Stephen King’s favourite opening line in the history of literature
“The terror, which would not end for another 28 years, if it ever did end, began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain.” – Stephen King
Even if you’ve never read It, or seen any of the film adaptations for that matter, this opening line from the 1986 novel is still surprisingly easy to identify as it’s clearly setting up the now-famous and culturally pervasive horror story about the evil clown calling out from the sewer to unsuspecting children.
This is no accident, of course, for, as a fairly accomplished novelist by some measures, Mr King has long been of the opinion that a suspenseful or gripping moment in a book needn’t wait for the development of its plot or characters. The very first line, in fact, can do a huge amount of the heavy lifting when it comes to setting a tone and sparking the reader’s curiosity, maybe even getting their heart racing right out of the gate.
“A really good first line can do so much to establish that crucial sense of voice,” King told Parade magazine in 2013, “It’s the first thing that acquaints you, that makes you eager, that starts to enlist you for the long haul.” Unfortunately, putting that much responsibility on one sentence can also put some degree of pressure on the person writing it, even if they’ve sold a billion books already.
“When I’m starting a book, I compose in bed before I go to sleep,” King said, “I will lie there in the dark and think. I’ll try to write a paragraph, an opening paragraph, and over a period of weeks and months and even years, I’ll word and reword it until I’m happy with what I’ve got. If I can get that first paragraph right, I’ll know I can do the book.”
Unsurprisingly, he has been asked about his own favourite opening lines numerous times over the decades, and his answers have varied. In terms of first sentences from his own vast catalogue, he told Parade that the kickoff to 1991’s Needful Things was probably his best, and it might also be the shortest: “You’ve been here before”.
As for works by other writers, King has praised the opening words of James M Cain’s 1934 crime novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, which succinctly sets the stage thus: ”They threw me off the haycart about noon”.
“We can see right away, there’s not going to be much floridity in the language, no persiflage,” King said of Cain’s line, ironically using flowery words to praise a lack of flowery words. In a more recent segment for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2021, the author updated his choice of favourite first line, selecting Douglas Fairbairn’s somewhat obscure 1973 novel Shoot, which begins with an even more bare-bones opening salvo: “This is what happened”.
“I always thought that was a perfect door opener,” King mused.
