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[2] [3] One of the most famous opening lines, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", starts a sentence of 118 words [4] that draws the reader in by its contradiction; the first sentence of the novel, Yes even contains 477 words. Moby-Dick's "Call me Ishmael." is an example of a short opening sentence.
A narrative hook (or just hook) is a literary technique in the opening of a story that "hooks" the reader's attention so that they will keep on reading. The "opening" may consist of several paragraphs for a short story, or several pages for a novel, and may even be the opening sentence.
The contest was started in 1982 by Professor Scott E. Rice of the English Department at San Jose State University and is named for English novelist and playwright Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, author of the much-quoted first line "It was a dark and stormy night". This opening, from the 1830 novel Paul Clifford, reads in full:
The Braw Beginnings project has seen the start of a number of popular titles changed into the language.
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There are a variety of recursive stories based on the quote where one character tells another character a story, which itself begins with the same opening line. An example would be "It was a dark and stormy night and the Captain said to the mate, Tell us a story mate, and this is the story.
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Frontispiece to The How and Why Library, 1909 "Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 [1] in storytelling in the English language and has started many narratives since 1600.