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    1001 First Lines
    1001 First Lines
    1001 First Lines
    Ebook231 pages1 hour

    1001 First Lines

    By Scarlett Archer

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    About this ebook

    “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.”- Paul Clifford by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton

    “Call me Ishmael.” -Moby Dick by Herman Melville

    “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” -1984 by George Orwell

    Have you ever wondered which novels contain the most famous opening lines? Or how the writers of Science Fiction compare to those of Romance? Now you can compare for yourself, with 1001 of the best and worst First Lines from fifteen
    genres.

    1001 First Lines is for the writers and the readers of the world, providing inspiration and instruction, with a checklist of titles to tick off as you go.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherScarlett Archer
    Release dateFeb 19, 2012
    ISBN9780987280114
    1001 First Lines
    Author

    Scarlett Archer

    Scarlett Archer is an author and full time graphic designer based in Melbourne Australia. She has been writing for over fifteen years, completed over eleven novels, and her main drive is in speculative fiction or its contrasting opposite romantic comedic novels. She has a passion for studying the art of story telling and is a grand lover of movies. Her focus in work is book cover designs which enables her to put all her energy in to the area she loves most- literature.

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    • 5/5
      If you are a book lover, like I am, you are bound to have some favorite first lines from your favorite books. What if you could find a book dedicated to capturing all those old familiar sayings in one book, would you be interested?Well then look no further, 1001 First Lines, was collected and edited by Scarlett Archer just for you book lovers who sometimes will quote your lines but forget where they came from. These are all archived in a wonderful book categorized by genre type. You will find such classic authors as J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen King, Roald Dahl, Edgar Allen Poe, Arthur Miller, Charles Dickens, J.K. Rowling and many, many others captured inside the covers of this book. Here are just a small sample of what you will find:"This is my favorite book in all the word, though I have never read it." ~ The Princess Bride by William Goldman"Where's Papa going with that ax?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast." ~ Charlotte's Web by E.B. White"If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book." ~ The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket"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"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." ~ A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens"A good first line cracks like a bull whip. A bad first line brings the book to its conclusion long before the last printed page. Sitting around the campfire is where it started, sharing stories with family and friends beneath the stars. In jungles, in deserts, in fields and caverns, in the dark nights and the brightest sun of the dawn. First lines hush a crowd and trigger huddles. They are a striking force that tears through a writer and leaves a wake so wide it sucks them down and won't free them until the last line is written - and even then they only get a single grasp before submerging again." (pg 4).I received 1001 First Lines by Scarlett Archer, compliments of Pump Up Your Book Tours, for my honest review. As a book lover and writer, I LOVE this book. Sometimes you search high and low looking for that great opening line and in this one, you find that sometimes it just something simple that draws the reader into to your book like a worm on a hook! This is the perfect gift for anyone who is a book lover, writer or even a Literature teacher! I rate this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars and keep this one close at hand whenever frustration rises up and I just need a reminder that it doesn't have to be rocket science to be a great first line!

    Book preview

    1001 First Lines - Scarlett Archer

    1001 First Lines

    Collected & Edited by

    SCARLETT ARCHER

    Copyright © 2012 Scarlett Archer

    Smashwords edition

    It was the best of lines, it was the worst of lines.

    They’re out there.- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

    Call me Ishmael. -Moby Dick by Herman Melville

    It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.-1984 by George Orwell

    Have you ever wondered which novels contain the most famous opening lines? Or how the writers of Science Fiction compare to those of Romance? Now you can compare for yourself, with 1001 of the best and worst First Lines from fifteen genres.

    1001 First Lines is for the writers and the readers of the world, providing inspiration and instruction.

    COPYRIGHT

    1001 First Lines

    It was the best of lines, it was the worst of lines.

    Scarlett Archer

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

    This publication is designed to provide accurate and personal experience information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the author, contributors, publisher are not engaged in rendering counselling or other professional services. Neither publisher nor author, editors or designers take ownership of the excerpts provided herein, and acknowledge and respect all work that helped bring this book together.

    ISBN 978-0-9872801-1-4

    contact@scarlett-archer.com

    Visit my website at www.scarlettarcher.com.

