The Year In Great Sentences
Rahawa Haile, short story writer and essayist
Sentence: “Sasha’s birthday fell on a Wednesday, and though her parents gave her a present, its string and paper meant to be torn away at once, almost ten days have passed and still she has not opened it.”
Where It’s From: “Latchkey” by Anne Valente
Why It’s Great: This opening line is a beautifully crafted firing shot. Cumulative sentences that create dramatic tension right off the bat–without suffocating the reader, plot, or character with specifics–are the lottery tickets of the short story world. Euphony only gets one so far.