Writer's Block: The start of something wonderful

[andrewducker]

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I'm always torn between 'It was the day my grandmother exploded.' from Iain Banks' "The Crow Road" and John Varley's "Steel Beach" - 'In five years the penis will become obsolete'.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Mine is 'My friend Hergal had killed himself again.' from Tanith Lee, Don't Bite the Sun.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

'It was love at first sight' - Catch-22.

And of course:

'It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.'

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

"It was the day my grandmother exploded" ranks among the best opening lines of all time in any genre of work.

-- Steve loves it to bits, er, so to speak.

PS: Oddly, though, I have yet to read the novel. I did see the first few minutes of its televised version, IIRC.

[ophiuchus.livejournal.com]

Off the top of my head it has to be

'Jesus fuck.'

[andrewducker]

Which one is that from?

[ophiuchus.livejournal.com]

Quite Ugly One Morning. Christopher Brookmyre's first novel.