal things.

I mean, really personal.

The book’s opening story concludes with her trying to cut a wart off her face because she was teased so much about it (that’s where the “unicorn” nickname came from).

That level of personal connection immediately invites the reader in. It promises that the Author is going to be honest and vulnerable, no holds barred.

This isn’t going to be some picture-perfect memoir. It’s going to be real, and it’s going to teach you something.

And that’s what forms a connection.

2. Mirroring the Reader’s Pain

Geoffrey and I chose this opening sentence because it let readers know right away that we know their pain.

Not only that, we knew how to fix it .

If a reader picked up the book and didn’t connect to that opening line, they probably weren’t our target audience.

But if someone picked it up and said, “This is exactly what I want to know!” we already had them hooked.

They would trust us immediately because we proved in the first sentence that we understood them.

In this sentence, Geoffrey and I are positioned as the experts. People are coming to us for help.

But you can also mirror your reader’s pain more directly. Check out this example from Jennifer Luzzato’s book, Inheriting Chaos with Compassion :

That’s a gut punch for anyone. But it’s an even bigger one for Jennifer’s target audience: people who unexpectedly lose a loved one and are left dealing with financial chaos.

Jennifer isn’t just giving the reader advice.

She’s showing that she’s been through the pain. She understands it. And she’s the right person to help the reader solve it.

3. Asking the Reader a Question

Readers come to nonfiction books because they want help solving a problem.

If you picked up a book about team-building, culture, and leadership, you likely want answers to some questions.

Daniel Coyle’s book shows the reader, right off the bat, that he’s going to give you answers.

His question also isn’t a boring, how-do-organizations-work type of question.

It’s compelling enough to make you keep reading, at least for a few more sentences. And then ideally, a few sentences, pages, and chapters after that.

Starting with a question is often a variation on tactic number 2.

If the reader picked up your book hoping to solve a certain problem or learn how to do something, asking them that compelling question can immediately show them that you understand their pain.

It can set the stage for the whole book.

You can also pique the reader’s interest by asking them a question they’ve never thought about.

Nicholas Kusmich ‘s book Give starts with the question,

It’s a unique question that hooks a reader.

But the answer still cuts straight to the heart of his book: “Both entrepreneurs and superheroes want to use their skills to serve people and make the world a better place.”

The unexpected framing gives readers a fresh perspective on a topic they’ve probably already thought a lot about.

4. Shock the Reader

I said in the intro to this post that you don’t have to shock the reader to get their attention.

I never said you couldn’t .

If you’re going to do it, though, you have to do it well.

This is the best opening to a book I’ve ever read. I’m actually a dog person, so this shocked the hell out of me. It was gripping.

As you read, the sentence starts making more sense, but it stays just as shocking. And you can’t help but finish the page and the chapter to understand why. But my God, what a way to hook a reader (in case you are wondering, the dogs were licking up blood from dead bodies and giving away the soldiers’ positions to insurgents. They had to kill the dogs or risk being discovered).

I read this opening sentence as part of an excerpt from the book on Business Insider .

I plowed through the excerpt, bought the book on Kindle, canceled two meetings, and read the whole book.

5. Intrigue the Reader

If you don’t read that and immediately want to know what the realization was, you’re a force to be reckoned with.

People love reading about drama, screw-ups, and revelations. By leading with one, Will immediately intrigues his readers.

They’ll want to keep reading so they can solve the mystery. What was the big deal?

I’m not going to tell you and spoil the fun. You’ll have to check out Will’s book to find out.

There are other ways to be intriguing, too. For example, see the opening line to Lorenzo Gomez’ Cilantro Diaries :

Again, the Author is setting up a mystery.

He wants the reader to rack his brain and say, “Well, if it’s not the famous stuff, what is it?”

And then, when Lorenzo gets to the unexpected answer—the H-E-B grocery store—they’re even more intrigued.

Why would a grocery store make someone’s top-ten list, much less be the thing they’d miss most?

That kind of unexpected storytelling is perfect for keeping readers engaged.

The more intrigue you can create, the more they’ll keep turning the pages.

6. Lead with a Bold Claim

There are thousands of books about marketing. So, how does an Author cut through the noise?

If you’re David Allison, you cut right to the chase and lead with a bold claim.

You tell people you’re going to change the world. And then you tell them you have the data to back it up.

If your reader is sympathetic, they’re going to jump on board. If they’re skeptical, they’re still going to want to see if David’s claim holds up.

Here’s the thing, though: only start bold if you can back it up.

Don’t tell someone you’re going to transform their whole life and only offer a minor life hack. They’ll feel cheated.

But if you’re really changing the way that people think about something, do something, or feel about something, then lead with it.

Start big. And then prove it.

7. Be Empathetic and Honest

One Last Talk is one of the best books we’ve ever done at Scribe. And it shows right from the first sentence.

Philip starts with a bold claim: “If you let it, this book will change your life.”

But then he gives a caveat: it’s not going to be fun.

That’s the moment when he forms an immediate connection with the reader.

Many Authors will tell their readers, “This book will change your life. It’s going to be incredible! Just follow these steps and be on your way!”

Not many Authors will lead with, “It’s going to be worth it, but it’s going to be miserable.”

By being this upfront about the emotional work the book involves, Philip immediately proves to his readers that he’s honest and empathetic.

He understands what they’re going to go through. And he can see them through it, even if it sucks.

One piece of advice we give at Scribe is to talk to your reader like you’re talking to a friend.

Philip does that. And it shows the reader they’re dealing with someone authentic.

8. Invite the Reader In

Joey starts the book by speaking directly to the reader.

He immediately creates a connection and invites the reader in. This makes the book feel more like a conversation between two people than something written by a nameless, faceless Author.

The reason this tactic works so well is because Joey’s whole book is about never losing a customer.

He immediately puts the book’s principles into action.

From the first sentence, Joey’s demonstrating exactly what the reader is there to learn.

The Scribe Crew

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How To Write A Great First Line (With 12 Unforgettable Examples) (UPDATED 2024)

by Writer's Relief Staff | Craft: Memoir , Craft: Nonfiction Book , Craft: Novel Writing , Craft: Personal Essay Writing , Craft: Poetry, Poems , Craft: Short Story Writing , Creative Writing Craft and Techniques , Inspiration And Encouragement For Writers , Other Helpful Information , The Writing Life | 19 comments

Review Board is now open! Submit your Short Prose, Poetry, and Book today!

Deadline: thursday, february 22nd.

Some writers can craft the perfect first line on the very first try—and if that’s happened to you, you can bet the writing muses were in a darn good mood that day. At Writer’s Relief , we’ve worked with hundreds of authors, and we know most writers return to the first line of their novel, memoir, story, poem, or personal essay again and again, continuing to rework the opening line even after the rest of the piece is done.

To help inspire you (and give your muse a nudge), here are some examples of first lines from literature (poems, short stories, and novels) that offer great insight into opening line techniques.

Offer a pithy insight. Even people who aren’t book nerds recognize the opening line from Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina ; its wisdom is succinct, cutting, and not quickly forgotten.

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Be “meta.” The opening line from Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn feels bold, brazen, and shocking even to modern readers. Prequel-bait aside, this first line is hilariously self-referential, which might make Mark Twain the father of hipster irony.

You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ; but that ain’t no matter.

Be coy. In Flannery O’Connor’s chilling story, “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” we get an opening line that, frankly, leaves us hanging. Who is “the grandmother”? Why doesn’t she have a name? Why is she being forced to go to Florida?

The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida.

Go for the jugular. In his epic long poem, Howl , Allen Ginsberg grabs readers by the throat with this emotional cry and protest.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical

Lie. Lie so enormously that your lie makes readers suspicious, like Shirley Jackson did when she set an excessively bright, happy, “everything’s perfect here” tone with the first line of her short story “The Lottery.”

The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green…

Unsettle us. George Orwell’s first line of 1984 starts off like a typical opening sentence but ends with an unexpected twist, giving readers a creepy, “I’m missing something here” feeling. (And in a few lines, we also get an even creepier “I’m being watched” feeling too.)

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

I’m still not sure I made the right choice when I told my wife about the bakery attack.

Go for in media res . This term means the author drops the character smack into the middle of a progressing scene—or in the case of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty , it just looks like that’s what’s happening. (See what James Thurber’s doing there?)

“We’re going through!” The Commander’s voice was like thin ice breaking.

Cue the peril. In her book Twilight, Stephanie Meyer teases readers with a life-and-death, in-media-res prologue that won’t fully manifest for a few hundred pages.

I’d never given much thought to how I would die—though I’d had reason enough in the last few months—but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this.

Be obscure. T.S. Eliot’s first line of The Waste Land is a bit perplexing at first glance; you must keep reading to understand the author’s (seemingly counterintuitive) point. How could April—glorious, warming, colorful April—be cruel?

April is the cruellest month.

Lead with character. In his book Middlesex , Jeffrey Eugenides pulls us into the plight of his main character with just a few tantalizing, heart-wrenching words.

I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.

Last things first. In David Copperfield, Charlie Dickens doesn’t make us slowly journey alongside of his main character to discover the character’s inner emotional conflict; he gives us a hint of the final showdown right up front.

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.

And One Important Thing To Remember About Your First Line

Your opening line doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it needs to set to tone for the rest of your book, story, or poem. First lines are so important (and fun), there’s an entire publication dedicated to works that start with the same first line .

But don’t put too much pressure on yourself to start out with a great line when you’re just beginning a new project. Sometimes, your first line will be the last one you write!

Once you’ve completed your masterpiece (and your first line), it’s time to submit your work to literary agents and journal editors. The research experts at Writer’s Relief can help you target the very best markets for your work and boost your odds of getting published! With over twenty-nine years of experience, we can pinpoint where you should—and where you shouldn’t—submit your work. Learn more about our services and submit your writing sample to our Review Board today!

In addition to helping clients navigate and submit their work via traditional publishing paths, we also provide affordable and expert  self-publishing  options. We understand writers and their publishing goals.

19 Comments

My first line: The sickening sound of bones cracking as Sarwa’a hit the wall galvanized Hikala’a into action.

CC: Melodious, flowery, adverbial and adjective fluff. Feels cliche, too. (“sickening sound of bones cracking”? ya-da, ya-da) What bones (or at least, what body part(s))? What did Hikala’a STOP doing in order to get “into action”?

“The crack of Sarwa’a’s arm breaking against the wall shook Hikala’a out of his numbaqua.” (You can define whether that’s “indecision about an action” or “state of focusing on something that’s been said to the exclusion of all other awareness” or what have you a few paragraphs later)

My intro “I like cows because of their color pattern… and other reasons!” – thoughts?

Suzanne tossed the bloodied knife into the sink, not bothering to wash it off.

Whoever came up with that ‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all’ line was full of it!

Hi, I am writing for the first time and is my first sentence any good?

First Line: It was a hot October Sunday, and the Carpenters were sitting around, having nothing to do. The Carpenter household was like any other on Pearl Street, boring and bland. But they thought that somehow they are at the center of attention.

Any suggestions? Leave ANY comments:

Some really great examples here – I can never make up my mind as to whether the greatest-of-all-time is 1984 or Anna Karenina. Both perfect and beautiful, though so different. Thank you so much for giving these examples alongside tangible advice for how and why to make them work in your own writing, really well done 🙂

My first line, “They tried to pin a murder one me, little old me who couldn’t swat a fly. Not sober anyway”. My book was called Bedlam. Never got published. Never mind, tomorrow is another day.

Great examples, my favourite from your article has to be 1984, it certainly makes you sit up and pay attention. Middlesex is a close second, a great book, really moving. Another that stands out for me is from The Secret History by Donna Tartt, “The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.” It throws you in at the deep end and then lets you slowly find out what happened to Bunny over the next few hundred pages!

“Hey girl throw me some beads. Throw me some beads for my horse too.”

First line to my book.

I’m writing my first novel and so excited. My first line, please be brutally honest. “He was bored, the ragee coursing through his veins, he was ready.” Tell me what you think. You’re the first I’ve ever asked.

My first line: My mother used to say that only wild girls grew beautifully.

Does it sound too… farfetched, like I’m trying to present an idea, but only giving half of the information?

The first paragraph of my far-future science fiction novel:

“The Civilization appeared very briefly in the avatar of an Late Archaic Human female, clad in a severely cut gray dress with black button-up shoes, gray hair tightly done up in a bun, and a pair of lenses attached to wire precariously perched on her nose. And then she vanished as swiftly as she had appeared.”

Dix insists that the severed fingers started it, but it’s who I am, and who Dix is, that got us in so deep and nearly killed us in the process.

I’d love to hear anyone’s thoughts on the first sentence of my mystery novel. “Although I was thoroughly shaken by the note, all sticky-taped to my bedroom window, in red ink and all, my wonder is how someone could’ve gotten it there when our house is halfway off a cliff?”

First Line. Adriana awoke hearing the sound of her alarm clock ringing and the phone, in unison! She was grumpy before coffee and really didn’t want to answer her phone just yet.

Sorry this is 3 years too late but would hate to learn that you were discouraged from continuing your writing based on the comments from Wendy She clearly knows little about language. “Adverbial and adjective fluff” is objectively wrong. There is not one adverb in your opening sentence, for instance. And there is no need to specify which bones were broken nor what Hikala’a was doing. Your opening is fine and will move a reader to read on. Wendy seems to be a bit full of herself and doesn’t know the parts of speech. Good luck, CC! Don’t ever let anyone stop you from writing.

I just published my first book and I am 79. The first line of the story: Sybile knew Satan was genuine. My book is titled, “Ride The Dark Rails.” It is 12 short stories about, murder, revenge, and all is not what it seems.

I told my wife no one knows who I am, and I am looking for readers of my stories and not doing this for the money.

Congratulations, Richard!

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Great Opening Lines and Why They Work So Darn Well

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an article on great opening lines must be in want of a spoofed Jane Austen quote.

Actually, that approach might be a little played out, making it a less-than-stellar opener. But that’s okay, because today we’re here to learn. It takes a lot of writing and rewriting to find the perfect first sentence.

So how do you know when you’ve landed on a gem?

You’re about to find out. Using several examples of exceptional novel openers, we’re going to explore:

• What makes an opening line great
• Four types of first lines
• How to craft your own unforgettable story starter

First, let’s establish why we care about any of this.

Why Great Opening Lines Matter

The answer to this is delightfully straightforward:

Your opening line matters because it’s your first opportunity to draw the reader in.

Great opening lines entice the reader to keep going—to immerse themselves in your story’s world . A disappointing first sentence, on the other hand, might inspire them to set the book back on the shelf.