    Printed in Australia

    Book Design by Scarlett Rugers

    www.scarlettrugers.com

    First Online Edition: 02/2012

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

    Thank you Mike, my partner in crime. Thank you to the beta readers, you did an amazing job! Thanks to all FM’ers and Nano’ers who have listened to me talk on about this for months and gave support and encouragement.

    Thank you to all the factory and food process workers who did their job making junk food, so I could do mine.

    And thank you to all the authors in this book, for it would not be possible without their skills, talent and passion.

    Table of Contents

    Introduction

    Comedy

    Young Adult

    Chick Lit

    Romance

    Erotica

    Paranormal

    Horror

    Crime

    Thriller

    Historical

    Literary

    Biography

    Non-Fiction

    Fantasy

    Science Fiction

    Author’s Notes

    Introduction

    A good first line cracks like a bull whip. A bad first line brings the book to its conclusion long before the last printed page. Sitting around the campfire is where it started, sharing stories with family and friends beneath the stars. In jungles, in deserts, in fields and caverns, in the dark nights and the bright sun of the dawn. First lines hush a crowd and trigger huddles. They are a striking force that tears through a writer and leaves a wake so wide it sucks them down and won’t free them until the last line is written- and even then they only get a single gasp before submerging again.

    I drew from all different resources to put this book together, including best of lists and most popular lists. This book is in honour of the authors that had made those generous ripples in our great sea of literature. A packaged little book to say thanks to the writers and allow you, the reader, to be inspired. Enjoy.

    Comedy

    Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

    Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

    Douglas Adams

    A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head.

    Confederacy of Dunces

    John Kennedy Toole

    You think you know how this story is going to end, but you don’t.

    Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal

    Christopher Moore

    It was a nice day.

    Good Omens

    Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

    It was love at first sight.

    Catch 22

    Joseph Heller

    There were four of us- George, and William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency.

    Three Men in a Boat

    Jerome K. Jerome

    I am seated in an office, surrounded by heads and bodies.

    Infinite Jest

    David Foster Wallace

    I was a shade perturbed.

    Thank You, Jeeves

    P.G.Wodehouse

    This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.

    The Princess Bride

    William Goldman

    While still a young man, John Courteney Boot had, as his publisher proclaimed, achieved an assured and enviable position in contemporary letters.

    Scoop

    Evelyn Waugh

    The first ray of light which illumines the gloom, and converts into a dazzling brilliancy that obscurity in which the earlier history of the public career of the immortal Pickwick would appear to be involved, is derived from the perusal of the following entry in the Transactions of the Pickwick Club, which the editor of these papers feels the highest pleasure in laying before his readers, as proof of the careful attention, indefatigable assiduity, and nice discrimination, with which his search amongst multifarious documents confided to him has been conducted.

    The Pickwick Papers

    Charles Dickens

    Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, and what is the use of a book, thought Alice, without pictures or conversations?

    Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

    Lewis Carroll

    It was the summer of 1987, when I was six years old, my cousin got married on a farm in Washington state.

    Sh*t My Dad Says

    Justin Halpern

    ‘They made a silly mistake, though,’ the Professor of History said, and his smile, as Dixon watched, gradually sank beneath the surface of his features at the memory.

    Lucky Jim

    Kinsley Amis

    Puggy had held down his job at the Jolly Jackal Bar and Grill, which did not have a grill, for almost three weeks.

    Big Trouble

    Dave Barry

    It’s cheaper to buy a garbage bag full of Ecstasy than it is a carton of cigarettes these days.

    First Person, Last Straw

    Tom Waters

    Hughes got it wrong, in one important detail.

    Flashman

    George MacDonald Fraser

    Call me Jonah.

    Cat’s Cradle

    Kurt Vonnegut

    I was seven years old when my sister told me she’d give me five dollars to run upstairs into my parents’ room while they were having sex and take a picture.

    My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands

    Chelsea Handler

    I snagged Vinnie’s head while I was out fishing for flounder off the end of the town dock in Comapogue, down there on the South Shore of Long Island between Lindenhurst and Copiague.

    Vinnie’s Head

    Marc Lecard

    The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.

    The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

    Barbara Robinson

    For months the great Pleasure Excursion to Europe and the Holy Land was chatted about in the newspapers everywhere in America, and discussed at countless firesides.

    The Innocents Abroad: or; The New Pilgrims’

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