1. erebh

    erebh Banned Contributor

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    What's your first line?

    Discussion in 'General Writing' started by erebh, Aug 3, 2015.

    Inspired by a slightly different thread I thought it might be fun and interesting for everyone to lay out the first line of their manuscript. Here's mine...


    “You know they’ll kill me Áoife… we can’t be too careful,” said Lórcan pulling off his shirt.
     
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  2. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    I turned my face toward the sky, savoring the icy sensations of each falling snowflake.
     
  3. EdFromNY

    EdFromNY Hope to improve with age Supporter Contributor

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    I didn’t see the police cars until the last minute – two of them double parked, lights flashing, at the corner of Placid Road, my street.
     
  4. Daemon Wolf

    Daemon Wolf Senior Member

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    Demons they called us, titans of a different god. We were the means to an end to them, and we liked it.
     
  5. Aaron DC

    Aaron DC Contributor Contributor

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    .
     
  6. AspiringNovelist

    AspiringNovelist Senior Member

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    There’s history for a reason and it’s the same reason there’s fine scotch, good cigars, and a few virtuous women left in the world.
     
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  7. ToDandy

    ToDandy Senior Member

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    Abiku should have skipped this party. Murderers and mimosas made a bad mix.
     
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  8. dreamersky1212

    dreamersky1212 Active Member

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    The first time it happened, I was flying.
     
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  9. Laura wise

    Laura wise Member

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    When I first met The Devil I was brushing my teeth.
     
  10. The Mad Regent

    The Mad Regent Senior Member

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    A good friend once told me that only truth can lead to redemption, and as I stand upon the white sand of Barbados gazing into the endless blue, I now know that these words are in fact the truth.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2015
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  11. Franz Hansen

    Franz Hansen Member

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    Shenkak gripped his armrests with webbed fingers while his ship shook around him.
     
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  12. Unit7

    Unit7 Contributor Contributor

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    They say I was both conceived and born under a blood moon.

    Well that's the working first line at the moment.
     
  13. stormjinx

    stormjinx New Member

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    She couldn’t see anything.
     
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  14. daemon

    daemon Contributor Contributor

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    "My name is <character's name> and I need your help while you still remember me."
     
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  15. Selbbin

    Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    various opening lines:

    Here I am, lying on her grave as he fucks me and trying really hard not to cry.

    A broken string of plastic pearls lay abandoned in the gutter.

    As the plane banked sharply my hands clamped the side of the seat.

    Small bare feet stormed through Van Gogh’s self-portrait.

    It was the radiator hose.
     
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  16. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Józsi Tatyaghi was five years old when he saw his face in a mirror for the first time.
     
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  17. EdFromNY

    EdFromNY Hope to improve with age Supporter Contributor

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    Interestingly, Jimmy Breslin entitled his memoir of undergoing neurosurgery for an aneurysm I Want to Thank My Brain For Remembering Me.
     
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  18. cloudmaker

    cloudmaker New Member

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    She smiled, with the idea that the whole town will be talking about her, sighed as if it was the end of the best orgasm and slowly walked towards the gravelled track.
     
  19. S Raven

    S Raven Member

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    WIP: Ben watched in a awe as the crazed zombie bit out a chunk of the woman's neck.
     
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  20. Tim3232

    Tim3232 Active Member

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    I occasionally see lists titled best opening lines from literature and think the article has an incorrect title. A lot of good books have boring opening lines. Anyway, here's mine.
    On his green door the brass number 5 burns red.
     
  21. Aaron Smith

    Aaron Smith Banned Contributor

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    His teeth were so far apart that I reckon he could fit a whole sausage through there.

    That's incredibly rich.
     
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  22. Selbbin

    Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    So true. It shits me that they judge the line by looking at the book as a whole. Those articles should read: 'opening lines from great books', NOT 'best opening lines'. Some really bad books have great opening lines. The line itself should stand on it's own merit. The opening line to Moby Dick usually tops those lists, but it's shit.
     
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  23. peachalulu

    peachalulu Member Reviewer Contributor

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    Here's a handful of my first lines -
    Once a decade, Sharber asked, "How were we made?" - Moon Grubs
    Lost. Ike hated to admit it. - House of Cadre
    &%^%#^%$ … Data error. I'm not pink. - Not Pink
    Number one Sweet Baby be gone! - Untitled
    Deep in the pit, the prisoners could hear the elevator from the surface rumble near.
    OR
    They don't throw you into the Pit, you walk in. - Both possibles from In The Pit.
    Hands lowered Tetty into the walled garden - The Worms of Wicher Woo.

    Not sure if I'm satisfied with any but first lines have never sold me on a book anyway.

    My favorite opening line from a novel -
    Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head behind Christopher Robin.

    And one of my favorite novels which has a rather boring opening line -
    Harriet was trying to explain to Sport how to play town. - Harriet the Spy.
     
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  24. SwampDog

    SwampDog Senior Member

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    Bob Carver was so cold, he would have felt warmer dead.
     
  25. roach

    roach New Member

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    Dude wasn't a smart man.
     
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