As I was considering what to write for this week’s blog, I realized I needed a break from all the seriousness of the last few weeks. Not that I don’t love the “conversations” and insights everyone has shared. But, at the core, I’m a golden-retriever kinda gal, and I gots to play! So today seemed perfect for a game I love: First Lines.
SO! Get your play on, folks, and share your first line—and ONLY the first line–of a project you’re working on. Fiction, nonfiction, children’s, short story…we love ‘em all. Now is your chance to test your line out on some readers.
Here’s mine, from a nonfiction project I’m working on:
It took an angry hummingbird to open my eyes.
Ready? Set. Go!
Why Do Professional Reviewers Dislike Bestsellers?
We were four months out when they told us.
(First line of my hard SF Christian novel ‘Immortelle’)
Ok, I’ll bite… told you what? 🙂
Oh, nothing much. Just that 1036 Ganymed, a 20-mile wide asteroid, had been knocked from its orbit by impact with a planetesimal and would collide with Earth whilst they were on the first manned mission to Mars.
I like that! It would be bad for the people, but make for some good sci-fi! I like it! It’s a lot of research, isn’t it? 🙂 (Working on sci-fi, myself, and I’m giving a friend writing historical fiction a run for her research time.) Keep on going!
Glad you like it.
Yes, hard SF has proved a lot of research – things like how a thermal nuclear motor works, the difference between aerobraking and aerocapture, what could go wrong with the cooling system of a suitcase reactor, etc. Been fun though.
Great line!
Thanks Sally!
“The Hunter awoke with his back to a stone floor and his gaze to a vaulted marble ceiling.”
“Don’t call us, Mr. Arnold. We’ll call you.”
“Once upon a time—”
“Titus Ford! You’re telling me a fairy tale? Oh, please! I ain’t no baby!”
The day the wounded young acolyte stumbled into the compound, Tiann was helping with the endless weaving.
A century after The Great War, in a city believed to be Earth’s last, Arik Martin helped lower his dead friend into the ground.
Across the candle-lit table Hermoine’s eyes sparkled like sapphires, and when she smiled Sebastian realized that he needed to pick up dental floss on the way home.
Love it, Andrew!
Okay, that’s just funny …
Ryley Rhodes punched the air in front of her, her feet stumbling through the quick step while she tried to follow the insane exercise instructor on her flat screen.
That’s me!
The moon shone down with clear white purity the first time I ever saw a sky.
Thanks!
Josephine Weatherby slammed the door and shook her bony finger at Emma’s face.
Love the name, and the bony finger. 🙂
Intriguing start.
“She’s up to something, Mary, and we’re going to find out what it is.”
The familiar knock came before the rooster crowed.
Has a biblical denial kind of feel. I like it.
His middle name was Havok, but I didn’t know that until it was too late.
That’s an intriguing start!
Saying goodbye was always hard; when it’s your youngest daughter, that punched a hole in a father’s heart.
They say you shouldn’t begin with “the phone rang.” But my phone did ring at 2am.
Imagine the Creator of the Universe sitting across from you as you map out your day, week, and life.
Wow! I like it! I’d like to read the rest of it, too!
She was going to fail.
The plane landed.
(2nd novel of God’s Girl)
He shivered and drew his cloak around him, hugging it tightly as the night’s breath rustled the wiry boughs and cast a few dry leaves to the ground.
Oooohhhh. Love this.
I really like this, too!
I like the descriptive details. I can picture it in my mind.
Clariseen’s eyes ached trying to see how far she could see.
Have you ever been invited to dinner, or to a date, or as a houseguest, and you arrived at the appointed time and place and found that everything had been made ready for you?
Every spring, for the past six years, I have watched the farmer plow his field.
I’ve got to build a story around this, but here goes:
“Mom, of COURSE I wouldn’t have gone out with him if I knew he was a trending hashtag!”
Her eyes alight with awe as she gazes into the globe; it is magical, like a snow scene in Toyland.
By now you must be wondering what a dog has to do with leadership development.
I hate boys’ games.
Wendy didn’t wake up with the usual hangover after Ladies Night, she woke up drunk.
Maybe it’s just me but sometimes I feel invisible in this big world, like no one see’s or cares about what’s happening to me or in my heart.
Dad’s shouting for us Danielle. Seriously sick of this yacht. Wish it was finished already.
I gave my sister a sheepish smile in lieu of an apology and then ducked beneath the antique pew.
(YA, Contemporary Paranormal)
Crackle and heat from the red-glowing bush-land assailed the senses.
Dr Mendel’s arctic blue eyes darted from scientist to scientist, the creases that outlined his eyes were rigid and his pale eyelashes fluttered.
Hatred, it filled the air, my lungs, my senses – why had I married this man?
Like that, Mary-Anne!
The trees talked. Branches touching, crowns bowed, huddled in a circle, they soughed and sighed, shivering their shared secrets.
I can picture that!
Zebedee ran helter skelter into the room, slid on the wooden floor, applied brakes too late, went into a full slide and crashed into the suitcase.
He was finally dead.
‘Bout time.
Ashes from Will Ryan’s dying cigarette sprinkled onto his hand as he fished around in his Wranglers pockets for his last twenty.
Ashes from Will Ryan’s dying cigarette sprinkled his hand as he searched his worn Wranglers pockets for his last twenty.
My name is Theodor Winston Isambard King and I hate it.
If my initials formed the acronym ‘TWIK’ I’d hate it too.
His goth sister calls him Twix…and English chocolate bar…he hates that too!
She didn’t see the pockmarked face of the man peering over the edge of the boat as Ben and she embraced.
I’m thinking about changing mine to:
“All her life, Moira Doherty had longed to see the places her mother told her about.”
Who’d have thought admitting to drawing skills would land her in an early morning rendezvous with a dying man?
“Mr. Monster’s best friend Elspeth worked in a flower shop.”
(Children’s book)
It couldn’t be her; she was dead, we had all watched her die, floating away like that in the swamp.
I’m thirteen years old and pretty tough, I can handle a rifle and my double barrel shotgun.
“BORN TO DIE?…BORN TO DIE?…BORN TO DIE? …NO…PLEASE …NO !” (Mary, the mother of Jesus, during a conversatition with God during a dream. From The Gifts-Part II)
There’s some serious talent showing up here! I like it!
My first line: Not in centuries had the mountains rung with such gladness. (YA fairy tale retelling)
Oh, what fun! Thank you all for joining in!
You haven’t worked it out? We’re all submitting!
(BTW I’ve got a really, really good MS…)
Do you want to spice up your relationship: Recipes for a Yummy Marriage
One – The cop ushered me into the room and hushed the door.
Two – “What is your name?”
Three – It was 4:17pm when the call came in.
Jessica wrapped her jacket tighter to keep the crisp wind of the morning from cutting right through her skin as she walked across the campus.