“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….” “Two households, both alike in dignity…” “TOM!”

All great literature begins with a sentence. It’s a sentence so simple, yet so powerful that it’s able to represent the vast resonance possessed by the work it launched. How do such sentences become conceived? Is it purely organic or calculated?

Either way, it represents a beginning – a start to a journey that takes the reader across figurative landscapes and time. It’s the initial excitement brought on by the apprehension of what each following sentences may reveal. It’s a commitment to the story – an initial promise to see it through. It’s the first bricks laid down to create a network of roads. It’s the conception of a developing idea or tale. It’s the spark that fuels the flames of curiosity.

Mankind’s history and imagination has been immortalized and distributed thanks to the written word – all of which starts with a sentence.