How important is the opening sentence to a story or novel? I

>>8772153
It's more for publishers, I'd guess. They need to see very quickly if the story is worth their time.

Opening lines are about being concise, but providing an awesome hook. A great opening line causes the reader to want to more.

A great opening also has great flow-great rhythm. My friends and clients know me as often being over critical. On the other hand, when I see greatness, I am equally blunt. Your opening line is nothing less than superb.

Here's an example of a perfect opening line:

"Only one enemy remained; two if you counted God."

>>8772172
bait from reddit thread

A memeing came across the sky

>>8772153
It literally opens the entire story so it's really important. That said it also has to lead to something substantial.

>>8772153
"BANG! Mom made dog pancakes."

>>8772153
Personally I prefer writing the opening sentence last for this exact reason. You can't properly begin a story if you don't know where it's going, the first sentence read is most definitely not the first sentence written.

I have a friend who writes novellas backwards, chapter by chapter because he says he's "more comfortable structuring the story in reverse"

>>8772647
Nabokov used to write bits and pieces of story on small cards and then compile together

>>8772352
Wot

If I pick up a book off the shelf and the first sentence I see is something dumb like the "two enemies left" shit, I'm not going to buy it

>>8772172
>"Only one enemy remained; two if you counted God."
Holy...I want more

I don't really pay attention to them or maybe I do more once I've read the book and go to look back at it. Like someone said, it's something publishers look at and teachers when teaching the book bc it can be useful in that way.