"This is the story of how I cheated, lied, stole, deceived everyone, and basically screwed the world over to save two people." "Up until Rosie was 16, she thought her brother was the most normal person in the world."
OOTB: Isake stood there and looked at the huge mound of metal, right by the water’s edge, shocked at what had just happened, some kind of bizarre ritual had taken place AFBTW: Isake was sitting on horseback, sleepily, knowing that they still had a long way ahead of them; he knew that his sleeping would not help them in the slightest. DTFBTG: “It may be nothing, it may be something, but until I find out more we can’t say much.” Isake said, sighing. this is each of the first lines to the three novels in The Master Swordsman Chronicles as it stands currently
A thick and relentless overcast shrouded the land like a lightless night with only the intense lightning assault illuminating the bloody scene of violence and destruction hidden under its encompassing darkness. It is tentative.
Keep in mind that the first words in the text are often the last ones written before the manuscript goes to publication.
This makes sense, oddly enough! I read an article a while ago naming many well-known authors (I think Toni Morrison was one?) who routinely write first chapters last. In my own MS I've had a disgusting amount of trouble with the beginning chapters as well, so that is very good news I guess it may have to do with the fact that the beginning is so pivotal that you almost can't do it justice without knowing the characters extremely well---something that often doesn't happen until the very end of the book. Anyway. Everyone does things differently, but it's good to hear this practice isn't unusual.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry. My ankle twists, knocking the side of my heel on the rain-wet pavement and sending jarring pain up my ankle." I cheated - it's the first 2 lines. My friend wrote this in our collaboration. (she took the first scene) However, this was the real line that started it all: "It all started when we attempted to go for that doughnut." And if you can't guess - it's a dystopian romance
"Oscar Mason staggered back on the smooth cobblestone underfoot as he tried to wrench his foul, misshapen attacker from his back." Gets right into a fight for a short prologue before skipping forward 25~ years.
"I must be dreaming. All I could see above me was the blinding white light of the sun, its warm rays soaking into my bright-pink skin, which was starting to peel slightly at the shoulders." I'm writing an action/romance story, and it's about two high school students who get sent back in time to an ancient civilization, right before a cataclysmic event occurs in the form of a volcanic eruption that will destroy the whole city and put their lives in jeopardy.
Havana rode into town on a cart, he said, made entirely from fragments of the True Cross. That's from a short story I wrote, and I think it's still my favourite first-line from anything I've written longer than 100 words. Most of the time, like @Cogito says, the first line is one of the last things I write, but that time it just appeared in my head fully formed, one of those times you think "I have to do something with that."
The naked woman with hair like a cascade of spun copper caressed the young man’s face, her fingers light against his skin, the knife pressed against his throat held firm.
"A dungeon. How bland. How unoriginal. Where is the suspension over a pot of boiling water? At least be innovative. I had hoped I would deserve that much." At least that's what I have at the moment, I will most likely go back to the start halfway through my story I think.
From my WIP: There are worse things than enduring a series of neural function scans. Taking several Crax caustic rounds in the gut is one of them.
Here is mine (still first draft though) "I knew I was going to die. I had died before, and I would die again. "
"Ever seen a Kal’fury rip the soul from a planet? The council delayed the evacuation, they let my people die. Eighty billion lives...gone"
Well, the thread title does same 'lines'. Plural. Cool. I've been staring at this page for a half hour now and have no idea how to begin. My name is Josh and I'm about fourteen years old. Typically, a guy knows how old he is and he doesn't have to guess, but here's the deal: I turned fourteen years old yesterday. I also turned fourteen years old six days ago. My girlfriend, actually she's quite a bit more than a girlfriend, was thirteen years old yesterday. Unfortunately, she's fifteen years old today and, unless I can figure out something pretty quick, she's going to die of old age before my fifteenth birthday.
Book 2 opening line "Death is painless, at least that's what they say. Death is only painless to the dead, the departed, those that no longer grace us with their presence"
