Curious, what are you favorite ways that books have been begun? I personally think Brandon Sanderson is very good at that, but what do you think?
Anything that keeps me hooked is a good opening. Of course, this is purely subjective. Some books hook me from the first few lines, like Camus' The Stranger: Others do it from the first line alone, like in Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude: And still others take a few paragraphs or even pages. I couldn't tell you an exact formula for what makes a great opening; all I can say is that I know a good opening when I read it.
1984 is still one of my own favourites. The first sentence lulls you into a false sense of security, then throws you into an alternate world with the final word: "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." The best openings can set up a character and world in the first paragraph, and leave enough mystery that I have to read on to see what happens.
there are no 'best' or 'worst' ways... only ways that 'work' or 'don't work'... a good writer can start a novel any way at all and make it work, while a poor writer can fail no matter how s/he does it...
Fancy hooks and first lines don't usually draw me in. When I pick up a book to buy, I usually turn to the middle and read a paragraph - if I like the style, or if the characters interest me, I'll buy it. I don't trust hooky beginnings anymore. Being on several writing sites I've seen books start with great hooks and then meander into ordinary or even boring tales. Some can sustain that initial thrill but a lot of times they can't. Most of the time it's because the beginning is all bells and whistles and doesn't match the rest of the book. The beginning I like the best is a no-lie beginning - no grand standing for an ordinary romance or a quiet drama. No flashy explosions if your going to spend 100 pages discussing the history of planet whatever. One of my favorite beginnings is Anne Tyler's Breathing Lessons in which Maggie, the older mc, is just pulling freshly fixed car out of a service station and crashes it (again ), thinking she's heard someone she knows on the radio. Considering she does kooky things like this throughout the book it perfectly prepares us for the character.
In my own writing, most of my novels begin either with dialogue or a short sentence. It doesn't have to be immediately striking or strange, I just feel that short sentences work with my style (for the opening sentence). As for other books I read, it doesn't matter. I really do like dialogue, which is why I also like movies so much, but in the end, as long as it hooks me then it's no bother. However, I will be honest and say that I'd prefer it if I'm hooked a maximum of two pages in. I'll read for a couple of chapters more, but it will be a struggle, especially if I don't like the writer's style. But it doesn't even have to be the style that grabs you, at least initially. In one of my favourite series (a young adult guilty pleasure, I'm afraid; won't tell you which series ) the first book begins with a boy in a classroom. It's pretty mundane for the first couple of lines, but instead of using punchy sentences to grab the reader, the author uses reader empathy with the character. It mentions having to write notes when the photocopier had been invented years earlier, and that hooked me immediately. I could empathise with the character, and that's one of the best things an author can do. So, opening don't always have to be action-packed.
