What is your favorite opening scene from any novel or story? Describe it, and tell us why it works.
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Best Opening Scenes
- Thread starter Black Dragon
- Start date
pskelding
Lore Master
2 recent reads (not fantasy though) -
Fuzzy Nation by Jon Scalzi from the main protagonist's dog's POV setting off mining explosive which he has been trained to do, brilliant! It's unique from the first sentence and definitely gets your interest right away. The dog's POV doesn't show up in the rest of the novel but it is awesome as an opening chapter.
Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey (aka Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck, GRRM's assistant) The opening chapter starts with woman locked in a shipboard locker remembering the ship being attacked and boarded. The crew gets tortured while she is in the locker and then it takes a turn for the worse into horror. Definitely didn't see that coming in a space opera and it's quite effective in drawing the reader in. I don't want to give more details to spoil it for everyone here. A must read if you are a scifi fan.
I'm a big fan of starting "in the action" so to speak because I think it's more effective than detailing a setting for an event. Throw the readers in and let them figure it out, it's more exciting that way because everything is new and unfamiliar.
Fuzzy Nation by Jon Scalzi from the main protagonist's dog's POV setting off mining explosive which he has been trained to do, brilliant! It's unique from the first sentence and definitely gets your interest right away. The dog's POV doesn't show up in the rest of the novel but it is awesome as an opening chapter.
Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey (aka Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck, GRRM's assistant) The opening chapter starts with woman locked in a shipboard locker remembering the ship being attacked and boarded. The crew gets tortured while she is in the locker and then it takes a turn for the worse into horror. Definitely didn't see that coming in a space opera and it's quite effective in drawing the reader in. I don't want to give more details to spoil it for everyone here. A must read if you are a scifi fan.
I'm a big fan of starting "in the action" so to speak because I think it's more effective than detailing a setting for an event. Throw the readers in and let them figure it out, it's more exciting that way because everything is new and unfamiliar.
Theankh
Journeyman
The man in black fled into the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
Aside from anything else, it's the only opening scene that I can remember
Aside from anything else, it's the only opening scene that I can remember
Allyssianne
Apprentice
Here's one, from a horror novel, but one I loved none the less:
"Our story opens where countless stories have ended in the last twenty-six years: with an idiot - in this case, my brother Shaun - deciding it would be a good idea to go out and poke a zombie with a stick to see what happens. As if we didn't already know what happens when you mess with a zombie: The zombie turns around and bites you and you become the thing you poked. It hasn't been a surprise for more than the last twenty years, and if you want to get technical, it wasn't a surprise then."
- Feed, by Mira Grant.
I thought that this was a really interesting idea, since I wanted to find out whether or not Shaun was going to end up being zombie munchies or not. It stuck in my mind for a very long time, (proof, I read this book about a year ago).
"Our story opens where countless stories have ended in the last twenty-six years: with an idiot - in this case, my brother Shaun - deciding it would be a good idea to go out and poke a zombie with a stick to see what happens. As if we didn't already know what happens when you mess with a zombie: The zombie turns around and bites you and you become the thing you poked. It hasn't been a surprise for more than the last twenty years, and if you want to get technical, it wasn't a surprise then."
- Feed, by Mira Grant.
I thought that this was a really interesting idea, since I wanted to find out whether or not Shaun was going to end up being zombie munchies or not. It stuck in my mind for a very long time, (proof, I read this book about a year ago).
Dante Sawyer
Lore Master
Best opening I've ever read. It's so simple, but it sets up so much.
Misusscarlet
Master
Ender's Game.
"I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one. Or at least as close as we're going to get."
"That's what you said about the brother."
"The brother tested out impossible. For other reasons. Nothing to do with his ability."
"Same with the sister. And there are doubts about him. He's too malleable. Too willing to submerge himself in someone else's will."
"Not if the other person is his enemy."
"So what do we do? Surround him with enemies all the time?"
"If we have to."
"I thought you said you liked this kid."
It draws you in. They're going to surround a kid with enemies all the time, his brother and sister also failed some test. It also makes you say What?! when reading the dialogue between the two doctors.
"I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one. Or at least as close as we're going to get."
"That's what you said about the brother."
"The brother tested out impossible. For other reasons. Nothing to do with his ability."
"Same with the sister. And there are doubts about him. He's too malleable. Too willing to submerge himself in someone else's will."
"Not if the other person is his enemy."
"So what do we do? Surround him with enemies all the time?"
"If we have to."
"I thought you said you liked this kid."
It draws you in. They're going to surround a kid with enemies all the time, his brother and sister also failed some test. It also makes you say What?! when reading the dialogue between the two doctors.
Kelise
Scribal Lord
The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan
It has a bit of dry humour, and is a bit exciting.
It has a bit of dry humour, and is a bit exciting.