There was this character of an aspiring, wanna-be writer in "Plague" (by A. Camus), named Joseph Grand, who obsesses over the first sentence of his novel. He'd

There was this character of an aspiring, wanna-be writer in "Plague" (by A. Camus), named Joseph Grand, who obsesses over the first sentence of his novel. He'd keep on rewriting it infinitely, never getting beyond it. "Perfection spells p-a-r-a-l-y-s-i-s", as the man said (Churchill, if I'm not mistaken). For what it's worth, I considered quoting Plague's first sentence here (if it were somehow fitting or interesting), and as I googled it up, I found an article devoted to this very subject: https://theconversation.com/first-sentences-establish-a-contract-with-the-reader-about-what-is-to-come-57984 https://theconversation.com/first-sentences-establish-a-cont... I didn't find Plague's opener to be particularly inspiring after all, but there are a few other examples.