So how do you make sure your opener is super engaging?

First you need to understand this:

What Makes an Opening Line Great?

According to Stephen King, “An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.”

But how exactly do you achieve that effect?

Here are a few things a stellar opening line tends to do. 

Establishes a Distinctive Voice

A solid opener immediately introduces the reader to their narrator… or at least to their narrator’s voice . Consider this classic story starter from David Copperfield :

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”

Right away, you have a sense of the narrator’s personality and attitude. That tells you a lot about how you’re going to experience the story. Give your reader an engaging voice that sucks them in.

Sets the Tone

While voice is more about personality, tone is a reflection of mood and attitude. A novel’s tone can be defined with words like “chilling,” “romantic,” and “relaxed.”

A clear sense of tone helps the reader anticipate all the fun that lies ahead. Like this:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Dry and snarky. We’re in for a good time.

Creates a Sense of Time or Place

You can use your opening line to suck the reader into the world. This is an especially good idea if your novel’s setting is either interesting or crucial to the plot. Like this:

“When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon.” – The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley

How could you not read on?

Sparks Curiosity

“It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not.” – City of Glass by Paul Auster

I have so many questions, don’t you? What exactly did this wrong number start? Who was the voice on the other end, who were they asking for, and who actually picked up the phone?

A curiosity-inducing opening line will almost always force your reader to keep going.

Introduces an Intriguing Character, Conflict, or Perspective

Seems like a tall order for just one li’l opening line, I know. But it is possible to give the reader a glimpse of the person, problem, or perspective that will be driving the story. Felipe Alfau does it in eight words:

“The moment one learns English, complications set in.” – Chromos

That’s a viewpoint that’s almost guaranteed to catch the reader of an English language novel off-guard. It also plunges the reader into the experience of the book’s characters: Spanish immigrants trying to stay connected to home while building lives in New York City.

Types of Opening Lines That Work Every Time

Now you know how good opening lines welcome the reader into the story. How can you make sure that first sentence also grabs their attention?

Here are a few types of openers that, when done well, rarely fail.

Shocking Opening Lines

A shocking opener doesn’t have to be violent or offensive. It’s enough to surprise the reader with an unusual situation, a surprising turn of phrase, or the suggestion that a horrifying secret is about to be revealed.

Here are some great examples of alarming first lines.

“They shoot the white girl first.” – Paradise by Toni Morrison

“All children, except one, grow up.” – Peter and Wendy by James M. Barrie

“Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu.” – Waiting by Ha Jin

“You better not ever tell nobody but God.” – The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Humorous Opening Lines

Humor sparks delight, and delight makes folks want to stick around. So putting a dash of comedy in your novel’s first sentence can be a good move as long as it fits your story’s tone.

If your book is a comedy, a humorous opening line is practically mandatory.

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

“The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. That has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” – The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

“If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.” – The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

Thought-Provoking Opening Lines

Does your novel have a profound theme ? Does one of your characters have a thought-provoking perspective? Try working it into your novel’s first words.

Craft this story starter to inspire reflection or curiosity. Avoid anything that’s preachy or teachy or reachy. Keep it sincere and interesting, like these folks do:

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

“No live organism can continue for long to exist under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.” – The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

“A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.”  – The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

“It was the happiest moment of my life, though I didn’t know it. Had I known, had I cherished this gift, would everything have turned out differently?” – The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk

Scene-Setting Opening Lines

Another option is to plunge your reader into the circumstances of your story immediately. Where are they? What’s going on? How does it feel to be in this world?

The trick is to focus on what’s fascinating, remarkable, or establishes the tone. “Emma lived in a house with a white fence and a two car garage” is… well, probably the worst opening line I’ve ever written.

Here are better ones:

Examples 

“It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.” – The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” – The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

“The Santa Anas blew in hot from the desert, shriveling the last of the spring grass into whiskers of pale straw.” – White Oleander by Janet Fitch

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” – Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

How to Write Great Opening Lines

Feeling inspired to get creative and craft your own brilliant opening line? Here are some tips to help you crush it.

Tips and Tricks for Crafting Your First Sentence

Zero in on your novel’s best feature. What will readers love most about your novel? The wonder-inducing fantasy setting ? The unconventional philosophies of your outrageous protagonist? The world-shattering themes? Introduce the grabbiest element of your story right away.

Raise questions. Share information that immediately sparks a question in the reader’s mind. Where are those gunshots coming from? Why is Michigan all dystopian now? Who is this single man in possession of a good fortune?

Evoke emotion. Make the reader laugh, inspire awe, freak them out… whatever’s right for your story. Use the opening line to set emotional expectations for your novel.

Show, don’t tell. In other words, use vivid sensory language to help your reader feel like they’ve entered the world of your story instead of just reporting on events. 

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Beginning at the beginning. Start your story when your protagonist is already doing something that matters. Don’t begin with them preparing to do something or waking up in the morning. It’s boring. 

Purple prose. This term refers to ornate, flowery prose that draws attention to itself instead of the story. It’s an easy trap to fall into when you’re trying to stun readers with a masterful first line. Resist.

Mismatched voice or tone. Don’t let your narrator be hilarious or profound in your opener if they’ll never be hilarious or profound again. Your reader will feel misled.

Lying lies. On that note, skip the trickery. Don’t introduce a riveting conflict only to reveal that it was all just a dream or false alarm.

Handy-Dandy Exercises

Authors rarely go with their first opening line idea. You’ll probably try many versions before you find one you love. Here are some creative exercises to help you experiment: 

• Try each of the four types of story openers we talked about above. 
• If you’ve already written your opening scene, scan through to see if you spot one stellar, engaging sentence. What would happen if that was your opener—if you started the story right there?
• Try several openers, each introducing a different aspect of your protagonist’s personality . Maybe one reveals their unique perspective, another focuses on a nervous habit, and another highlights their greatest ambition.
• Do the same exercise, but with different aspects of your novel’s setting.
• Name the central conflict immediately in your opening line. What does that do for your story?

And What Happens After the Opening Line?

Once you knock out that exceptional opening line, you’re gonna need to back it up with a stellar story.

We’ve got a free ebook that can help you do exactly that. This thing is positively packed with great advice from plotting to revising . Download it here.

Need a hand keeping your head together throughout the noveling process? Check out Dabble! 

With Dabble, it’s easy to plot your novel, store ideas, draft, and revise. Even better: you can try all of Dabble’s features for free for 14 days. Just click this li’l link and dive in—no credit card required.

Abi Wurdeman is the author of Cross-Section of a Human Heart: A Memoir of Early Adulthood, as well as the novella, Holiday Gifts for Insufferable People. She also writes for film and television with her brother and writing partner, Phil Wurdeman. On occasion, Abi pretends to be a poet. One of her poems is (legally) stamped into a sidewalk in Santa Clarita, California. When she’s not writing, Abi is most likely hiking, reading, or texting her mother pictures of her houseplants to ask why they look like that.

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How to Write a Killer Opening to Your College Essay

Whether you’re still brainstorming topics for your college essay or personal statement, or completing your final draft, you know your essay needs to stand out from the crowd. You know you need to “get creative,” but it is so hard to know what a college wants to see.

While the school you are applying to also has access to your list of activities and transcript, your essay is their only chance to get to know your personality. Your personality and life experiences matter to your future college because they are a good indicator of whether you would be a good fit on their campus. Colleges ask for a “personal” statement for a reason.

The introduction paragraph of your essay sets the tone for the rest of the essay. So while the topic of your essay or personal statement needs to show depth and provide insight into the person behind the application, the introduction lays the blueprints for the reader on what to expect. So, get creative (we’ll explain what that really means!), skip the cheese, and write from the heart.

Make Creativity the Key

Your opening line should show creativity, but without being cheesy. Something like: “Laughter, much like time, can heal most wounds…” or, “The stage lights flooded my senses, blocking out my vision and the laughter of the crowd before me…” instantly makes the reader want to read further and see where this essay will take you. The reader immediately has questions. Is the author sick? Will the rest of the essay be funny or sad? This particular essay was written by a pre-med hopeful who enjoyed writing stand-up comedy on the side. Her essay shared information about her future career plans, while also inviting admissions professionals to catch a glimpse of her personal life outside the classroom, allowing them to feel like they know her well after reading her essay. If this same student had begun her essay with, “Life is like a box of chocolates,” to indicate her unique interests, the tone would be set with a trite, less authentic opening.

Create an Air of Mystery

Have you ever been so invested in a book that you secretly read the last page? It’s human nature to be attracted to a bit of drama. Riveting, mysterious opening lines keep the reader alert throughout the rest of your essay, as they try to anticipate the curve balls your essay may throw. Don’t be afraid to leave readers hanging for a moment with your first scene, as long as you provide the answers in a timely manner. Here are some examples:

“My hands shook as I realized my mistake.” This essay describes a student who makes a mistake in a laboratory that leads him to a new discovery. By beginning with this story, he is able to talk about his internship in a science lab, as well as end the essay with his experience having his discovery published in a medical journal, hitting two major points on his resume.

“The texture of yarn beneath my fingers reminded me of childhood stuffed animals.” This essay tells the story of a girl teaching herself to knit to connect with her grandmother, and eventually begins crocheting hats, scarves and toys for homeless and foster children. Readers are invited to know the author personally, in addition to expanding on one of her resume entries.

Paint a Picture

Every article containing advice about the Personal Statement agrees: Don’t tell your reader what you did, show them. Paint a picture for them. After an attention-grabbing opening line that leaves the reader wondering what comes next, the rest of your introduction needs to tell a story.

For example: “I turned to the young boy, pausing as his eyes brimmed with tears of frustration, before explaining my new plan of action to help him understand,” is much better than: “The summer before senior year, I tutored an elementary student in math and learned a lot about myself.”

The more detail you add, the more invested the reader will become. Remember, the college is admitting YOU, not just your resume.

Act Natural

A great beginning exercise is to make an outline with the essay prompts, whether these are the Common Application essay choices or the prompts found on the college’s admissions page. Try to answer each essay prompt with three essay topics. Start writing, and see which one flows the best and resonates with your creativity. With the right topic, the opening line will sound natural and the rest of the essay will flow easily.

If you are truly struggling with the voice or organization of your essay, try reading sample essays. While you are reading these essays, write down opening lines and sentences you feel are truly effective or clever. With a page of these inspiring sentences in front of you, try to rewrite your essay using these techniques and try a variety of opening lines.

Take the Bird’s Eye View

Take it from someone (me!) who sat in one of those admissions seats: It is truly essential that your essay be memorable, beginning with the opening line.

I remember the lengthy days of reading admissions files, often reviewing dozens of essays each day. Most of them sounded like copies of one another. Others I still remember to this day, despite reading at least a dozen essays before them that day. Read your opening line and full essay through the eyes of a potential admissions official who has read 20 essays before yours. Does your essay still stand out? Would it catch your attention at the end of a long day of reading essays?

If you can answer yes to these questions, you’re headed in the right direction.

Author: Michaela Schieffer

Michaela Schieffer is a former admissions counselor and now independent college counselor, guiding students through their college applications and essays through MoonPrep.com . Moon Prep's specialty lies in the Ivy League, direct medical programs (BS/MD), and highly competitive universities.

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Writing advice for small business

How to Captivate Hurried Readers with a Magic Opening Line

by Henneke | 97 enchanting opinions, add yours? :)

A good opening line sets the tone and invites readers into your story, making them eager to read on.

This article discusses how to write an opening sentence:

How to write an opening sentence

Let’s say you skip reading the first few sentences and start with the fourth?

I don’t like the pressure of writing a first sentence.

What if I fail to engage readers ? What if I’m boring them? What if I’ve wasted my time on this article because my first line sucks?

The task of writing a catchy first sentence can paralyze even the most acclaimed writers. In an interview with the Atlantic , Stephen King admits he can spend months, or even years, on writing the opening lines for a new book.

Sounds crazy, right?

As business writers, we don’t have the luxury of time. We have other things to do than worrying about one line of text.

So what can we do?

Let me share with you a trick for writing a first sentence super-fast. But first, let’s define what a good opening line is.

What makes an opening sentence good?

This is how the novel “Nervous Conditions” by Tsitsi Dangarembga starts:

I was not sorry when my brother died.

Why is this sentence good?

It entices you to read on.

That first sentence creates drama because it instantly raises two compelling questions in readers’ minds: Why did the brother die? And why was the author not sorry? A reader reads on because he wants to find out the answers to these two questions.

Stephen King says it like this:

An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.

One of the most famous opening sentences

This is how “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger starts:

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.

This famous opening line is 63 words long.

Is such a long sentence a good idea?

Ben Blatt analyzed what makes a good novel great, and he also reviewed first sentences. His conclusions are not clear cut, as he summarizes in his book “Nabokov’s Favorite Word is Mauve:”

The first sentence is only as popular as the rest of the book, and brevity alone will not make a first sentence great.

Our literary heroes may write lengthy first sentences.

But when writing for the web, we need to remember our readers. They’re not curled up on a comfy sofa with a book and a glass of Rioja. They’re hurrying across the web, searching for interesting articles to read and share. Who has the patience to start reading a block of text?

Examples of short opening sentences

Instead of following J.D. Salinger’s 63-word mammoth sentence, take your cue from Toni Morrison, the master of short first sentences, like this one from “Tar Baby:”

He believed he was safe.

From “Paradise:”

They shoot the white girl first.

From “God Help the Child:”

It’s not my fault.

Each of these sentences makes you curious to read on.

Your first sentence has two purposes. First, get people to read your first sentence—a short sentence works better because it’s easy to read. Then, make sure they want to read your second sentence.

The worst opening lines

Ben Blatt quotes the opening line of the book “Paul Clifford” by Edward Bulwer-Lytton as one of the most ridiculed opening lines ever:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

Not only is that sentence awfully long, its worst crime is that nothing happens. Nothing grabs attention. Nothing makes me curious. It’s simply a description of the weather. So what?

Of course, in business we rarely write about the weather, but you may have come across similar opening lines that fail to whet your appetite for reading more. For instance:

Many ways exist to choose your words.

As you know, Rome wasn’t built in one day.

In business, you have to take risks.

The above opening lines may be short, but they’re obvious statements, killing readers’ interest. There’s no incentive to read on.

A little-known shortcut for catchy opening sentences

Getting nervous about writing a good first sentence?

No need for nerves, when you know this blog writing trick …

Unlike novels, a blog post is often a conversation with our readers. And what easier way to engage readers than asking them a question?

A few examples:

Do you hear that nagging voice, too? ( source )

Do you ever feel a pang of envy? ( source )

Has it happened to you, too? ( source )

In a face-to-face meeting, you often start a conversation with a question, like: Cup of tea? How did your meeting go? Or: How’s business?

