Chapter 1
Hooking the reader with mystery and mood
Chapter 2
Setting the stage of epic worlds
Chapter 3
Global voices and magical realism
Chapter 4
The power of the simple sentence
YOUR GOAL
Master of Great first lines in literature
Ch 2 · Setting the stage of epic worlds
schopenhauer Epic Fantasy Openings
Grading school exams on a weary afternoon, a blank page birthed a hobbit's hole!
schopenhauer William Gibson's Neuromancer famously compares the sky to a dead television screen.
schopenhauer Frank Herbert's sci-fi epic Dune begins with a philosophical warning about the nature of beginnings.
BETA
schopenhauer Match famous opening lines on the cosmic spinner to master literary trivia across every genre.
Fun Fact
Tolkien's exam: J.R.R. Tolkien scribbled the opening line of The Hobbit on a blank student exam paper he was grading.
Glossary
worldbuilding (noun)
The process of constructing a detailed, fictional universe, typically for science fiction or fantasy stories. Tolkien initiated his Middle-earth saga in 1937 with a cozy description of a hobbit's hole.
The process of constructing a detailed, fictional universe, typically for science fiction or fantasy stories. Tolkien initiated his Middle-earth saga in 1937 with a cozy description of a hobbit's hole.
Quiz
Which 1984 cyberpunk novel by William Gibson begins with the sky described as "the color of television, tuned to a dead channel"?
Quiz
"Far out in the uncharted backwaters..." is the cosmic opening of which 1979 comedy sci-fi novel by Douglas Adams?
Quiz
"The terror that would not end for another twenty-eight years..." is the opening of which 1986 Stephen King horror novel?
Quiz
Which 1950 fantasy novel by C.S. Lewis begins with four siblings being sent away from London during World War II air raids?
Quiz
"The angry man in the dragon skin coat..." begins which 2020 award-winning fantasy novel by Nghi Vo?
Quiz
Princess Irulan writes the opening historical reflections in which 1965 science fiction epic by Frank Herbert?
Quiz
J.R.R. Tolkien's 1937 fantasy classic The Hobbit famously begins by describing what kind of home?
Quiz
Which character speaks the very first line ("We should start back...") in George R.R. Martin's 1996 fantasy novel A Game of Thrones?