Submissions for #FirstLineFriday are officially closed now. My thanks to all who emailed me with their guesses. Today, we have one winner: Harmony Kent. Congratulations, Harmony, and I hope you enjoy your prize.
Harmony’s Author Page can be found HERE.
And now, here’s the answer to today’s quiz:
“Nobody was really surprised when it happened, not really, not at the subconscious level where savage things grow.” is the opening line of the epistolary novel, Carrie, by American author Stephen King.
It was King’s first published novel, released on April 5, 1974, with a first print run of 30,000 copies. Set primarily in the future year of 1979, it revolves around the eponymous Carrie White, an unpopular friendless misfit and bullied high school girl from an abusive religious household who uses her newly discovered telekinetic powers to exact revenge on those who torment her.
During the process, she causes one of the worst local disasters the town has ever had. King has commented that he finds the work to be “raw” and “with a surprising power to hurt and horrify.” Much of the book uses newspaper clippings, magazine articles, letters, and excerpts from books to tell how Carrie destroyed the fictional town of Chamberlain, Maine while exacting revenge on her sadistic classmates and her own mother, Margaret.
Several adaptations of Carrie have been released, including a 1976 feature film, a 1988 Broadway musical as well as a 2012 off-Broadway revival, a 1999 feature film sequel, a 2002 television film, a 2013 feature film, and a 2018 television special episode of Riverdale. The book is dedicated to King’s wife Tabitha King: “This is for Tabby, who got me into it – and then bailed me out of it.”
WHAT AMAZON SAYS:
Stephen King’s legendary debut, about a teenage outcast and the revenge she enacts on her classmates.
Carrie White may be picked on by her classmates, but she has a gift. She can move things with her mind. Doors lock. Candles fall. This is her power and her problem. Then, an act of kindness, as spontaneous as the vicious taunts of her classmates, offers Carrie a chance to be normal…until an unexpected cruelty turns her gift into a weapon of horror and destruction that no one will ever forget.
Buy Carrie HERE
I think this particular line proves once again that while great opening lines can pull us into a story, it’s the tale, itself, that sticks with us in the long run.
And that wraps it up for this week, folks. Hoped you enjoyed playing along! Thanks so much for taking part, and stay tuned for another #FirstLineFriday quiz in two weeks. See you then!
Congratulations to Harmony!
LikeLiked by 2 people
She had her reply in to me before I’d had my first cuppa tea. 😀 I’m happy she was right, because I hate when I don’t get a winner or two, at the least. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
You kind of want to get the contest out but not so hard that nobody gets to be a winner. 🙂 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
It’s hard, because it’s not like I’m choosing the lines. These are actual lists from various publications with their choices of the Top 100 Best Novel Opening Lines, so I have to pick from those. And they are always pretty good ones, just not easy to remember. But even the more obvious ones are still tricky and don’t get as many winners as I would have expected. Still, the whole point is to study these lines and think about ways to make our own first lines better. The little prizes are just incidental, for the most part. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Miriam 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome, Harmony! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yay Harmony!
LikeLiked by 2 people
You were SOOO close, Priscilla! Next time, for sure! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Priscilla 😁
LikeLike
Well, I’ll be gobsmacked. I read that book and never would have guessed. Granted it was back in high school, but still, LOL!
Congratulations to Harmony!!
LikeLiked by 3 people
I wouldn’t have remembered it, either, Mae, and I read it when it came out. I was NOT in high school. 😀 I was 30-ish. 😀 And that was in 1974!! Hahahahahaha.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And btw I love the word gobsmacked! 😀 ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s one I’ve re read recently, otherwise I wouldn’t have remembered, lols. Thanks, Mae 😁
LikeLike
Well done, Harmony!! xo
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Darlene 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
I knew there was something familiar about the opening line. Congrats to Harmony!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yep. I suspected you’d likely read this one at one time or another. Wish it had come to you! I’d love to have had a second winner today. 🙂 Thanks for checking it out, though. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Joan 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congrats to Harmony. I don’t think I ever read the book, but I saw the movie once way back when.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Must be nice to be so young. Me, I read the book when it came out. In 1974. When I was 30 and had a 3-year old kid. 😀 😀 😀 But, I figured you’d have heard of it, even if you never read it. And it’s a great opening line, isn’t it? At least, I think so. Thanks for giving it a go, Jeanne! Always glad to see you here! 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Jeanne 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations to Harmony! And many thanks to you, Marcia, for a competition that tantalises the brain cells and makes me look more carefully at the power of these opening words. One day… 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
You’re welcome, Trish, and that’s what I love most about doing these. Just as we study other things about the craft, our opening lines are important, even if most readers don’t remember them later. But they have a job to do, and some of the ones we looked at here have been pretty impressive, I think. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Trish 😁
LikeLike
No wonder it sounded familiar! In my defense, I read it way back when it came out! Congrats Harmony:)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Denise 😁
LikeLike
I knew most people would at least be familiar with the title, and many would have actually read it at some point. I’m sorry it didn’t come to you, though. Would love to have included you in the winner’s list. (A list of ONE isn’t nearly as long as I’d like. 😀 ) Thanks for giving it a try, though, Denise. Maybe next time. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Huge, huge thanks, Marcia, for this bit of Friday fun and showing us another great first line. Had I not re-read Carrie recently, I wouldn’t have remembered this line. It would have just been familiar but tantalisingly out of reach, lols 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are very welcome, Harmony. I really love taking a look at these lines and seeing which ones (if any) have stuck in readers’ minds. And I think “familiar but tantalizingly out of reach” turned out to be the theme for the day, only spelled with a “z” of course, as it is over here, and as auto-correct insists on. 😀 😀 😀
I’m really glad you’d refreshed your memory and knew this one right off the bat. It’s always more fun to have winners, even if that’s not the main focus of the series. Hope you’ll enjoy your prize!! Workin’ on it! 😀 ❤
And most of all, thanks for playing! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person