Why not do the same in your writing?

The one magic opening line doesn’t exist

So, no need to search for it anxiously.

Instead, remember your reader.

Imagine him hurrying across the web. He’s feeling restless. He’s impatient because he’s been wasting his time reading lousy blog posts.

How can you engage him? How can you make him read your first sentence? And then the next?

A good writer draws a reader in, and doesn’t let him go until the last word.

Bonus examples of great opening lines

The first sentence of How to Kidnap the Rich by Rahul Raina:

The first kidnapping wasn’t my fault.

This sentence conjures up so many questions that I couldn’t help myself to read on. Who was kidnapped? How was the protagonist involved? What happened after the first kidnapping? And how and why were the subsequent kidnappings his fault? All these questions made me read on.

This is the opening line from Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones:

My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist.

Do you also want to know more? Why was her father a bigamist? How did the protagonist find out her father was a bigamist? What happened with the two marriages? Were their children in both marriages?

Sometimes, a long first sentence is great. like this one from The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett:

The morning one of the lost twins returned to Mallard, Lou LeBon ran to the diner to break the news, and even now, many years later, everyone remembers the shock of sweaty Lou pushing through the glass doors, chest heaving, neckline darkened with his own effort.

Why were the twins lost? Why did one return? And why did everyone remember?

Recommended reading on writing good sentences:

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October 27, 2022 at 3:24 am

Why was her father an bigamist? / FYI- it should read “a” bigamist…

Great suggestions. Still in learning mode…some volunteer pieces published… Thanks.

October 27, 2022 at 9:22 am

Well spotted! I’ve updated it. Thank you.

August 3, 2022 at 12:35 pm

Hi Henneke,

Today has been my Opening Paragraph study time (as l follow your writing techniques format).

I have always wondered about a few things which you fully answered. Though l got a little confused with this particular post.

– With an accidental one, l chances upon, Why your titles are always different? (one in the feed and on the actual post)

– l suppose the opening line is “Can l skip the opening sentence of of this post?

Qn, is this an I or you approach based blog? – Starting from the above sentence ” Can l skip…’ to the 5th sentence. I didn’t get the flow.

Why? I always feel you speaking to me, the reader whenever l read your posts.

And that’s daily.

– But in this one, it’s like you were musing to yourself..

Please, help me clarify on this… I am doing loooots of learning. Thank you 🙏🙏

August 3, 2022 at 4:29 pm

I write usually 3+ headline variations for different goals (SEO, at the top of the blog post, and for social media), as the length and importance of keyword differs.

I often use templates for writing opening paragraphs but not always. Sometimes, an opening just turns out differently or sometimes I want to try a variation. Sometimes it works, sometimes less so. Sometimes an opening resonates with some readers and less with others. I also developed the templates by trial and error.

While templates are useful, they should never be a straitjacket.

January 25, 2022 at 9:09 pm

Love this. Nicking it right now for a lesson on great opening sentences for a lost group of kids who struggle to read. Any chance we can send you our attempts to comment on? Would be a great motivator!! Thank you!

January 26, 2022 at 11:05 am

Mrs. Maccormac, you’re welcome to use my article in your class. I wish I were able to help out with giving feedback but I’ve learned that’s just not possible. I work only part-time. I try to be generous with the tips I share here on my blog but just don’t have the time to help everyone with free feedback. I wouldn’t have time left to write my next blog post!

August 19, 2021 at 4:48 pm

This is a post I keep coming back to Henneke. And, like magic, it gets me thinking (of the obvious, right?) and boom! My sentence pops up. Thank you so much for that!

August 19, 2021 at 9:16 pm

That’s so wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing that, Lia. I appreciate it!

April 23, 2021 at 9:35 pm

I’ve been trying to write a story for 4 weeks now and all I have is the title and who it’s by. This really helped me thank you so much.

April 25, 2021 at 8:12 pm

I’m glad this helped you get unstuck. Happy writing!

December 8, 2020 at 6:47 pm

Hello and thank you so much for sharing your wisdom in such a palatable way. I often have a hard time using your advice though. Mostly I can’t seem to find a way to apply it to my field. I’m a web developer and I write articles about code. It seems writing advice is often targeted at more “exciting” topics: “learn to write better”, “increase your income”, “learn to sell anything to anybody”. But when it comes to “make your website responsive” or “learn PHP” I have a hard time making things exciting. Any advice?

December 9, 2020 at 9:57 am

Writing doesn’t always need to be exciting. The basic requirement is that you help readers achieve their goals, solve their problems, and answer their questions. Well laid out information that’s helpful and easy to consume is key, and often that’s enough.

If you want to add more interest, think about telling stories. For instance, what happens when a site isn’t responsive? How does that make web visitors feel? How can you compare it to other experiences in life? E.g., is an unresponsive website similar to trying to reach a call center all afternoon, waiting to get through the call queue while listening to terrible music? And now, when you make a site responsive, how does that experience change? Imagine, calling customer service and they pick up before the first ring; you hear a friendly voice: What can I do for you?

That’s just a quick example!

December 9, 2020 at 5:35 pm

This is a terrific example. I would never have thought of it. Thank you!

October 20, 2020 at 8:38 am

“A good writer draws a reader in, and doesn’t let him go until the last word.” You’re the best writer to my mind! Really. I never take-off (I’m not sure that is the perfect word – I’m french) BEFORE the last word. Thank you so much, Henneke, for inspiring me everyday.

October 20, 2020 at 8:33 pm

That’s a lovely compliment. Thank you so much, Natacha.

April 19, 2020 at 2:19 pm

Thank u so much. This article gives me a lot of ideas for creative articles on my site.. Next, I hope you’ll create articles with examples like this again. I can’t wait to read it again next time.

April 19, 2020 at 2:33 pm

Thank you, Gginanjar. Happy writing!

January 18, 2020 at 9:59 am

“We were drinking champagne in the kitchen when the nun telephoned.” Opening sentence of my first novel, “Singing Bird”. I hope it draws the reader in.

January 18, 2020 at 12:50 pm

It’ll make people want to know what the nun called about. Congrats on your first novel!

January 8, 2020 at 2:45 am

Thank you for this. It will help greatly in the story I’m writing.

January 8, 2020 at 7:33 pm

Happy storytelling, Foxy!

April 22, 2021 at 2:47 pm

Thanks Henneke .I’m just new born writer trying to survive in the literature world with a lot of characters in my brain. And I have seen that this will help me no end. Again thank you

April 22, 2021 at 6:45 pm

I’m glad you found it useful. Happy writing!

June 13, 2019 at 1:56 pm

For me it is quite opposite than posted. Examples in the article are artsy and pretentious and those ‘wrong’ are interesting. I suppose it depends on what does one expect from book. Those ‘right’ first sentences remind me of intrusive commercials, or speak of boring casual events or author’s/hero’s ideas exposed too soon and too explicitly. Rather than that I prefer to get to know with their minds indirect, through depictions and longer storyline. Usually if somebody wants to flash already at the beginning, he/she has a complex to cover. Those who has valuable content do not need a commercial or flashing.

June 14, 2019 at 12:26 pm

Defining good writing is always a subjective matter. No objective rules exists. So, you’ll always a couple of people who have different preferences.

I’m impressed you read on after reading my first sentence!

June 13, 2018 at 12:05 am

Loved this post! Get their attention, first impressions are key.

June 13, 2018 at 1:52 pm

That’s it! 🙂 Thank you, Matthew.

April 23, 2018 at 6:57 am

Thank you, Henneke. Again, nicely done. 🙂

April 23, 2018 at 9:00 am

Thank you, Lucas 🙂

April 20, 2018 at 3:49 pm

I recommend Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go by Les Edgerton for writing epic opening lines! It might be for fiction but the principles are similar.

April 20, 2018 at 7:23 pm

Thank you so much for the recommendation, LJ. I’ve added it to my reading list and look forward to reading it!

April 20, 2018 at 10:50 am

Excellent hook leading off this post Henneke. If you spend a moment to think through the opening line, or, a bit longer, you reel readers in. Kudos to Stephen King for spending such time getting his open down cold. Reminds me of George R.R. Martin’s works. Genius writers take their time to make a seismic impact.

April 23, 2018 at 11:17 am

Thank you, Ryan. I’m glad you enjoyed the hook 🙂 And yes, I agree with you, spending a little more time on writing an opening line can pay off.

Thank you for stopping by!

April 18, 2018 at 9:41 am

Hi Henneke I love reading everything about everything on blogs and you’re right, what makes me want to continue is how the writer captures my attention at the beginning.I am going to do this on my blog. Thank you

April 18, 2018 at 8:01 pm

Great! Many people may be skimming blog posts, but with a good opening we have a chance of engaging readers, so they actually read from our first to our last word. Happy blogging, Jane! And thank you for stopping by.

April 17, 2018 at 1:33 am

This is an awesome article. Thanks so much for shining a light on a subject that strikes fear into the hearts of most writers.

April 17, 2018 at 3:26 pm

Thank you, Cary. Happy writing!

April 15, 2018 at 1:20 pm

More often I’ll write my opening sentence after I’ve written the main body of the article. It saves sweating hours over the crucial opening before you have anything down on paper (aka the screen).

I’m also fond of using questions, although I challenge myself to use different openings, so I don’t become too predictable. And if I’m not mistaken, when you write for Social Media Examiner I believe you have to use two questions at the beginning of your article. (Take a peep, and you’ll see what I mean.)

Thanks for sharing your tips. – David

April 15, 2018 at 7:19 pm

I do exactly the same. I write the main body of the article, and then the next day I write the intro and final paragraph. It feels more doable that way.

The Social Media Examiner openings feel quite formulaic, don’t you think? Or maybe it’s just me.

Have you noticed I used one (!) exclamation mark in this post? Especially for you 🙂

Thank you for stopping by, David (and for tweeting!)

April 15, 2018 at 7:32 pm

I didn’t like to mention it… But it fits perfectly! (oops)

April 15, 2018 at 8:07 pm

April 13, 2018 at 8:15 am

This is the perfect post for me at the perfect time. Thanks for the well articulated tips. Going try this for my next post. Thank you much for the great inspiration.

April 14, 2018 at 6:41 pm

Great. It makes me happy that you feel inspired. Thank you, Rosie!

April 12, 2018 at 2:30 pm

I’ve found that the way that works the best for me is to imagine I’m talking to someone. If I write conversationally, then I get better results and that definitely applies to the first line too!

April 12, 2018 at 4:06 pm

That sounds like a great approach as you can’t forget that you’re writing for your reader.

Thank you for stopping by, Sarah. I appreciate it.

April 11, 2018 at 11:31 pm

Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves. We become focused on getting the information on paper and our first sentence can overwhelm.

And it can be a pain to create but with examples like the ones you’ve provided Henneke, there’s a road to follow. Thank you for the clarity.

April 12, 2018 at 3:54 pm

I’m glad you’ve found the examples helpful, Judy 🙂

One other trick is to skip writing the introductory paragraph of a post. I find this the most difficult part to write, so I prefer writing the main body first. Then, the opening becomes more doable.

Thank you for stopping by.

April 11, 2018 at 12:52 pm

When I write the fiction – I often write something off. And it intrigues the reader.

For example,

Adam is guy who killed. And she kills it.

And then I write a story about feminine Adam who kills it in fashion industry. And apparently is murdered.

It is a fun game for me. And an interesting opening line for readers.

Thanks Henneke, keep writing more…

April 11, 2018 at 8:54 pm

You got it!

Maybe one day I try writing fiction, too. I’ve never tried it. There’s still enough non-fiction for me to write 🙂

Thank you for stopping by, Rohan.

April 11, 2018 at 7:22 am

This one is great, I usually find myself forgetting the captivating role of the first sentence. I now know how to keep them by my side from start and hopefully through the end. Can it apply in a news-style writing? Thanks so much Henneke.

April 11, 2018 at 10:07 am

News-style writing is usually a bit different as it doesn’t aim to get people to read from start to finish. So, in news reporting, you often get the main message of the article in the first sentence. Journalists call it the inverted pyramid: you put your most important information first, and your least important information at the end.

April 11, 2018 at 7:21 am

This is great. Often, i start my posts with one or two questions to intrigue my readers. I’ll try to experiment with other opening lines.

April 11, 2018 at 10:05 am

Great! I hope you’ll enjoy your experiment 🙂

Thank you for stopping by, Vincent.

April 10, 2018 at 11:19 pm

I read recently that using headlines that can be answered NO is a bad idea because people don’t want to click to read on… It was specific to headlines, but I’m wondering if it applies to to opening lines also. Thoughts?

Yes, that’s especially true when writing sales copy. In sales copy, you only want to use questions that people answer YES to. When you get them in the mode of agreeing with you (nodding Yes), then you increase the chance that they may agree to take up your sales offer, too. In contrast, if they think NO, then you risk them turning away.

In blog writing, you have perhaps a little more leeway, as long as you invite readers to read on.

April 11, 2018 at 11:05 am

Thanks! Always finding a question that can’t be answered no is tough, so I’m glad to read that inviting along once they’ve arrive is also good.

April 11, 2018 at 11:23 am

When trying to think of the right question, think of your ideal reader (or buyer persona). Only your ideal reader has to say (or think) YES. It doesn’t matter if people outside your target audience say NO. The question acts as a filter, so you only attract the right people.

My first sentence could have been: “Struggling to write a compelling first sentence?” The blog post isn’t written for the people who think NO, so it’s okay if the question makes them click away.

April 10, 2018 at 9:45 pm

Ironic, I was just studying ‘first lines’ myself! And the common theme was…”make it inviting”. Not iconic. Exactly what you’ve said here. If it happens to get that label, fine. That’s out of our control. But we can write a sentence that makes a reader curious enough to keep going.

April 11, 2018 at 10:02 am

What a coincidence!

I like the suggestion that your first sentence doesn’t need to be iconic. My feeling is that a first sentence can’t even be iconic. It’s the book that makes famous opening lines so memorable. For instance, a lot of people say “Call me Ishmael” is their favorite first line. I haven’t read Moby Dick (yes, I know, something wrong in my education), so I don’t get at all why that first sentence would be so good. It’s the book that makes the line memorable.

April 10, 2018 at 9:32 pm

Great one, Henneke! It’s far better to have trouble thinking of a great opening line, than it is to think you ARE writing one and be wrong! Haha! I think your great suggestions also could apply to the excerpt we might apply when sharing on social media. If we are sharing an excerpt, the opening line of the article might not appear for the viewer. It’s something to think about. I have a couple of questions, though. For the loyal repeat reader, would the constant use of a startling or a questioning first line become tiresome? If we use a question for the title, is it redundant to use one for the opening line? So far my most-visited posts have straight-forward titles and first lines. I’m excited to see what I can drum up with the new, improved versions.

