I don’t know about you, but I love great first lines. First lines that intrigue or challenge, that captivate and spark strong emotion or curiosity. Some writers spend hours, even days crafting that perfect first line to draw readers into the book. For others, the line is just…there.
A group of author friends loves to play the first-line game, where we share the first line from our WIPs. I like to ask people to share first lines from books that captured them. Both exercises are great fun. More than that, though, it’s fascinating to see what captures or intrigues people. It’s a great way to gain insight into your readers.
So what do you say? Wanna play?
First, let’s share first lines we loved from books we have read. Here are some of my favorites:
“It was Nathan’s fault that I became God.”
The God Game, Andrew Greeley
“This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.”
The Princess Bride, William Goldman
“We all know something’s wrong.”
Crazy Love, Francis Chan
“Good is the enemy of great.”
Good to Great, Jim Collins
“The family trip when our nightmare began was supposed to be a celebration.”
Heaven Is For Real, Todd Burpo/Lynn Vincent
Okay, YOUR turn!
Suppose that you and I were sitting in a quiet room overlooking a garden, chatting and sipping at our cups of tea while we talked about something that had happened a long while ago, and I said to you, “That afternoon when I met so-and-so…was the best afternoon of my life, and also the very worst afternoon of my life.” Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The first line of my WIP is:
“No matter what form it takes, travel is trouble.”
An aspect alluded to in my WIP is from The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges which has a first line I love:
“On the burning February morning Beatriz Viterbo died, after braving an agony that never for a single moment gave way to self-pity or fear, I noticed that the sidewalk billboards around Constitution Plaza were advertising some new brand or other of American cigarettes.”
I love JLB’s wordiness, but it is a good line, too. He has one sentence that has over 400 words in it later in the work.
“He was a great thundering paradox of a man…” -American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur
Great first line to a GREAT book!
I haven’t used it yet, but: “They sat in their usual corner booth, drinking coffee, and discussed where to hide the body.”
These are wonderful! Keep ’em coming–and thanks for playing!
Then stay tuned! We’ll share our own first lines next week.
Karen
How fun to read all these first lines. I’ve got a few from books I’ve enjoyed.
“It was on a cold January night when the unthinkable, unpardonable happened.” ~Francine Rivers, Atonement Child
“For two hours a night, Monday through Saturday, Isadora Presley became the girl she’d lost.” ~Susan May Warren, My Foolish Heart
This last is such a long first line, but I love the things you discover about the character described. 🙂
“Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies’ eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde’s Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde’s door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place se would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.” ~L.M. Mongomery, Anne of Green Gables
Holy cow, that line is bigger than all of Prince Edward Island!!!
And Jeanne, one of my most proud moments was when my MIL and I got KICKED OUT OF GREEN GABLES!!! That’s right. We were asked to leave.
Me and my 75 year old , deaf mother in law got busted for sitting down on the fainting couch in the kitchen. She was SO tickled to be a felon.
Funny, Jenny! I have yet to visit PEI. Lucky you and your mom, even if you did get kicked out of Green Gables. 🙂
Jeanne, we still talk (well, sign) about it, 12 years later! I had to explain, in front of the lady who was kicking us out, to my deaf MIL that we were bad girls. We decided since we were already in trouble, we were going to walk past the ropes and stand in the forbidden flower zones. It was like an episode of COPS, only with sign language and an old lady.
I can be such an idiot. Really, by the most common definition of the word, I qualify. Most of what I’ve learned, I’ve learned the hard way.
Kurt, what book is that first line from?
Hummmm…this would be an example of someone (me) NOT following directions regarding quoting the first line from a book I’ve read! It’s actually the first line from MY book/manuscript entitled: Epic Grace ~ Chronicles of an Idiot. (A fitting subtitle in view of my mistake!) Sorry…. 🙂
It’s sad to say, but if the first line doesn’t get me, I’m not going much further. Here are a few of my favorites:
“In Beulah Iowa,widow women all over town garden in the clothes of deceased husbands.” Dwelling Places, Venita Hampton Wright.
“Thousands of seasons of deciduous rot in the sandstone ridges of this Ohio valley yielded wheat fields that brought farmers begging to buy Brubaker land.” This Heavy Silence by Nicole Mazzarella.
“The first time she saw the members of the Persian Pickle Club, Rita told me after I got to know her, she thought we looked just like a bunch of setting hens.” The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas.
“The air was moist, the coming rain telegraphed by plump, gray clouds and the blue sky fast fading. ” Wish You Well, David Baldacci
“He made his way to the lake watchfully, crossing the bulldozer built dam that was covered in weed grass, across the ridge and in the trash trees growing on the water side.” The Valley of Light, by Terry Kay
“When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.” To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
“On a small farm outside of Struan there lived a beautiful woman.” The other side of the bridge by Mary Lawson
“The hill people and the Mexicans arrived on the same day.” A painted House by John Grisham
Everyone of those seems to invite me in to see what is going on. I spend a lot of time thinking about that first line and change it several times.