British novelist Charles Dickens (1812-1870) sat in his study in Gads Hill near Rochester, Kent circa 1860. He wrote one of the best first lines in literature. Great opening lines to books set the ...

Some sentences do more than begin a story. They shatter something. They rearrange the air in the room, and nothing about how you read - or think - is ever quite the same again. Literature is full of ...

Last week’s column featuring some memorable ending sentences I have “collected” while browsing bookstores brought numerous requests for a bookend prequel of opening lines that really knock me out, to ...

There's a moment when you open a book and the very first sentence stops you cold. You read it again. Then once more. Something about it just hooks you in a way that's almost unfair. A single line, ...

A great introduction is fine art, crafted with great care and purpose. A first impression matters. If the reader never reads past the first paragraph, he will never read your brilliant narrative or ...