April 11, 2018 at 9:59 am

I think the key is the word that Stephen King uses: inviting. As long as your opening sentence (or opening question) invites the reader to start reading, it doesn’t become tiresome. But if you try to be too clever or repeat a similar phrase too often, then it might become tiresome to loyal readers.

I try mixing it up. Sometimes using questions, sometimes inviting statements.

If you have a question for the title, then the opening line could be a follow on question but it can be an inviting sentence, too.

April 10, 2018 at 8:58 pm

Hi Henneke, Every time i read your posts, i learn so much. Thanks for doing such a great job always.

April 10, 2018 at 9:15 pm

Thank you so much, Sola. I appreciate your compliment 🙂

April 10, 2018 at 8:06 pm

Even as I clicked the link I found myself thinking “this time for sure she’ll let me down” even while a chuckle escaped my lips as once again I was caught up from the first sentence.

I’d hate to disappoint you, Marie. I’m glad I didn’t 🙂

April 10, 2018 at 7:53 pm

Henneke –

Thanks. I enjoyed the Stephen King article.

I especially like the tip to start with a question? Although I’ve discovered editors do not like this approach because it often gets edited out.

What do you think?

BTW, you reminded my favorite opening line fail: “It goes with saying …

April 10, 2018 at 9:14 pm

That is a fantastic fail. I wish I had thought of that 🙂

With editors, I think it’s a matter of style and education. Editors with a journalism or academic background may have different views on what sounds right. But blogging is quite different from academic writing or newspaper reporting.

I just checked my old Copyblogger posts, and more than half of them start with a question, so their editors haven’t edited the questions out.

April 10, 2018 at 9:19 pm

Yes, that makes sense. Those were editors with traditional print magazine backgrounds.

Copyblogger is one of my reference points too. 🙂

April 10, 2018 at 6:39 pm

I loved reading this article, and have shared it with my writers! We forget that first impressions count, both in life and in the world of words!

April 10, 2018 at 9:09 pm

Thank you so much for sharing, Shane. And yes, first impressions count 🙂

April 10, 2018 at 5:03 pm

I’ve always loved your posts. This one included. In signature Henneke style you deal with this worthwhile topic with perfection! That was going to be my opening line. But now that you’ve reminded me of the importance of brevity, I’m thinking that it may have been too long to grab you. 🙂 Your description of changing things up when you feel you’re getting into a first-sentence-pattern resonates with me. I was horrified when my partner said “It’s good…but why do you always start the same?” after reading a blog post I’d written. That was my wake-up call to watch out for those sneaky little patterns that try to park themselves in our writers’ brain!!

April 10, 2018 at 9:08 pm

It’s really easy for a sneaky pattern to go on repeat. It has worked and you know it works, so you keep doing it. I think it happens to all of us from time to time.

Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Lee.

April 10, 2018 at 4:33 pm

April 10, 2018 at 4:50 pm

Thank you, Stephen. Was there something specific that appealed to you?

April 10, 2018 at 4:29 pm

Although I agree we need to get people’s attention, I’ve changed how I write for the web. I used to try to write clever opening lines and titles in my blog posts, but changed all that for better SEO. According to my SEO app (Yoast) the opening line of a blog post, post title, subtitles, and also YouTube videos and video descriptions (according to YouTube’s own best practices guidelines) has to contain your keyword/key phrase. And that’s not usually the most eye-grabbing sentence. There really is no way around this unless you get lucky with your keyword/key phrase.

I also use the Yoast app for SEO. This allows me to write two blog title versions – a slightly more interesting version that you see at the top of the blog post (How to Captivate Hurried Readers with a Magic Opening Line), and a keyword-focused version specifically for SEO. In the case of this blog post, the SEO version is: How to Write a Good Opening Sentence (With Examples).

I’m no SEO expert, but I don’t think it’s necessary to have your keyword in the very first sentence; just the first paragraph is okay. Even so, I still often ignore this rule and Yoast still gives me a “green light.” I seem to get good rankings as long as I tick a few of the SEO boxes but not necessarily all.

April 10, 2018 at 6:48 pm

It’s definitely an area I struggle with, but the results (especially on YouTube) speak for themselves. Possibly because I write/create videos more about tech stuff. And I use other tools than Yoast for YouTube SEO. Maybe writing in a non-boring way while keeping SEO happy, is a good topic for a future blog post.

April 10, 2018 at 9:11 pm

I can imagine YouTube is different and I have no experience there. But I can write about the balance between readers vs SEO for blog writing. I’ve noted it down. Thank you for the idea 🙂

April 10, 2018 at 3:54 pm

Yes, the dreaded opening stumps me too. I love your examples, Henneke. Even Stephen King gets stumped. (I feel better).

“It was a dark and stormy night” is so famous (and bad) it inspired an annual fiction contest. Would be fun to give it a try this year. What do you think? http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/

April 10, 2018 at 4:41 pm

That contest sounds like so much fun. We have until the end of June to enter 🙂

April 10, 2018 at 6:07 pm

Okay, I’m marking my calendar. We’ll put bad intro writing to the test 🙂

I’ve marked my calendar, too. Let’s do it 🙂

April 10, 2018 at 2:52 pm

Brilliant! Thank you.

April 10, 2018 at 3:15 pm

Thank you, Shirley 🙂

April 10, 2018 at 1:00 pm

Great post. And great opening line too!

I can see what you did there 😉 You voice your own discomfort about writing opening lines, and hey presto, you’ve got an excellent opening!

Emotion and authenticity: works every time.

April 10, 2018 at 1:05 pm

It was definitely authentic. I was seriously feeling the pressure and was thinking to myself, “I really don’t want to write this first sentence.” And that’s when I wondered how I could skip it 🙂

I like how you phrase the combination: emotion and authenticity.

Thank you for adding your thoughts, Bart 🙂

April 10, 2018 at 12:27 pm

Another great post from you! It is indeed difficult to strum up an opening line – be it an email or a blog post.

I noticed an error in an otherwise amazing write-up and thought I’ll let you know – The ‘Cather’ in the Rye.

Keep writing brilliant stuff!

Best, Vinita

April 10, 2018 at 12:37 pm

Oops. Good catch. Thank you for letting me know. I’ve corrected it.

April 10, 2018 at 11:59 am

Henneke, you’re a mind reader! I was wrestling with the opening of a short post and strayed towards my inbox to distract myself and there I see your email titled “how to write a magic opening line …” !! Thank you for compiling great and lousy openings, as it would’ve taken me years to do this myself 🙂 Awesome!

April 10, 2018 at 12:04 pm

Yes, I’m a mind reader 😉

I’m glad the post came at exactly the right time for you.

By the way, another trick is to write your first line last.

Happy writing, Syed!

April 10, 2018 at 11:54 am

April 10, 2018 at 12:03 pm

April 10, 2018 at 11:51 am

I never paid attention to the opening lines until three years ago when a content manager at a company told me to entice readers a little with the opening line of the blog post.

The best part is that I did experiments with different versions of the opening lines.

I figured out that it’s an art, meaning, you have to understand the nuances — you should be enticing the readers by giving something away and holding some part of the story to keep them reading.

I’ve experimented with questions, short-sentences, and telling a story right away at the beginning of the article.

I must say it’s important to put out the right words/lines to get started with your article.

Great topic and article. Thank you.

I totally agree with you on experimentation. I try not to get stuck with one type of opening lines as it feels like it becomes too predictable. I’m not sure readers would notice if they read a post every other week. But when it feels to me like I’ve used a particular technique too often, I try something different.

Thank you for adding your thoughts. I appreciate it.

April 11, 2018 at 1:59 pm

I’m glad to hear that.

April 10, 2018 at 10:35 am

‘Remember your reader’ — great , genuine advice!

I often start my intros with a question mark, it gets readers interested to hear more…

April 10, 2018 at 11:22 am

Yep, “remember your reader” is the essence of good writing (but it’s easy to forget).

Thank you for stopping by, Codrut! 🙂

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15 Powerful Speech Opening Lines (And How to Create Your Own)

Hrideep barot.

• Public Speaking , Speech Writing

Powerful speech opening lines set the tone and mood of your speech. It’s what grips the audience to want to know more about the rest of your talk.

The first few seconds are critical. It’s when you have maximum attention of the audience. And you must capitalize on that!

Instead of starting off with something plain and obvious such as a ‘Thank you’ or ‘Good Morning’, there’s so much more you can do for a powerful speech opening (here’s a great article we wrote a while ago on how you should NOT start your speech ).

To help you with this, I’ve compiled some of my favourite openings from various speakers. These speakers have gone on to deliver TED talks , win international Toastmaster competitions or are just noteworthy people who have mastered the art of communication.

After each speaker’s opening line, I have added how you can include their style of opening into your own speech. Understanding how these great speakers do it will certainly give you an idea to create your own speech opening line which will grip the audience from the outset!

Alright! Let’s dive into the 15 powerful speech openings…

Note: Want to take your communications skills to the next level? Book a complimentary consultation with one of our expert communication coaches. We’ll look under the hood of your hurdles and pick two to three growth opportunities so you can speak with impact!

1. Ric Elias

Opening: “Imagine a big explosion as you climb through 3,000 ft. Imagine a plane full of smoke. Imagine an engine going clack, clack, clack. It sounds scary. Well I had a unique seat that day. I was sitting in 1D.”

How to use the power of imagination to open your speech?

Putting your audience in a state of imagination can work extremely well to captivate them for the remainder of your talk.

It really helps to bring your audience in a certain mood that preps them for what’s about to come next. Speakers have used this with high effectiveness by transporting their audience into an imaginary land to help prove their point.

When Ric Elias opened his speech, the detail he used (3000 ft, sound of the engine going clack-clack-clack) made me feel that I too was in the plane. He was trying to make the audience experience what he was feeling – and, at least in my opinion, he did.

When using the imagination opening for speeches, the key is – detail. While we want the audience to wander into imagination, we want them to wander off to the image that we want to create for them. So, detail out your scenario if you’re going to use this technique.

Make your audience feel like they too are in the same circumstance as you were when you were in that particular situation.

2. Barack Obama

Opening: “You can’t say it, but you know it’s true.”

3. Seth MacFarlane

Opening: “There’s nowhere I would rather be on a day like this than around all this electoral equipment.” (It was raining)

How to use humour to open your speech?

When you use humour in a manner that suits your personality, it can set you up for a great speech. Why? Because getting a laugh in the first 30 seconds or so is a great way to quickly get the audience to like you.

And when they like you, they are much more likely to listen to and believe in your ideas.

Obama effortlessly uses his opening line to entice laughter among the audience. He brilliantly used the setting (the context of Trump becoming President) and said a line that completely matched his style of speaking.

Saying a joke without really saying a joke and getting people to laugh requires you to be completely comfortable in your own skin. And that’s not easy for many people (me being one of them).

If the joke doesn’t land as expected, it could lead to a rocky start.

Keep in mind the following when attempting to deliver a funny introduction:

• Know your audience: Make sure your audience gets the context of the joke (if it’s an inside joke among the members you’re speaking to, that’s even better!). You can read this article we wrote where we give you tips on how you can actually get to know your audience better to ensure maximum impact with your speech openings
• The joke should suit your natural personality. Don’t make it look forced or it won’t elicit the desired response
• Test the opening out on a few people who match your real audience. Analyze their response and tweak the joke accordingly if necessary
• Starting your speech with humour means your setting the tone of your speech. It would make sense to have a few more jokes sprinkled around the rest of the speech as well as the audience might be expecting the same from you

4. Mohammed Qahtani

Opening: Puts a cigarette on his lips, lights a lighter, stops just before lighting the cigarette. Looks at audience, “What?”

5. Darren Tay

Opening: Puts a white pair of briefs over his pants.

How to use props to begin your speech?

The reason props work so well in a talk is because in most cases the audience is not expecting anything more than just talking. So when a speaker pulls out an object that is unusual, everyone’s attention goes right to it.

It makes you wonder why that prop is being used in this particular speech.

The key word here is unusual . To grip the audience’s attention at the beginning of the speech, the prop being used should be something that the audience would never expect. Otherwise, it just becomes something that is common. And common = boring!

What Mohammed Qahtani and Darren Tay did superbly well in their talks was that they used props that nobody expected them to.

By pulling out a cigarette and lighter or a white pair of underwear, the audience can’t help but be gripped by what the speaker is about to do next. And that makes for a powerful speech opening.

6. Simon Sinek

Opening: “How do you explain when things don’t go as we assume? Or better, how do you explain when others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all of the assumptions?”

7. Julian Treasure

Opening: “The human voice. It’s the instrument we all play. It’s the most powerful sound in the world. Probably the only one that can start a war or say “I love you.” And yet many people have the experience that when they speak people don’t listen to them. Why is that? How can we speak powerfully to make change in the world?”

How to use questions to open a speech?

I use this method often. Starting off with a question is the simplest way to start your speech in a manner that immediately engages the audience.

But we should keep our questions compelling as opposed to something that is fairly obvious.

I’ve heard many speakers start their speeches with questions like “How many of us want to be successful?”

No one is going to say ‘no’ to that and frankly, I just feel silly raising my hand at such questions.

Simon Sinek and Jullian Treasure used questions in a manner that really made the audience think and make them curious to find out what the answer to that question is.

What Jullian Treasure did even better was the use of a few statements which built up to his question. This made the question even more compelling and set the theme for what the rest of his talk would be about.

So think of what question you can ask in your speech that will:

• Set the theme for the remainder of your speech
• Not be something that is fairly obvious
• Be compelling enough so that the audience will actually want to know what the answer to that question will be

8. Aaron Beverley

Opening: Long pause (after an absurdly long introduction of a 57-word speech title). “Be honest. You enjoyed that, didn’t you?”

How to use silence for speech openings?

The reason this speech opening stands out is because of the fact that the title itself is 57 words long. The audience was already hilariously intrigued by what was going to come next.

But what’s so gripping here is the way Aaron holds the crowd’s suspense by…doing nothing. For about 10 to 12 seconds he did nothing but stand and look at the audience. Everyone quietened down. He then broke this silence by a humorous remark that brought the audience laughing down again.

When going on to open your speech, besides focusing on building a killer opening sentence, how about just being silent?

It’s important to keep in mind that the point of having a strong opening is so that the audience’s attention is all on you and are intrigued enough to want to listen to the rest of your speech.

