First lines are the most important lines in the story. Here are some of mine from stories and books I've sold:
There were four black and whites already at the 7-Eleven when I arrived. -- WHISKEY SOUR
"It would be so easy to kill you while you sleep." -- BLOODY MARY
The sound begins. Again. -- RUSTY NAIL
No security cameras this time, but he still has to be careful. --DIRTY MARTINI
"She sure bled a lot." -- ON THE ROCKS
"His skull is shattered and his spinal column looks like a dutch pretzel." -- WITH A TWIST
Mitch couldn't answer me with the barrel of my gun in his mouth, so I pulled it out. -- STREET MUSIC
"I want you to kill the man that my husband hired to kill the man that I hired to kill my husband." -- TAKEN TO THE CLEANERS
The woman twisting the tube into my penis has cold hands. -- FORGIVENESS
"That's gotta be where the money is." -- THE SHED
Hudson closed his eyes and swallowed hard, trying to stop sweating. -- THE AGREEMENT
There's an art to getting your ass kicked. -- EPITAPH
"I want you to kill my wife." -- SUFFER
"Let me get this straight--you want me to murder you tonight?" -- REDUX
"Eat it." -- FINICKY EATER
The mark knelt next to a garbage can, two hands unsuccessfully trying to plug nine holes in his face, neck, and upper body. -- LIGHT DRIZZLE
"No thanks." -- THE BAG
Rust from the crowbar flaked off, coating my palm with orange dust. -- BASKET CASE
Voice Module 195567 Record Mode: Is this thing working? -- SYMBIOS
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Some are stronger than others. Why? What makes a first line good or bad?
Feel free to post some of your favorites.
I've never actually killed anybody before, murdered another person, snuffed out another human being.
ReplyDelete--Donald Westlake/The Ax
This is from my soon-to-be-published novel Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone (pub. date Nov. 23)
ReplyDelete"The gunmen were in a black Chevrolet Suburban."
Simple, direct, a promise of things to come.
"It was a dark and stormy night."
ReplyDeleteWell, I'll throw in mine from A MEASURE OF DARKNESS:
ReplyDeleteIt all started when the pregnant girl went crazy.
Having a good opening line is fine and dandy, but give me a great opening paragraph -- or chapter -- any day. It isn't that tough to come up with one zinger, and too often I read a snazzy opening line and things go downhill fast. Kinda like pickup lines in bars. I like guys who can...uh, sustain their talent over the long haul.
ReplyDeleteLOL, PJ. But be careful. Sustain is a scary word for most guys.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you PJ, in that I do prefer opening paragraphs. If we're looking for lines, I'm not sure if they come much better than: "Jackie Brown, at twenty-six, with no expression on his face, said that he could get some guns." from The Friends of Eddie Coyle.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of paragraphs, I think PKD's ability to intrigue us with his, uh, unique take on the world pulls you into his best (in my humble opinon) mainstream novel, Confessions of a Crap Artist: "I am made out of water. You wouldn't know it because I have it bound in. My friends are made out of water, too. All of them. The problem for us is that not only do we have to walk around without being absorbed by the ground, but we also have to earn our livings."
I guess I'm turning into the Koontz apologist here, but I see nothing at all wrong with that sentence. It works for me.
ReplyDeleteI thought I was the only one here who didn't like that Koontz opener. I side with Anne. Its backward -- dare I say, gimmicky -- construction pulled me straight out of the moment.
ReplyDeleteBut whatever floats your boat, right?
Out of curiosity, I started opening stuff on my shelf to troll for opening lines. Love this one:
ReplyDeleteShe crossed her legs carefully, like she was in love with them, and maybe she was.
It's from an old pulp paperback called "Walk Softly, Witch" by Carter Brown. I collect these things. The copy about the book sez: "Introducing Danny Boyd, a PI who takes his whiskey straight, his women curvy and murder...in his stride."
You gotta love it.
Here's one I wrote:
ReplyDelete“First ensure your victim is dead.”
From a short story titled Making Squid.
One of my opening lines:
ReplyDeleteCarmen decided murder rather than suicide was a better solution.
Favorite first lines from some of my short stories...
ReplyDelete"I might be a whore, but I don't f**k scumbags."
I enoyed being raped, at least that's what Victor told me.
To Jude:
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind comment. I am trying hard to do both of the things you've suggested. All I need now is the patience to keep at it.
Carter Brown! Also known as Alan Yates. I've got a couple of his books around here somewhere. I'd forgotten all about them.
ReplyDelete..here's a good opener from Ken Bruen's THE HACKMAN BLUES:
ReplyDelete"BRADY'S BAD FUCKED. I wrote it on the bedroom wall in yellow day-glo marker."
Summer, that vicious green bitch, flexed her sweaty muscles and flattened Innocence, Mississippi.
ReplyDeleteNora Roberts, Carnal Innocence.
Hey, and since everyone else is doing it, here's the first line from my novel, Blood Ties:
Death has nipped at my heels like a disobedient dog since I was fourteen.
"There's nothing quite like the smell of dead children."
ReplyDeleteStyx and Stones
"Death was driving an emerald-green Lexus." From Dean Koontz's novel Winter Moon.
ReplyDeleteI read this line, closed the book and walked up to the cash registers to pay. (This was like 10 years ago or so, still remember it so clearly)
Oh, no, no, no, thought Clara Morrow as she walked toward the closed doors.
ReplyDeleteFirst line from "A Trick of the Light" by Louise Penny
--Sandy (Author in Progress)
what? How could you leave out the opening line to Shot of Tequila?
ReplyDelete"Winter meant death in Chicago."