"It was a dark, stormy night"? 
First sentences of a novel Page 3
Worse!
'I wish I had a washing machine' said the washer woman, wetly.
Now that's wishy washy.
"The last thing he remembered seeing was a Pikachu hat"?
How did you guess!?
Surely everything starts with a death if you factor in 'la petite mort'.
Talking of the bible, did any of you lot know that Noah invented wine?
Of course you didn't.
Quote: Godot Taxis @ April 7 2009, 12:45 AM BSTSurely everything starts with a death if you factor in 'la petite mort'.
Niiiice.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ April 6 2009, 5:08 PM BSTI tried to write a novel once, the first line was:
" The sun hung in the sky in exactly the same way that a cow didn't."
What a loss to literature I am.
It would be better if it wasn't ripping off The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and if the cow wasn't in the simple past tense: "The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."
That line shows that Douglas Adams himself was clearly influenced by P.G. Wodehouse.
Quote: Kenneth @ April 7 2009, 12:51 AM BSTIt would be better if it wasn't ripping off The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Well it's not a rip off if you didn't know you were actually ripping anything off. But cheers for that.
Quote: Leevil @ April 6 2009, 5:26 PM BST
"On a hill top all alone, stands a boy, made of stone..."
Very nice.
Quote: zooo @ April 6 2009, 11:30 PM BSTTell us it then!
You juicy dangler.
(aw, it's ages since I've quoted the Mighty Boosh.)
I am officially the only one who thought 'mankind' flowed better.
I just liked the two syllables I think. Though you've said Man describes what you were getting at better, so it doesn't matter now.
You have the nub of the matter Ms Zooo - I prefer the sound of mankind better too, but the meaning becomes a little confused as mankind translates as humanity which wan't what I was getting at. I only have 86000 other words to deliberate on now!
Quote: Godot Taxis @ April 7 2009, 12:45 AM BSTSurely everything starts with a death if you factor in 'la petite mort'.
Talking of the bible, did any of you lot know that Noah invented wine?
Of course you didn't.
Things that you are liable to read in the Bible aren't neccessarily so.
In my first novel* the first sentence is
Night-time on the river, twenty five miles west of London.
And my agent said to me that isn't a sentence and I said I know and I don't care. Rebel eh?
*Available etc
Well found this thread looking for something else. That opening sentence never did see the light of day.
My new one is:
'F**k that!' said Jack Delaney.
(And my last one in it too, on taking advice from here
What about 'Duck? not in this weather' said Jack Delaney 
Quote: Shandonbelle @ July 25 2011, 11:56 AM BSTWhat about 'Duck? not in this weather' said Jack Delaney
It's not really that kind of book!
Quote: Marc P @ July 25 2011, 11:27 AM BSTAnd my last one in it too, on taking advice from here
That was me, that was!