Silence is a great way to do that. When you get on the stage, just pause for a few seconds (about 3 to 5 seconds) and just look at the crowd. Let the audience and yourself settle in to the fact that the spotlight is now on you.

I can’t put my finger on it, but there is something about starting the speech off with a pure pause that just makes the beginning so much more powerful. It adds credibility to you as a speaker as well, making you look more comfortable and confident on stage. 

If you want to know more about the power of pausing in public speaking , check out this post we wrote. It will give you a deeper insight into the importance of pausing and how you can harness it for your own speeches. You can also check out this video to know more about Pausing for Public Speaking:

9. Dan Pink

Opening: “I need to make a confession at the outset here. Little over 20 years ago, I did something that I regret. Something that I’m not particularly proud of. Something that in many ways I wish no one would ever know but that here I feel kind of obliged to reveal.”

10. Kelly McGonigal

Opening: “I have a confession to make. But first I want you to make a little confession to me.”

How to use a build-up to open your speech?

When there are so many amazing ways to start a speech and grip an audience from the outset, why would you ever choose to begin your speech with a ‘Good morning?’.

That’s what I love about build-ups. They set the mood for something awesome that’s about to come in that the audience will feel like they just have to know about.

Instead of starting a speech as it is, see if you can add some build-up to your beginning itself. For instance, in Kelly McGonigal’s speech, she could have started off with the question of stress itself (which she eventually moves on to in her speech). It’s not a bad way to start the speech.

But by adding the statement of “I have a confession to make” and then not revealing the confession for a little bit, the audience is gripped to know what she’s about to do next and find out what indeed is her confession.

11. Tim Urban

Opening: “So in college, I was a government major. Which means that I had to write a lot of papers. Now when a normal student writes a paper, they might spread the work out a little like this.”

12. Scott Dinsmore

Opening: “8 years ago, I got the worst career advice of my life.”

How to use storytelling as a speech opening?

“The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller.” Steve Jobs

Storytelling is the foundation of good speeches. Starting your speech with a story is a great way to grip the audience’s attention. It makes them yearn to want to know how the rest of the story is going to pan out.

Tim Urban starts off his speech with a story dating back to his college days. His use of slides is masterful and something we all can learn from. But while his story sounds simple, it does the job of intriguing the audience to want to know more.

As soon as I heard the opening lines, I thought to myself “If normal students write their paper in a certain manner, how does Tim write his papers?”

Combine such a simple yet intriguing opening with comedic slides, and you’ve got yourself a pretty gripping speech.

Scott Dismore’s statement has a similar impact. However, just a side note, Scott Dismore actually started his speech with “Wow, what an honour.”

I would advise to not start your talk with something such as that. It’s way too common and does not do the job an opening must, which is to grip your audience and set the tone for what’s coming.

13. Larry Smith

Opening: “I want to discuss with you this afternoon why you’re going to fail to have a great career.”

14. Jane McGonigal

Opening: “You will live 7.5 minutes longer than you would have otherwise, just because you watched this talk.”

How to use provocative statements to start your speech?

Making a provocative statement creates a keen desire among the audience to want to know more about what you have to say. It immediately brings everyone into attention.

Larry Smith did just that by making his opening statement surprising, lightly humorous, and above all – fearful. These elements lead to an opening statement which creates so much curiosity among the audience that they need to know how your speech pans out.

This one time, I remember seeing a speaker start a speech with, “Last week, my best friend committed suicide.” The entire crowd was gripped. Everyone could feel the tension in the room.

They were just waiting for the speaker to continue to know where this speech will go.

That’s what a hard-hitting statement does, it intrigues your audience so much that they can’t wait to hear more! Just a tip, if you do start off with a provocative, hard-hitting statement, make sure you pause for a moment after saying it.

Silence after an impactful statement will allow your message to really sink in with the audience.

Related article: 5 Ways to Grab Your Audience’s Attention When You’re Losing it!

15. Ramona J Smith

Opening: In a boxing stance, “Life would sometimes feel like a fight. The punches, jabs and hooks will come in the form of challenges, obstacles and failures. Yet if you stay in the ring and learn from those past fights, at the end of each round, you’ll be still standing.”

How to use your full body to grip the audience at the beginning of your speech?

In a talk, the audience is expecting you to do just that – talk. But when you enter the stage and start putting your full body into use in a way that the audience does not expect, it grabs their attention.

Body language is critical when it comes to public speaking. Hand gestures, stage movement, facial expressions are all things that need to be paid attention to while you’re speaking on stage. But that’s not I’m talking about here.

Here, I’m referring to a unique use of the body that grips the audience, like how Ramona did. By using her body to get into a boxing stance, imitating punches, jabs and hooks with her arms while talking – that’s what got the audience’s attention.

The reason I say this is so powerful is because if you take Ramona’s speech and remove the body usage from her opening, the entire magic of the opening falls flat.

While the content is definitely strong, without those movements, she would not have captured the audience’s attention as beautifully as she did with the use of her body.

So if you have a speech opening that seems slightly dull, see if you can add some body movement to it.

If your speech starts with a story of someone running, actually act out the running. If your speech starts with a story of someone reading, actually act out the reading.

It will make your speech opening that much more impactful.

Related article: 5 Body Language Tips to Command the Stage

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Final Words

So there it is! 15 speech openings from some of my favourite speeches. Hopefully, these will act as a guide for you to create your own opening which is super impactful and sets you off on the path to becoming a powerful public speaker!

But remember, while a speech opening is super important, it’s just part of an overall structure.

If you’re serious about not just creating a great speech opening but to improve your public speaking at an overall level, I would highly recommend you to check out this course: Acumen Presents: Chris Anderson on Public Speaking on Udemy. Not only does it have specific lectures on starting and ending a speech, but it also offers an in-depth guide into all the nuances of public speaking. 

Being the founder of TED Talks, Chris Anderson provides numerous examples of the best TED speakers to give us a very practical way of overcoming stage fear and delivering a speech that people will remember. His course has helped me personally and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to learn public speaking. 

No one is ever “done” learning public speaking. It’s a continuous process and you can always get better. Keep learning, keep conquering and keep being awesome!

Lastly, if you want to know how you should NOT open your speech, we’ve got a video for you:

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10 Great Opening Lines from Stanford Admissions Essays

By Lynn O'Shaughnessy

Updated on: June 15, 2011 / 10:14 AM EDT / MoneyWatch

Now that it's summer, you've got time to write a great college essay. And to get your college admissions essay off to the right start, begin with a captivating opening line.

Want examples? Here are samples from winning college essays courtesy of Stanford University . These are opening lines of admissions essays that the Stanford admission reps especially liked. All of the essay writers were accepted as members of the class of 2012. You can find even more opening lines of sample admission essays in the Stanford Magazine .

10 Opening Lines from Stanford Admission Essays

• I change my name each time I place an order at Starbucks.
• When I was in the eighth grade I couldn't read.
• While traveling through the daily path of life, have you ever stumbled upon a hidden pocket of the universe?
• I have old hands.
• I was paralyzed from the waist down. I would try to move my leg or even shift an ankle but I never got a response. This was the first time thoughts of death ever cross my mind.
• I almost didn't live through September 11th, 2001.
• The spaghetti burbled and slushed around the pan, and as I stirred it, the noises it gave off began to sound increasingly like bodily functions.
• I have been surfing Lake Michigan since I was 3 years old.
• I stand on the riverbank surveying this rippled range like some riparian cowboy -instead of chaps, I wear vinyl, thigh-high waders and a lasso of measuring tape and twine is slung over my arm.
• I had never seen anyone get so excited about mitochondria.

Read More on CBS MoneyWatch:

View all articles by Lynn O'Shaughnessy on CBS MoneyWatch» Lynn O'Shaughnessy is a best-selling author, consultant and speaker on issues that parents with college-bound teenagers face. She explains how families can make college more affordable through her website TheCollegeSolution.com ; her financial workbook, Shrinking the Cost of College ; and the new second edition of her Amazon best-selling book, The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price .

More from CBS News

First Line Generator: 101 Sentences To Get You Started Writing

Sometimes, the muse speaks through creative writing prompts .

And sometimes all you need is a single sentence to get you started on your next epic story .

Among the one sentence prompts you’ll find below, you’re sure to find at least one first line generator for a story you’ll love writing.

So, whether you’ve got a first name already picked out for your next main character or you’re starting with nothing but the will to write, enjoy the prompts below.

• List of 101 First Line Generator Ideas

The best way to use a sentence generator is to start free-writing on the first one that grabs your interest and write as quickly as you can.

This is not the time to edit. Let the words flow out as the story forms in your mind.

Short Story First Line Generator

Fantasy first line generator, random first line generator, poetry first line generator, novel first line generator, historical fiction first line generator, first line generator tools .

Enjoy these first line generator ideas for writing a short story .

1. With his background and fierce appearance, no one expected Bruno the mastiff to be a good dog for small children.

2. She frowned thoughtfully at the tarot cards arranged before her.

3. Writing down her thoughts about their relationship wasn’t as cathartic as she’d hoped.

4. She bent down to pick up what she thought was a half-buried seashell.

5. No one suspected that every one of the vaccine syringes sent to those areas would render their receivers sterile for life.

6. It was there the billionaires of the world gathered to announce their joint decision, either oblivious or indifferent to the revolution brewing next door.

7. Just when she thought she’d finished crying, the phone rang.

8. On a night like this, the sky should be full of stars, but as she looked up, her legs almost gave out.

9. She’d forgiven everyone and emptied her home of all that gave it meaning.

10. Three times, now, she’d almost died, and no one had noticed.

11. Her fifteen-month-old son tensed up in his shopping cart seat when the man approached.

12. “Oh, spare me the theatrics, and go cry somewhere else,” he said, adding, “No one wants to see that.”

13. Her voice broke over the phone when mine did, but she said, “It’s actually pretty nice here.”

14. “Okay, before I tell you, mom, you have to promise not to be mad.” 

15. If they don’t find Ben attractive, they at least find him compelling. That’s the problem. 

16. Once she catches your scent — a scent like yours, especially — she learns everything about you. 

17. “I need something to look forward to that doesn’t come in a bottle. You got any ideas?”

18. It was his living room art display that finally convinced her to leave him. 

When you’re writing your next page-turning fantasy novel , a good first line can get the creative ideas flowing.

Use these as a springboard, even if you end up changing the first line in your final draft.

19. This world was never meant to survive her.

20. As far as she was concerned, he was a typical teenager with a hoodie.

21. It’s not every girl who finds out her mom is a centuries-old superhero.

22. My first tutor was a dragon with a terrible sense of humor.

23. I looked into the crystal ball and saw myself walking hand-in-hand with my mortal enemy.

24. What I made for my mother’s birthday was supposed to be a harmless pendant.

25. I spent a thousand years in that bottle before a child freed me from it and called me “Mama.”

26. He made it sound as though the very worst thing I could be was a witch.

27. She was changed into something else while her parents stood nearby, watching the others.

28. The label on the bottle said “Drink me,” and Alice rolled her eyes and snickered as she poured herself a glass.

29. The freeway was completely deserted, and the only words on the marquee near my exit were “Supplies have run out, and shelters are full.”

30. She told me I was the perfect candidate for their weaponized shifter program; and their target was someone easy to dislike.

31. I knew she’d been scratched during the attack, but until now, full moons hadn’t been a problem. 

32. He shouldn’t have made me choose between my world and this one. 

33. The one thing my mother hadn’t told me about her past was the reason I now lived in an icy cave near the top of the highest peak. 

34. The trolls in that valley are the ones who found me and gave me my name. 

35. I’m unusually tall for a dwarf. My mother was not prepared.

Don’t underestimate the creative power of random thoughts from memories or recent experiences.

Use one of the following to launch into a story that weaves elements of your own or someone else’s history into it.

36. If only she hadn’t bought the red one.

37. One bite, and his eyes closed, his focus turned inward, while she quietly exhaled.

38. She was the kind of person who loudly insulted others’ intelligence while neglecting her own.

39. Doctors told her she could never diet again.

40. I don’t sleep with that stone unless I want to wake up feeling as though I spent the whole night running.

41. It was enough for her that he’d found a lost child and returned him to his parents.

42. You’d think a winning lottery ticket was just what we needed.

43. In exchange for the apartment, she had agreed to bring the inmate his meals.

44. Her father always said driving would be the death of her.

45. What if I told you the separation of church and state is an illusion?

46. The largest golden maple leaf I’d ever seen landed at my feet as I turned the corner.

47. “Help me! I’m not your enemy,” he said.

48. For some reason, no one thought to question the other housekeeping staff. 

49. As soon as he stepped across the threshold, she caught a whiff of something. 

50. Even with a baby in her arms and her hair loose, I knew her. And it all came back. 

51. He waited, nervously clearing his throat until my husband left the room. 

52. His bike still hung on the rack, covered in dust, and one wheel bent into a moon shape.

Sometimes, all you want to write is a poem to express the ideas circulating in your mind.

Use any of the following to open the spigot and let the uncensored words out onto the page. Editing can wait.

53. The sky feels as empty as my chest.

54. The trees would miss you if you left.

55. The sunlight brought me back to you.

56. I was tired before my first sip of wine.

57. Memory is all around us, as well as within.

58. Don’t tell me what I need.

59. No expensive funeral for me, if I even have one.

60. The first step toward you was the hardest.

61. My hope literally took form inside of me.

62. I fight for what you’ve had from birth.

63. I come to shatter this fortress— not protect it.

64. You were born to make mistakes and to change the world as you learned from them.

65. The burn is what gets me. 

66. There’s something in the water that now lives in me. 

67. Why should I get away with it?

68. One bloom outlasted the rest before suddenly dropping. 

69. I wish I could tell you this has nothing to do with me

More Related Articles:

12 Effective Tips On How To Write Faster

How to Start Writing By Creating the Daily Writing Habit

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70. I know how he sees me; the alcohol helps with that. But it doesn’t argue with him.

71. Every answer to my question begins with, “Now, don’t take this the wrong way…” 

72. No one expected her to be the first among them to succumb. 

73. I could barely look at it. The sticky note attached to the jar read, “Careful. It’s loaded.”

74. She saw me and sneered. “I thought maybe your lawn mower was broken.”  

75. He prided himself on understanding criminals. This one, with his glassy eyes and unerasable smirk, was the first to humble him. 

76. This was the seventh parcel to arrive for her with nothing for a return address but a dried blossom under a square of packing tape. 

77. She’d spend hours in the shop, looking over different stones, holding them briefly in her hand — until she found one that didn’t want to leave her fingers. 

