The first line

[Noey]

I like all of them except three, because it just doesn't seem specific enough.

I'm not bad at starting stories. It's just finishing them I have trouble with. Some of my favorites from my own stuff are:


From my untitled urban fantasy -
What I don't get is why I can swing a hammer at my orc friend's bare head and he's all down with it, but fling a paperclip at him unprepared and all of a sudden he's Mr. Surly.

These are lines I'm still toying with to start my epic, which I've written pieces of but still don't know how to start -
It's one thing to suspect I'm fate's bitch, but it wasn't encouraging when Fate herself confirmed it.

Sometimes, even godlike beings of unparallelled power just want a taste of cold beer and a foot rub. (I'm really eh on this one)

It wasn't hard for evil to feel confident when the apprentice to all things good launched herself out of an armchair, across five universes and a minor pocket dimension, only to land herself in a flurry of falling leaves among the upper branches of an oak tree somewhere in Michigan.

When time ceases to have any meaning, and the end of everything is ready to begin, it all came down to them: The pretty boy and the street rat, down by the lake.

And my favorite of all, from my short story Devilish:
The six damned souls sat in blue plastic chairs arranged in a semi-circle.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

"You're not going to believe this, but it was a dark and stormy night."

As things currently stand, the chapter that opens with that is no longer the first chapter - the book in question is a many-POV monster and one part of getting it right is shifting chapters around for pacing reasons - but I like it anyway.

[LizW65]

"It was a stark and dormy night at Miskatonic U."

[Noey]

"It was a stark and dormy night at Miskatonic U."

Awesome. This gives me a great big gift basket full of demonic happy. I wanna read the rest of that story, Liz.

[Quantus]

"It was a stark and dormy night at Miskatonic U."

[LizW65]

Awesome. This gives me a great big gift basket full of demonic happy. I wanna read the rest of that story, Liz.

There's no "rest" as of yet, but you're welcome to write it if you like.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

"It was a stark and dormy night at Miskatonic U."

Go 'Pods !!!

[LizW65]

"Hamsters make indifferent pets, and even worse grenades."

"Lady Victoria Templeton stretched langourously on the blue silk cushions of her fainting couch, and waited for the 'shrooms to kick in."

I know, I know, I'm just being silly now.

(And it's off topic, but I want to give a nod to my favorite exit line of all time, from my favorite play:  "I'll be reveng'd on the whole pack of you.")

[Starbeam]

One opening line that's stayed with me since I read it was: "Death drove a green Lamborghini."  It's from a Dean Koontz book, but hell if I remember which one.  Which goes to show that a book can have a great catching first line, but that the book doesn't hold up to it. 

What gets me to read a book comes in steps.  First I'll read titles, look at the artwork, then read the blurb.  If the blurb sounds interesting, I'll read the first line.  If I like the first line, I'll skim the first paragraph/page.  Then if it still sounds interesting, I'll likely buy it and bring it home, and annoy my b/f because he says I devour books.

[meg_evonne]

having just seen an adaptation of Tale for Two Cities in children's theater....

"It was the best of times.  It was the worst of times."  for openers and
for closing:  "It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done before."

[Shecky]

It was a beautiful, starry night, and whoever was in charge of Meteorological Omens needed an old-fashioned ass-kicking. I mean, if you can't rely on the weather for classic dramatic clichés telling you to get it in gear, it's too easy to get caught with your metaphorical pants around your figurative ankles.

Or, in my case, literal pants around actual ankles. Not a dignified position in which to start Armageddon, even a baby Armageddon. In a way, though, it was awfully convenient, because seeing Gabriel himself getting bitch-slapped through your very own, previously-unentered-by-supernatural-beings bathroom window is fairly likely to cause a reaction that makes having a toilet right there a very good thing. A very good thing.

[Quantus]

It was a beautiful, starry night, and whoever was in charge of Meteorological Omens needed an old-fashioned ass-kicking. I mean, if you can't rely on the weather for classic dramatic clichés telling you to get it in gear, it's too easy to get caught with your metaphorical pants around your figurative ankles.

Or, in my case, literal pants around actual ankles. Not a dignified position in which to start Armageddon, even a baby Armageddon. In a way, though, it was awfully convenient, because seeing Gabriel himself getting bitch-slapped through your very own, previously-unentered-by-supernatural-beings bathroom window is fairly likely to cause a reaction that makes having a toilet right there a very good thing. A very good thing.

For the Win!   

Is there more of that story?

[Shecky]

For the Win!   

Is there more of that story?

Nope. That one just popped into my head and I thought I'd share.

[Starbeam]

It sorta reminds me of Good Omens.  Same sense of humor.

[Shecky]

With good reason - I think Good Omens may be the funniest novel I've ever read. Combine that with Jim-style snark and it's just what I want to grow up to be.