I have long been fascinated by the first lines of bestselling novels because most people will not keep reading unless that first line grabs them, and then it's up to the author to carry the good momentum to the first paragraph and the first chapter. Below are a few famous first lines, just for reference:
"Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were." Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
"While I was still in Amsterdam, I dreamed about my mother for the first time in years." The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt
"She is twelve years old, and she will be married in the morning." The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese
"First, I got myself born." Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize)
"It wasn't a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance." Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
So I am trying to come up with an idea for my next novel, and I am taking my time because I want it to be my best book yet. I have an unpublished manuscript I am shopping around to agents but without much luck, so it occurred to be that I need to do a better job of coming up with the first line of my next book. Once I have the first line, I generally will be able to come up with the gist of the book's plot and from there and outline will shake out eventually.
Below are some first lines I like, but I'd like to know which one you like best. Drop me a comment and let me know.
1) DNA doesn't lie, but Ann still couldn't believe what she was seeing on her computer screen because the truth of it made everything in her life completely false and hollow.
2) Jayne stared at the soaking wet, naked man with long tangled blonde hair lying on the floor and tried to understand the events that had led to his appearance in her life -- and from there she hoped to be able to harness the mysterious power she had been unaware of just one minute ago.
3) "When you believe in yourself, really believe, other people will too," Skyler's father told her sternly, hoping she would believe his words, that she would listen.
4) There are places in the world like Greystone Georgia where the past and the present exist simultaneously, with just the thinnest of membranes separating them, but Charlie Bay could see that membrane clearly, despite the migraine.
5) It's time to tell you the truth about your daddy, and what happened the night you were born -- but don't be thinking you'll have the right to hate me then because you won't.
6) Camellia Gardenia Crow was named after two famous Southern flowers because she had to be named after her two grandmothers, according to a family tradition she hated -- but as a result she spent her childhood stomping in every mud puddle she encountered, loudly hollering whenever possible, and determined to be as ill-mannered and obnoxious as a child could be.
Check out my newest novel, Dancing in the Wreckage, on Amazon.
bestfirstlinesofbooks, #firstlinesthatmakeyouwanttoreadthebook, #firstlineofanewbestseller
above, me in London, 1988