78. The baby’s name was Petra before the neighborhood prophet said something disconcerting to her father. 

79. Her first love lay on the table in a neat, familiar arrangement, while her second love waited for her to come read them. 

80. My mother makes the only perfectly balanced and seasoned vinaigrette I’ve ever tasted. 

81. The party went splendidly until Meredith’s blood splattered on my favorite pillow. 

82. He doesn’t think I know where he hid the evidence from that night. 

83. He quietly rolled the car back down the driveway and into the street before pausing for one last look at my bedroom window. 

84. The first time I remember him looking at me with anything like pride was when I screamed in his face.

85. “Get that lazy eye back where it’s s’posed to be. You’ll scare the cats.”

86. She knew Rasputin was in love with her. That’s what made it so easy.

87. Everyone assumed Jack the Ripper was a man. It was the perfect cover for the family business. 

88. Custer graduated at the bottom of his class at West Point. There was a reason. 

89. We had an understanding, Jefferson and I. He promised me freedom for my unborn children. 

90. “I’d just stepped out of Ford’s for a drink during intermission. Booth was drinking in the same saloon. And then he wasn’t.” 

91. “Now that I’m a mother, my position at court has finally improved. Just as well no one’s asked me who the father is.” (Marie Antoinette)

92. “She called me cousin and friend after the murder of my husband.” (Mary Queen of Scots)

93. “Sixteen was too young to get married — especially to a man I’d only just met. But it beat going back to an orphanage.” (Norma Jean Baker / Marilyn Monroe)

94. “It’s not every actor who gets to be on Hitler’s death list. Too bad for him my job would probably kill me first.” (Curly Howard)

95. “The real Vladimir died a long time ago.” (Putin’s wife + conspiracy theories)

96. “It’s true my husband’s death was tragic. It’s also true that it was necessary.” (Catherine the Great of Russia)

97. “It’s thanks to my slave, James Hemmings, that the American people now have macaroni and cheese, French fries, and crème brûlée.” (Jefferson)

98. “We watched the boat sink with the rest, huddled together in our lifeboat. There were four of us left. ” (lone survivor of the SS David J Morell) 

99. “We stumbled upon 11 of them, mostly kids. They were in bad shape — frostbitten, bleeding, and barely able to walk.” (John Stark, unpaid rescuer of the Donner Party)

100. “I invested $1.5 million of my own money in ‘The Great Dictator’ when the U.S. and Nazi Germany were still at peace.”  (Charlie Chaplin)

101. “I’ve had relationships with both men and women. One of them, poor John, I left at the altar.” (Greta Garbo) 

If the prompts above got your mind working, but you could still use a bit more help, try any of the following first-line generators. True, they don’t know anything about the story you’re writing , but they don’t have to. Sometimes, all you need is a scrap of an idea. 

First Line Generator at WritersDenPantomimepony.co.uk  

Click on the giant blue button, and this generator will give you an opening line inspired by careful analysis of classic openers. The secret to writing a compelling opener is creating a story within a single line. And that’s something the makers of this generator understand.

Keep clicking until one of the options gets you thinking. Then brainstorm as many follow-up ideas as you can. 

Opening Line Generator at Plot-Generator.org.uk  

This generator gives you ten opening line ideas right away. Below them, you can select the number of new opening lines or ask them to suggest a number. Click on “Write me an opening line” to generate as many or as few openers as you like. 

On the left, you’ll see their “Top 10 Generators,” including “Character Name” and “Rap Lyrics.” On the right, you’ll see “Newest Generators,” including “Pirate Name” and “Coronavirus Activity.” 

Random First Line Generator at WritingExercises.co.uk  

The Writing Exercsies website has a wide selection of content generators, including this one for random first lines. You can also find a rhyming dictionary (in case you prefer traditional, rhyming poetry), as well as generators for plots and random bits of dialogue . 

Click on “Generate a First Line” as many times as necessary to find something you can use to get started. 

If you had to choose one first line generator from the selection in this post, which ones spoke to you the loudest?

Or have you already started writing something that has you brimming with creative energy and excitement?

If this will be a long story , remember to do yourself a favor and stop for the day when you still want to keep going.

When you already have an idea of what happens next, sitting back down to it is much easier.

May the words keep flowing. And may at least one of these writing prompts set you on the path to writing something you and your readers will love.

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How to Start a Scholarship Essay (With Examples)

Will Geiger is the co-founder of Scholarships360 and has a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. He is a former Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Kenyon College where he personally reviewed 10,000 admissions applications and essays. Will also managed the Kenyon College merit scholarship program and served on the financial aid appeals committee. He has also worked as an Associate Director of College Counseling at a high school in New Haven, Connecticut. Will earned his master’s in education from the University of Pennsylvania and received his undergraduate degree in history from Wake Forest University.

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Bill Jack has over a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. Since 2008, he has worked at Colby College, Wesleyan University, University of Maine at Farmington, and Bates College.

Maria Geiger is Director of Content at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.

As an admissions officer, I reviewed thousands of essays for students seeking admission and scholarships. The essay is one of the most important parts of the scholarship application process–a strong essay can go a long way. However, with so much competition, it is important for your scholarship essay to stand out. That’s why it’s important for you to start a scholarship essay off right!

There are some very simple things that you can do to ensure that your essay is engaging from the very first sentence. In fact, beginning your essay with an exciting opening is one of the most important things you can do, because it will immediately distinguish your essay from the others. 

Keep on reading to learn more about how you can nail the very first sentence and start your essay off right!

Engage the reader with the first sentence

No matter what type of essay you are writing, you will want to ensure that the very first line grabs the attention of the reader. One of the biggest mistakes that students make when starting their essay is simply restating the prompt. This is bland and boring. 

Now, you might be wondering, “how do I engage the reader with the very first line of my essay?”. The good news is that there are several ways that you can do this that are very simple to do. 

Related:  How to answer scholarship essay questions about your career goals

Begin with dialogue

First, you could begin your essay with conversation. This can be an interesting and unexpected way to start your scholarship essay. Maybe someone asked you an unexpected question? Perhaps you were having an interesting conversation with a friend or family member? Either way, dialogue can be a powerful tool to start your essay.

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Put the reader in your shoes.

Alternatively, you can choose to start your essay by placing the reader right in your shoes and show them something from your life. Appeal to the senses and show the reader what you see, hear, smell, or taste. These specific details will help your essay come to life and make it even more memorable. 

Also recommended: What’s the best scholarship essay format?

Scholarship essay introduction example

Next,  we’ll look at a specific example of how you can open up your essay. Let’s say you are applying for the Questbridge scholarship program . One of the essays that you will be asked is:

We are interested in learning more about you and the context in which you have grown up, formed your aspirations, and accomplished your academic successes. Please describe the factors and challenges that have most influenced you. How are they shaping your future aspirations?

You might be tempted to rephrase the question and start your essay with something like:

“I have grown up in a rural context and this has formed my aspirations and allowed me to accomplish academic success…”

This is generic and will not engage your reader at all. 

Instead, what if you started off your essay with something like this:

“I look outside my bedroom window and see Henry, my favorite chicken, pecking at something in the dirt.” 

Makes a big difference, right? As a reader, you are probably wondering: why does this person have chickens outside their bedroom window? Why did they name this particular chicken Henry?

See also: Here are our top writing & essay scholarships for students!

Keep the ending of your essay in mind as you write the opening

While crafting your opening, be open to ideas about how to close your essay. There is no need to stress about the ending now, but being mindful of effective ways to end an essay is always a good idea. Say you are opening your scholarship essay with Henry the chicken. Is there a way for Henry to make an impactful appearance at the end of the essay to close things out in a way that perfectly wraps everything up? The key is for the essay ending to be meaningful and memorable for the reader. 

Don’t miss: Our free scholarship search tool

If you can’t think of a “wow” scholarship essay beginning, keep writing!

Sometimes, we know what we want to say, point by point, but we are not ready to be creative when it comes to opening an essay. In that case, keep writing! There is always the option of going back and crafting an engaging opening after your essay is written. Simply write your main idea where the first paragraph would be to guide you as you write. After, go back when your creative juices are flowing, and craft the amazing opening (and closing) that your scholarship essay deserves!

Final thoughts

As shown, there are many questions that we as readers will have after reading an engaging essay opening such as the one just shared; We want to learn more about the student who is writing this essay. After all, as a writer trying to stand out in a pile of essays, that is our main goal. 

We hope that you have a better understanding of how to start a scholarship essay so you can maximize your chances of winning scholarships!

Additional resources

Scholarships360 is the go-to for all things college admissions and scholarships! Wondering how to write a 250 word essay and how to write a 500 word essay ? Curious how to write an essay about yourself ? Wow, do we have the resources to help! Additionally, check out our free scholarship search tool to help you finance your college education. Best of luck to you and your future endeavors! 

Key Takeaways

• The first sentence of the essay is what makes the reader want to continue reading 
• Engage the reader by appealing to the senses
• Create a sense of wonder in your essay, making the reader want to learn more about you
• Keep the ending of the essay in mind as you craft the beginning

Frequently asked questions about how to start a scholarship essay

What is an essay hook, how long should my scholarship essay be, scholarships360 recommended.

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• Writing Prompts

150+ Story Starters: Creative Sentences To Start A Story

The most important thing about writing is finding a good idea . You have to have a great idea to write a story. You have to be able to see the whole picture before you can start to write it. Sometimes, you might need help with that. Story starters are a great way to get the story rolling. You can use them to kick off a story, start a character in a story or even start a scene in a story.

When you start writing a story, you need to have a hook. A hook can be a character or a plot device. It can also be a setting, something like “A young man came into a bar with a horse.” or a setting like “It was the summer of 1969, and there were no cell phones.” The first sentence of a story is often the hook. It can also be a premise or a situation, such as, “A strange old man in a black cloak was sitting on the train platform.”

Story starters are a way to quickly get the story going. They give the reader a place to start reading your story. Some story starters are obvious, and some are not. The best story starters are the ones that give the reader a glimpse into the story. They can be a part of a story or a part of a scene. They can be a way to show the reader the mood of a story. If you want to start a story, you can use a simple sentence. You can also use a question or an inspirational quote. In this post, we have listed over 150 story starters to get your story started with a bang! A great way to use these story starters is at the start of the Finish The Story game .

If you want more story starters, check out this video on some creative story starter sentences to use in your stories:

150+ Creative Story Starters

Here is a list of good sentences to start a story with:

• I’ve read about a million stories about princesses but never thought I could ever be one.
• There was once a man who was very old, but he was wise. He lived for a very long time, and he was very happy.
• What is the difference between a man and a cat? A cat has nine lives.
• In the middle of the night, a boy is running through the woods.
• It is the end of the world.
• He knew he was not allowed to look into the eyes of the princess, but he couldn’t help himself.
• The year is 1893. A young boy was running away from home.
• What if the Forest was actually a magical portal to another dimension, the Forest was a portal to the Otherworld?
• In the Forest, you will find a vast number of magical beings of all sorts. 
• It was the middle of the night, and the forest was quiet. No bugs or animals disturbed the silence. There were no birds, no chirping. 
• If you wish to stay in the Forest, you will need to follow these rules: No one shall leave the Forest. No one shall enter. No one shall take anything from the Forest.
• “It was a terrible day,” said the old man in a raspy voice.
• A cat is flying through the air, higher and higher, when it happens, and the cat doesn’t know how it got there, how it got to be in the sky.
• I was lying in the woods, and I was daydreaming.
• The Earth is a world of wonders. 
• The fairy is the most amazing creature I have ever met.
• A young girl was sitting on a tree stump at the edge of a river when she noticed a magical tree growing in the water.
• My dancing rat is dressed in a jacket, a tie and glasses, which make him look like a person. 
• In the darkness of the night, I am alone, but I know that I am not. 
• Owls are the oldest, and most intelligent, of all birds.
• My name is Reyna, and I am a fox. 
• The woman was drowning.
• One day, he was walking in the forest.
• It was a dark and stormy night…
• There was a young girl who could not sleep…
• A boy in a black cape rode on a white horse…
• A crazy old man in a black cloak was sitting in the middle of the street…
• The sun was setting on a beautiful summer day…
• The dog was restless…”
• There was a young boy in a brown coat…
• I met a young man in the woods…
• In the middle of a dark forest…
• The young girl was at home with her family…
• There was a young man who was sitting on a …
• A young man came into a bar with a horse…
• I have had a lot of bad dreams…
• He was a man who wanted to be king…
• It was the summer of 1969, and there were no cell phones.
• I know what you’re thinking. But no, I don’t want to be a vegetarian. The worst part is I don’t like the taste.
• She looked at the boy and decided to ask him why he wasn’t eating. She didn’t want to look mean, but she was going to ask him anyway.
• The song played on the radio, as Samual wiped away his tears.
• This was the part when everything was about to go downhill. But it didn’t…
• “Why make life harder for yourself?” asked Claire, as she bit into her apple.
• She made a promise to herself that she would never do it.
• I was able to escape.
• I was reading a book when the accident happened.
• “I can’t stand up for people who lie and cheat.” I cried.
• You look at me and I feel beautiful.
• I know what I want to be when I grow up.
• We didn’t have much money. But we knew how to throw a good party.
• The wind blew on the silent streets of London.
• What do you get when you cross an angry bee and my sister?
• The flight was slow and bumpy. I was half asleep when the captain announced we were going down.
• At the far end of the city was a river that was overgrown with weeds. 
• It was a quiet night in the middle of a busy week.
• One afternoon, I was eating a sandwich in the park when I spotted a stranger.
• In the late afternoon, a few students sat on the lawn reading.
• The fireflies were dancing in the twilight as the sunset.
• In the early evening, the children played in the park.
• The sun was setting and the moon was rising.
• A crowd gathered in the square as the band played.
• The top of the water tower shone in the moonlight.
• The light in the living room was on, but the light in the kitchen was off.
•  When I was a little boy, I used to make up stories about the adventures of these amazing animals, creatures, and so on. 
• All of the sudden, I realized I was standing in the middle of an open field surrounded by nothing but wildflowers, and the only thing I remembered about it was that I’d never seen a tree before.
• It’s the kind of thing that’s only happened to me once before in my life, but it’s so cool to see it.
• They gave him a little wave as they drove away.
• The car had left the parking lot, and a few hours later we arrived home.
• They were going to play a game of bingo.
• He’d made up his mind to do it. He’d have to tell her soon, though. He was waiting for a moment when they were alone and he could say it without feeling like an idiot. But when that moment came, he couldn’t think of anything to say.
• Jamie always wanted to own a plane, but his parents were a little tight on the budget. So he’d been saving up to buy one of his own. 
• The night was getting colder, and the wind was blowing in from the west.
• The doctor stared down at the small, withered corpse.
• She’d never been in the woods before, but she wasn’t afraid.
• The kids were having a great time in the playground.
• The police caught the thieves red-handed.
• The world needs a hero more than ever.
• Mother always said, “Be good and nice things will happen…”
• There is a difference between what you see and what you think you see.
• The sun was low in the sky and the air was warm.
• “It’s time to go home,” she said, “I’m getting a headache.”
• It was a cold winter’s day, and the snow had come early.
• I found a wounded bird in my garden.
• “You should have seen the look on my face.”
• He opened the door and stepped back.
• My father used to say, “All good things come to an end.”
• The problem with fast cars is that they break so easily.
• “What do you think of this one?” asked Mindy.
• “If I asked you to do something, would you do it?” asked Jacob.
• I was surprised to see her on the bus.
• I was never the most popular one in my class.
• We had a bad fight that day.
• The coffee machine had stopped working, so I went to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea.
• It was a muggy night, and the air-conditioning unit was so loud it hurt my ears.
• I had a sleepless night because I couldn’t get my head to turn off.
• I woke up at dawn and heard a horrible noise.
• I was so tired I didn’t know if I’d be able to sleep that night.
• I put on the light and looked at myself in the mirror.
• I decided to go in, but the door was locked.
• A man in a red sweater stood staring at a little kitten as if it was on fire.
• “It’s so beautiful,” he said, “I’m going to take a picture.”
• “I think we’re lost,” he said, “It’s all your fault.”
• It’s hard to imagine what a better life might be like
• He was a tall, lanky man, with a long face, a nose like a pin, and a thin, sandy moustache.
• He had a face like a lion’s and an eye like a hawk’s.
• The man was so broad and strong that it was as if a mountain had been folded up and carried in his belly.
• I opened the door. I didn’t see her, but I knew she was there.
• I walked down the street. I couldn’t help feeling a little guilty.
• I arrived at my parents’ home at 8:00 AM.
• The nurse had been very helpful.
• On the table was an array of desserts.
• I had just finished putting the last of my books in the trunk.
• A car horn honked, startling me.
• The kitchen was full of pots and pans.
• There are too many things to remember.
• The world was my oyster. I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth.
•  “My grandfather was a World War II veteran. He was a decorated hero who’d earned himself a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart.
• Beneath the menacing, skeletal shadow of the mountain, a hermit sat on his ledge. His gnarled hands folded on his gnarled knees. His eyes stared blankly into the fog. 
• I heard a story about a dragon, who was said to be the size of a house, that lived on the top of the tallest mountain in the world.
•  I was told a story about a man who found a golden treasure, which was buried in this very park.
• He stood alone in the middle of a dark and silent room, his head cocked to one side, the brown locks of his hair, which were parted in the middle, falling down over his eyes.
•  Growing up, I was the black sheep of the family. I had my father’s eyes, but my mother’s smile.
• Once upon a time, there was a woman named Miss Muffett, and she lived in a big house with many rooms.
• When I was a child, my mother told me that the water looked so bright because the sun was shining on it. I did not understand what she meant at the time.    
•  The man in the boat took the water bottle and drank from it as he paddled away.
• The man looked at the child with a mixture of pity and contempt.
• An old man and his grandson sat in their garden. The old man told his grandson to dig a hole. 
• An old woman was taking a walk on the beach. The tide was high and she had to wade through the water to get to the other side.
• She looked up at the clock and saw that it was five minutes past seven.
• The man looked up from the map he was studying. “How’s it going, mate?”
• I was in my room on the third floor, staring out of the window.
• A dark silhouette of a woman stood in the doorway.
• The church bells began to ring.
• The moon rose above the horizon.
• A bright light shone over the road.
• The night sky began to glow.
• I could hear my mother cooking in the kitchen.
• The fog began to roll in.
• He came in late to the class and sat at the back.
• A young boy picked up a penny and put it in his pocket.
• He went to the bathroom and looked at his face in the mirror.
• It was the age of wisdom and the age of foolishness. We once had everything and now we have nothing.
• A young man died yesterday, and no one knows why.
• The boy was a little boy. He was not yet a man. He lived in a house in a big city.
• They had just returned from the theatre when the phone rang.
• I walked up to the front of the store and noticed the neon sign was out.
• I always wondered what happened to Mary.
• I stopped to say hello and then walked on.
• The boy’s mother didn’t want him to play outside…
• The lights suddenly went out…
• After 10 years in prison, he was finally out.
• The raindrops pelted the window, which was set high up on the wall, and I could see it was a clear day outside.
• My friend and I had just finished a large pizza, and we were about to open our second.
• I love the smell of the ocean, but it never smells as good as it does when the waves are crashing.
• They just stood there, staring at each other.
• A party was in full swing until the music stopped.

For more ideas on how to start your story, check out these first-line writing prompts . Did you find this list of creative story starters useful? Let us know in the comments below!

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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Cave Writing Magazine

Any Last Words - Chapter 1

          Arwyn Olentia had always hated running. 

          However, as her bare feet slapped against the cutting gravel and chilled wind struck her face, she found that, for once, she was not thinking about the displeasure of the physical act. The chains that had bound and bruised her wrists for the last seven months rattled indiscreetly at her front. Arwyn’s legs were weak from such a period of disuse, but she pushed with strength that seemed to come to her from nothing. It was dark in the unfamiliar streets of the city and she had no way of knowing where to go. She had no one to call, no one to scream for if she was caught. Had they discovered her escape yet? Had she even escaped? She didn’t trust her mind enough to be sure. 

          There were apartments lining the roads, businesses with their lights shut off. No special enforcement members would be patrolling a nice area like this so late at night. She wouldn’t trust them even if they were. Too much had been revealed to her. And thought from the mouths of criminals, such revelations had come to her truthfully. 

          Arwyn debated stopping, banging on one of the doors until someone found her in this disheveled, broken, putrid state. But it seemed that there was still a shred of humanity left within her. She would not put an innocent at risk for her own sake. Whoever was unlucky enough to bear the weight of her presence could very well end up dead. She would find somewhere to hide that was far from anyone else. 

          In the distance, there were mountains. The structures had broad, winding roads that seemed to lead to the peaks. Her mind and body screamed at the prospect of traversing the steep incline, but in her hazy, muddled state, Arwyn could think of no other path to take. The trees would provide ample coverage, possibly a place to rest. She wouldn’t make it very long without stopping. Regardless of the adrenaline coursing through her veins, there was nothing that could completely overpower the months of starvation and the remnants of the poison in her bloodstream. Any of the power she possessed was held down by the chains that bound her wrists. Arwyn grit her teeth and willed her pace to remain steady and quick. She would not let this opportunity go to waste. She would not be taken back. 

          The eerie quiet of the night was interrupted only by the short pants that left her mouth and the painful slaps of her bare feet hitting the frozen asphalt. Arwyn approached the base of the incline that led to the mountain. She did not stop. Even as rocks dug into the skin of her heels and the brutal wind caused tears to stream from her eyes. The further she got, the less light there was. No streetlights lined the mountain roads. She could feel the numbness beginning to creep in. She looked down at the tattered t-shirt that she wore, one that had once fit snugly but now fell off of her shoulders. The fabric was riddled with holes and Arwyn only once allowed regret to settle in her mind and cursed herself for not stealing any items of warmth or nutrients. 

          She hadn’t been given time to plan, she hadn’t thought of the possibility of getting  out.  That hope had only been present in the first months of her captivity, and had weaned slowly as the torture and isolation had taken its tole. It made no sense that she should be out. Not once in the seven months since that night had any of her captors been stupid enough to simply leave the door unlocked. And now that they had, Arwyn couldn’t help but fear that this painful physical exertion was not even grounded in reality. It could all be another farce, another trick to push her to the breaking point of which she would finally give in. 

          But the illusions were never this painful. There was always a sense of disconnection when experiencing moments in time that did not exist in our reality. This pain felt alive. She could accept nothing other than the fact that this was happening in real time, if she allowed herself to think otherwise it could mean that it was all for naught. She refused to give them that satisfaction. 

          Arwyn’s legs began to slow, her pace faltering. 

          “Come on,” she ground out. “Just a little further.” 

          The second part was a lie, Arwyn was not even at the center of the mountain yet. But she’d lied to herself plenty of times before, at least this one could motivate her some. Suddenly, there was light from up ahead. The yellow glow looked to be coming from a flashlight. Her eyes widened. They couldn’t have beaten her, could they? Had she ran directly to where they’d expected? Arwyn inwardly cursed again. She veered off of the road and into the wooded area that covered the space. She briefly considered climbing a tree, but figured that the chances of her falling out and either killing herself or alerting her followers to her whereabouts were too high to risk. 

          She wanted to scream. Arwyn’s head pounded and she could feel the immense strain on her body that only worsened with each step. She ignored the discomfort, slowing only enough to keep the sounds of the chain’s rattles to a minimum. She continued up the steep edge of the mountain, unable to think about anything other than the need for her to  keep going. 

          Finally, something happened. Whether it was a good or bad something, Arwyn had yet to find out. Up ahead, between the dark shadows of the evergreen trees, was a tall, iron fence. It looked like the kind of fence that one would build around a high-security prison. But to Arwyn’s knowledge, which admittedly was not very accurate or up-to-date, there were no prisons inside or near the outer edges of the city. Could it be a government facility of sorts? The thought wasn’t necessarily comforting, she didn’t have the greatest impressions surrounding her government or those that worked for it. And she hadn’t ever heard of any government offices on the mountains.

          In her turmoil, Arwyn did the most cliche thing that a person could do in a high-stakes chase scene. She tripped over a rock. This specific rock was jagged and embedded itself in the center of her foot with sudden, blinding pain. Arwyn fell to the soft, frozen-over ground and nearly lost the battle fought against the blackness threatening to overpower her consciousness. 

          She tried to push herself back to standing, her arms shaking with every ounce of effort in her body. She was on her feet for about three seconds before her legs decided to give out without warning. After everything, this was when her body decided to fail her. Arwyn wanted to cry as she hadn’t since she was twelve years old, wrapped in her mothers arms while her brother apologized profusely for accidentally tipping her fishbowl off of the side of her desk. Only now she had no one to hold her, and there was certainly nobody nearby waiting to give her closure with an apology. Arwyn held the tears at bay and began to crawl, dirt embedding itself under her nails as she pulled herself toward the armored fence with painful slowness. 

          There were footsteps coming from nearby and a brief flash of light passed through the corner of her eye. Arwyn went still. She’d wrap the chains around her neck and pull with the last of her strength before sacrificing her freedom again. 

          With effort, she rolled to her backside, trying with all her might to sit up. She failed to do so, and as the footsteps got closer, Arwyn raised her shaking hands and positioned the metal around her throat. She would die, if needed. Nothing good would come of it. But she would die with what little dignity remained in her possession. 

          The blackness in her vision continued to fight, even after losing its earlier battle. She made herself wait for the steps to draw closer, for their owner to step into her line of sight. It took long, tortuous seconds for the face behind the flashlight to be made clear, but when it finally did, Arwyn could do nothing but laugh.

          She laughed and laughed, the sound coming out dry, twisted, and hopeless. The person was running toward her now, with a slower pace than someone would expect of a person who had just discovered the malnourished, half-naked, half-dead body of a sixteen year old girl on the side of a mountain. But of course that was the case. What reason did they have to run? They thought her too selfish to die. In many ways, they were right. This final act of desperation came not from a desire to help anyone other than herself. 

          Arwyn pressed the thick metal into the skin of her neck and allowed darkness to claim its long-awaited victory.

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Ranking 2024 MLB Opening Day pitching matchups: What are the most intriguing ace vs. ace battles?

Injuries have zapped some of the excitement out of opening day but there's still plenty to watch.

The 2024 MLB regular season is here. Each year, Opening Day gives us 15 high-quality pitching matchups as the 30 teams give the ball to whoever they consider their best available pitcher in the first game of the new season. It is the best day of the season for premium pitching matchups. You can't beat it. 

Given that, it's time to compile our annual Opening Day pitching matchup rankings. The rankings are based on three factors:   

• Pitcher Quality. The better the pitchers the better the matchup, right? Right.
• Storylines. Is someone making their first start with a new team? Facing his former team? Etc.
• Watchability. The most subjective factor. How fun is it to watch these guys pitch?

Neither reigning Cy Young winner will start Opening Day for the first time since 2005. Gerrit Cole hurt his elbow and Blake Snell signed just last week , and doesn't have enough time to prepare for an Opening Day start. In 2005, Johan Santana started Game 2 for the Twins behind Brad Radke while Roger Clemens started Game 3 for the Astros behind Roy Oswalt and Andy Pettitte.

This was the first uninterrupted spring training since 2019 (no pandemic restrictions, no lockout, no World Baseball Classic, etc.), which hopefully means no tight pitch counts shortening our Opening Day matchups. With that in mind, here are our rankings. With Cole hurt and Snell not lined up, there are only two Cy Young winners among this year's Opening Day starters.

(Schedule note: Braves vs. Phillies and Brewers vs. Mets were both rained out and moved to Friday , so there will only be 13 games on Thursday.)

1.  Zack Wheeler , Phillies vs. Spencer Strider , Braves

3:05 p.m. ET at Citizens Bank Park on Friday

The clear-cut No. 1 Opening Day pitching matchup this year. A very strong case can be made Wheeler and Strider are the two best starting pitchers in baseball entering 2024 , and for both of them, this will be their first career Opening Day start. And believe it or not, Wheeler and Strider have never faced each other head-to-head. Not once in the regular season or postseason. Two top-of-the-sport pitchers facing each other for the first time and a fierce division rivalry ? This is as good as pitching matchups get on Opening Day. Wheeler vs. Strider is appointment viewing.

2.  Cole Ragans , Royals vs. Pablo López , Twins

4:10 p.m. ET at Kauffman Stadium

Kansas City landed Ragans in the Aroldis Chapman trade with Texas at last year's deadline and he was a revelation the final two months, bullying hitters with upper-90s gas and a wipeout slider. He's continued to look excellent this spring and is well-positioned to establish himself as one of the game's top left-handers in 2024. If Ragans is still flying under the radar, he won't be much longer. López was terrific a season ago, his first in Minnesota after coming over in the Luis Arraez trade. A new sweeper elevated him from very good to ace-like. This game is the best chance at two starters with double-digit strikeouts on Opening Day, I'd say.

