Okay, we all hear and read about the importance of opening lines to a story or book.
Care to share some of yours?

Views: 523

Replies to This Discussion

So, Bob, you asked for some of our opening lines?
Sure, Bob, don’t mind if I do.
Here, are a few of mine, Bob.
Thank you for asking; this should be fun.
Bob


"Here I was with my first naked woman ever, not a stitch on her, she kept squirming closer, and I kept jabbing paint into her eyes."

"Megan was a woman long on years and short on merit who tried hard to make her days count for something.
But her nights were generally disposable."

"It’s hard to think “was” about your mom."

"The biting metal stink of smoke and powder."

"Soon, even the birds will be dead. Martin didn’t say it out loud. God will finally turn back to us then. Once we’ve gone too far and it’s too late for even Him to pull us out. He’ll tear open the skies in anguish when He sees what we’ve done to His planet. He’ll look out across vast emptied stretches of what had once been a Glorious Creation and wonder if it had all been worth it."
I love the last one. I would definitely read that book. It captures my feelings exactly.
On re-reading these first lines, they are not as sexist as a few of them may at first appear.
That "paint in the eyes" thing is from my memoirs. I was so shy it was crippling and didn't date until I was in my twenties. My first contact with a naked woman was in college when I was trying to paint a life model in art classes, but thought it would be disrespectful to look below her neck. She kept coming up right beside me and I'd just turn red, get all flustered, and spend a lot of time working on the eyes without looking up.

The woman with the disposable nights is just "throwing them away" trying to "pretend she could ever be a writer."
I struggled with the opening of my novel for more than 20 years. When I finally came up with this one, the whole book fell together:

"The universe punished me for doubting its powers by arranging a special demonstration."
Nice opener!
Thanks! It's the first one I've ever come up with that worked.
Wow! That one's great! No way one could stop reading there!
I definitely want to know more after reading this first line!

Very nice!!!

 

Love this one.

"He still hasn't mastered the damned wood stove."

From novel-in-progress: Just Over to the Service Station
My first novel, THE RED MOON:

"Angel never stopped thinking about Evan"

RSS

Latest Activity

Lynne Favreau commented on the group 'Novelists (Struggling or Not)'
"Yes, I follow Seth, http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ Read quite a few of his books, good stuff-indeed."
10 minutes ago
Noora left a comment for Cindy Zelman
"Thank you for accepting my request, Cindy! I just followed your blog on WP! I look forward to reading your posts. Have a nice weekend! - Noora"
15 minutes ago
Profile IconDonna Davenport, Shropa Sovick, Heather C. Watson and 11 more joined She Writes
35 minutes ago
Teonna Rolen liked Kamy Wicoff's blog post Did You Have A Mentor In Your Life?
51 minutes ago

Members

Badge

Loading…

© 2013   Created by Kamy Wicoff.

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service