Sometimes, when I’m stuck, I’ll pull books from the shelves and luxuriate in other people’s first sentences. It’s like taking a bite of every chocolate in the box, or wandering through a high-end hat store—just trying on a bunch of gorgeous little caps. First sentences are so deliberate, and seeing how other writers choose to begin can offer a helpful look at different voices, because in that first paragraph voice is the only thing you have going for you. There’s no plot or character development to rely on yet. In my own writing, voice is typically the engine throughout. In order to write, I sometimes have to locate that voice—the rhythm, the sound, the temperature. Peeking at other voices can therefore be helpful: Claire Keegan if I need a cool, clean tone, for example, or Joy Williams if I want to get unsettling.
And it’s simply fun. All the hats in the hat store are a pleasure to try on, even the plain ones, even the ones I’d never wear. And that can be energizing. Important: No one does a better opener than Shirley Jackson.
—Delaney Nolan, author of Happy Bad (Astra House, 2025)
Photo credit: Bryan Tarnowski