3.  Yu Darvish , Padres vs. Logan Webb , Giants

4:10 p.m. ET at Petco Park

Fun matchup, stylistically. Darvish at his best is so entertaining with his kitchen sink approach (he threw seven pitches at least 7% of the time in 2023), especially since there is some power behind it. He's not a junkballer living in the mid-80s. Webb's thing is weak ground balls at a time when the sport is obsessed with strikeouts. It's a subtle dominance. Webb is the master of the eight-pitch 1-2-3 inning with three routine grounders. Very contrasting yet very effective styles.

4.  Jesús Luzardo , Marlins vs. Mitch Keller , Pirates

4:10 p.m. ET at loanDepot Park

Luzardo had his long-awaited breakout season a year ago. He finally stayed healthy and showed he can be the top-tier bat-misser his power arsenal suggested he could be earlier in his career. Keller's breakout hit a speed bump in the second half last season, which could maybe be attributed to fatigue. Still, he's an above-average starter, one who began to figure things out in the middle of 2022. Opening Day in Miami will feature two up-and-coming starters who may only be scratching the surface of their ability.

5.  Nathan Eovaldi , Rangers vs. Justin Steele , Cubs

7:35 p.m. ET at Globe Life Field

The Rangers will raise their World Series banner prior to this pitching matchup. With all due respect to Jordan Montgomery , Eovaldi was the club's ace last October (2.95 ERA in six starts), and he will fittingly get the ball on Opening Day with Jacob deGrom (Tommy John surgery) and Max Scherzer (back surgery) still sidelined. Steele broke out for Chicago two years ago and continued it into 2023. He firmly ranks among the game's top starting pitchers now. It wasn't a fluke. 

6.  Corbin Burnes , Orioles vs. Patrick Sandoval , Angels

3:05 p.m. ET at Camden Yards

Other than Globe Life Field, where the World Series banner is going up, and I can't imagine any stadium will be more electric on Opening Day than Camden Yards. The O's are coming off a breakout 101-win season and will debut their new ace. Sandoval is no pushover -- he's been quite good the last few years -- and he has a chance to play spoiler in Baltimore. Camden Yards is one of the best ballparks in the game , maybe the best, and there's no place like it when the Orioles are good. Going to be a great atmosphere on Opening Day. 

7.  Luis Castillo , Mariners vs. Brayan Bello , Red Sox

10:10 p.m. ET at T-Mobile Park

The Mariners had two other very good Opening Day starter candidates in George Kirby and Logan Gilbert . The Red Sox ... did not. Bello gets the nod and he will be Boston's first homegrown Opening Day starter since Clay Buchholz in 2015. Castillo is excellent. We're projecting a bit on what Bello can be moving forward with these rankings rather than basing them on what he's been to date, and hey, isn't that what Opening Day is all about? It's a new season and we're all forecasting the best for everyone. 

Interlude: Yu Darvish, Padres vs. Tyler Glasnow , Dodgers

Dodgers 5, Padres 2 in Seoul, South Korea

Technically, the 2024 regular season is already underway. The Padres and Dodgers split the two-game Seoul Series in South Korea last week , and the starting pitching matchup was only so-so. Darvish allowed one unearned run, but needed 72 pitches to get 11 outs. Glasnow had four walks and three strikeouts in five innings of two-run ball. On paper, this pitching matchup would have ranked up there, perhaps as high as No. 3. Knowing what we know now: meh.

8.  Garrett Crochet , White Sox vs. Tarik Skubal , Tigers

4:10 p.m. ET at Guaranteed Rate Field

The pitching nerd's matchup. Well, no, that's probably Ragans vs. López, but Crochet vs. Skubal is along those same lines. Of course, this was supposed to be Dylan Cease vs. Skubal until Chicago traded Cease to San Diego earlier this month , and Cease vs. Skubal would have been much higher in these rankings. Anyway, Skubal was one of the very best pitchers in baseball after returning from flexor surgery last July. Crochet missed most of the last two seasons with Tommy John surgery, but he has a chance to be a dynamic flame-throwing starter. Opening Day will be his first career start, putting him in an exclusive club:

Garrett Crochet will be the 9th pitcher in the last 110 years to make his 1st career start on Opening Day, joining: 2014 Tanner Scheppers 1981 Fernando Valenzuela 1944 Preacher Roe 1943 Al Gerhauser 1939 Red Evans 1938 Jim Bagby 1925 Lefty Grove 1920 Eddie Eayrs https://t.co/K8DLY4n6Pe — Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) March 18, 2024

9.  Framber Valdez , Astros vs. Nestor Cortes , Yankees

4:10 p.m. ET at Minute Maid Park

Injuries robbed us of a Justin Verlander vs. Gerrit Cole matchup. Verlander reported to camp with an achy shoulder and has been building up slowly. Cole came down with an elbow issue earlier this month. Valdez vs. Cortes will be the matchup instead, and hey, that's not too bad. Valdez has been one of the best pitchers in the game the last few years and Cortes was an All-Star as recently as 2022. When he's on, few pitchers in the game are more entertaining than Nasty Nestor, who is liable to break out a funky windup on any given pitch.

10.  Zach Eflin , Rays vs. José Berríos , Blue Jays

4:10 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field

Another Opening Day pitching matchup that would've been more entertaining if not for injuries. Tampa will be without Shane McClanahan this year as he rehabs from Tommy John surgery, and Kevin Gausman has been slowed by a shoulder issue this spring. No offense to Eflin vs. Berríos, but it's not McClanahan vs. Gausman. Eflin got the Rays glow-up last season and turned in the best year of his career. Berríos rebounded from a subpar first season in Toronto and got back to being an innings-munching workhorse. When these two are your Plan Bs for Opening Day, you're in good shape.

11. Tyler Glasnow, Dodgers vs. Miles Mikolas , Cardinals

4:10 p.m. ET at Dodger Stadium

This was going to be Glasnow vs. AL Cy Young runner-up Sonny Gray until Gray's hamstring began to act up a few weeks ago, so Mikolas will sub in as the Opening Day starter, and yeah, that's a downgrade. This is technically Game 3 of the regular season for the Dodgers, and the scheduling quirk of the Seoul Series allows them to bring back their Game 1 starter with plenty of rest for Game 3. Glasnow (and also Yu Darvish) will be the first pitcher to start two of his team's first three games since Marco Gonzales and Mike Fiers in 2019. Seattle and Oakland opened that season in Tokyo, so they brought their Game 1 starters back in Game 3 a week later.

12.  Zac Gallen , Diamondbacks vs. Kyle Freeland , Rockies

10:10 p.m. ET at Chase Field

This matchup could be sneaky good. Gallen is Gallen, one of the best pitchers in the game, and Freeland's velocity was up nearly 4 mph this spring. Perhaps that allows him to get back to his 2018 form, when he threw 202 1/3 innings with a 2.85 ERA, and had maybe the great pitching season in Rockies history. This will be a more entertaining matchup than it would appear at first glance if Freeland's velocity spike sticks (velocity spikes usually do, at least in the short-term).

13.  Jose Quintana , Mets vs. Freddy Peralta , Brewers

1:40 p.m. ET at Citi Field on Friday

As recently as Feb. 1, it looked like it would be Kodai Senga vs. Corbin Burnes on Opening Day. Then Burnes got traded to the O's and Senga hurt his shoulder in spring training, so we get Quintana vs. Peralta instead. Fastball Freddy struck out 210 batters in only 165 2/3 innings last season and this year will be his chance to step out from behind Burnes and Brandon Woodruff , and show he's a legitimate top of the rotation starter. Quintana, with all due respect, is a steady innings guy more than a standout.

14.  Frankie Montas , Reds vs. Josiah Gray , Nationals

4:10 p.m. ET at Great American Ball Park

Montas missed just about the entire 2023 season with shoulder surgery, returning only to throw 1 1/3 innings in Game 161 for the Yankees after they'd already been eliminated from the postseason. Poor numbers aside, he's looked good this spring, with a fastball again touching the upper-90s and a knockout splitter. Gray was an All-Star last season and a deserving one, and someone the Nationals need to take another step forward this season as they try to transition out of the rebuild and back into contention.

15.  Alex Wood , Athletics vs. Shane Bieber , Guardians

10:07 p.m. ET at RingCentral Coliseum

It feels wrong to have a Cy Young winner -- Bieber and Corbin Burnes are the only two who meet that benchmark starting this Opening Day -- at the bottom of these rankings, but Bieber is no longer the pitcher he was a few years ago (although he's still very good!). Wood falls into the "well, someone has to start Opening Day" category. No offense, Alex. Add in wretched John Fisher-induced vibes surrounding the A's right now, and yeah, can't blame fans of the other 28 teams for skipping this one.

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Get ready for the first lunar eclipse of the year

The worm moon occurs when the moon lines up with the sun and Earth allowing the edges of the Earth's shadow to be cast onto the moon. Peak viewing time for the worm moon is 12:53 a.m. ET Monday.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Good morning, I'm Leila Fadel.

Don't be alarmed tonight if you happen to see the moon shaded slightly red. It's just a warm moon, as astronomers call it, which occurs when the moon lines up with the Sun and Earth, allowing the edges of the Earth's shadow, or the penumbra, to be cast onto the moon. The event will be most visible in North and South America, a full two weeks before the other great celestial event of the year, the solar eclipse. Peak viewing time for the warm moon is 12:53 a.m. Eastern.

It's MORNING EDITION.

Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

'The Bachelor' stars Joey Graziadei and Kelsey Anderson explain why they did couples therapy after getting engaged, despite having a 'great foundation' for their relationship

• "The Bachelor" stars Joey Graziadei and Kelsey Anderson spoke to Business Insider about their relationship. 
• The pair said that they've gone to couples therapy since getting engaged during the season 28 finale. 
• "It was really big for us because we didn't want to do it when we were in a bad spot," Graziadei said.

Joey Graziadei and Kelsey Anderson 's love story is just getting started.

Tennis pro Graziadei gave Anderson his final rose and proposed to her on the season 28 finale of "The Bachelor" Monday night. But their relationship milestone took place months ago in Tulum, Mexico, and the couple has been guarding the spoiler as closely as Marvel actors protect plot twists.

"We've been waiting for this moment," Graziadei told Business Insider on Wednesday, in a joint interview with his fiancée. "It's been everything we could ask for and more. There's been so much love and support, and now we're just excited to further our own story."

Even though Graziadei and Anderson quickly connected and bonded over the course of 'The Bachelor," navigating their relationship without the constraints of the reality TV show is a whole new challenge. A first step on that journey is learning more about each other through therapy, they told BI.

Some of their sweetest moments didn't make the final cut of the show

The season 28 premiere marked a series high for "The Bachelor," accumulating 7.70 million viewers across ABC and other streamers in delayed viewing — the show's best viewership since Matt James' season finale in 2021, TheWrap reported.

As fans tuned in every week to see Graziadei narrow down his search for his forever person, the show continued to set new records for "The Bachelor" and the franchise as a whole.

Week four's trip to Malta landed a season-high of 5.9 million viewers from three days of delayed viewing, Variety reported. Week nine's fantasy suites episode nabbed 6.3 million viewers across three days of delayed viewing — becoming the most-watched episode of The Bachelor," "The Bachelorette" and "Bachelor in Paradise" since 2022, per Variety .

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Even though Graziadei and Anderson's connection was undeniable to millions of fans who tuned into "The Bachelor," not all of their big moments made the final cut of the show — like their first kiss, which happened after the paint battle group date during week two.

"I wasn't feeling the best after or during our paint battle date, so I was eating some crackers and hydrating," Anderson recalled. "I was getting lightheaded, and Joey came in and checked on me and our first kiss was there. My mouth was full of crackers, and it was just a really sweet moment."

"It was kind of the beginning of all of it," Graziadei added. "That was a really special moment that, obviously, we know it was special, but would've been awesome to see too."

They wanted to start couples therapy in a good spot

Since getting engaged, Graziadei and Anderson have continued getting to know each other on a deeper level through couples therapy.

Graziadei said that they wanted to be proactive about pursuing counseling now, instead of when conflicts arise. He said that through couples counseling, they've come to understand that they have different communication styles.

"It was really big for us because we didn't want to do it when we were in a bad spot," Graziadei said. "We wanted to do it when we were in a good spot and learn more about each other."

One of the central focuses of season 28 of "The Bachelor" was Graziadei's fear that he'd choose someone and his feelings wouldn't be reciprocated. Now that he's overcome that hurdle, he's confident about his future.

"Kelsey's given that reassurance time and time again, how much she is going to choose me every day," he said.

They're still adjusting to living out their relationship in public and part of that challenge includes moving to New York this summer, a city that Anderson has longed to live in.

"I think that we have a really great foundation," Anderson said. "I think neither of us has lived with anybody before, so that's something exciting that we're ready to tackle."

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2024 NCAA Tournament bracket: Opening odds, spreads, lines for Sweet 16 March Madness games

L ess than a week after the NCAA Tournament selection committee revealed its 68-team field for this year's March Madness, we are down to 16 teams — all with hopes of cutting down the nets next month in Phoenix at the Final Four.

Odds for every single Sweet 16 game are in the space below based on how Las Vegas oddsmakers see the games playing out. You might have your own special formula -- maybe you pick based off mascots, or colors, or vibes -- but the way oddsmakers see matchups might help add another piece of the puzzle as you finish your picks.

Keep in mind that odds are merely a projection based off models and shaped by the public and how oddsmakers set it in an attempt to draw action. Upsets happen all the time, but the second round provided mostly chalk. On the opening day of the second round, all eight favorites won outright and those teams went 6-2 ATS. On Sunday, there was only one seeding upset, as Clemson defeated Baylor to advance to the Sweet 16.

The updated odds, via SportsLine consensus can be seen below.

Sweet 16 

East region.

Thursday -- TD Garden in Boston

No. 1 UConn (-10) vs. No. 5  San Diego State  

No. 2 Iowa State (-2) vs. No. 3  Illinois  

West Region

Thursday -- Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles 

No. 1 North Carolina  (-4) vs. No. 4  Alabama

No. 2 Arizona (-7.5) vs. No. 6 Clemson

South Region

Friday -- American Airlines Center in Dallas

No. 1 Houston (-4) vs. No. 4 Duke

No. 2 Marquette (-6.5) vs. No. 11 NC State

Midwest Region

Friday-- Little Caesars Arena in Detroit

No. 1 Purdue  (-5) vs. No. 5 Gonzaga 

No. 2 Tennessee (-2.5) vs. No. 3 Creighton

Get every pick, every play, every upset and fill out your bracket with our help! Visit SportsLine now to see which teams will make and break your bracket , and see who will cut down the nets, all from the model that beat over 92% of CBS Sports brackets players three of the last five years.