Thursday 24 January 2013

Opening lines

Patsy has a post on the famous opening line: "It was a dark and stormy night", and this got me thinking about opening lines. Just out of interest, what is the opening line of your current WIP (novel, short story, poem or whatever)?

For what it's worth (not a lot at the moment), mine is:
"It had been so easy to drown Caspar."
 
I shall now get back to it...

37 comments:

  1. Mine...."The three men sat quietly in the private waiting room outside the ICU...

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  2. Mine is: …and so you see, it’s for the best if we don’t see each other again.

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    1. But I bet they get together in the end...

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    2. How could you possibly think that?...oh ok - they do.

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  3. "Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came down from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed."

    Oh. I'm told that's already been used. I'll get back to you ...

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    1. If I knew you better, Tim, I might just say you were...er... being economical with the truth?

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  4. !. It is a matchless morning in rural England.
    2. The house was named "The Cave"
    3. First the colours
    I rarely read one book at a time.

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    1. It's supposed to be the book you're writing, not the one you're reading, GB! (Unless, of course, you're writing three at once?)

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    2. Ah. WIP. Missed that. Silly me.

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  5. By the way is it your intention to try and see how many of the first lines you recognise?

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  6. Mine is:
    Take it with a pinch of salt if you wish, but the snake bangle had always been my lucky charm.

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  7. Not writing anything but blog posts and emails these days, so I can't comment.
    Oops, I just have done!

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  8. Although she was dead, Avery's daughter stood beside him as he locked the front door.

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  9. I like that opening, Frances.

    My current WIP is at an early stage (and there's very little W or P currently involved)

    Jess stopped in front of a life-size photographic montage of a gorgeous, naked man.

    Thanks for the mention!

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  10. Gorgeous naked man. Hmmm. Perhaps I was a nurse for too long?

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  11. Hi Frances, here's mine.
    Denise Gambon looked up at the sign of Spencer Greenwasy Hat factory as she made her way through the entrance.

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  12. Mine is: She has been stabilised on Lithium

    ...but has she?

    Poor Caspar!

    Anna :o]

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    1. I'm going to have to ask for next lines, too. I want to know about the lithium!

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  13. Since you asked....
    It was a peaceful morning in the lowlands of the river district when high above the trees that lined the drainage ditch on the Sopal farm, the first vulture appeared.

    I like the drowning of Caspar. Short and catchy

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    1. How lovely and serene, Yvonne. (re Caspar - I'm turning to crime, and rather enjoying it!)

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  14. I don't do novels, but my last short story began: Cynthia stared at the man standing outside the art gallery. What could they possibly have in common.

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  15. Sometimes the hardest thing about having a friend staying with you - when you’re post-menopausal and your body tissues aren’t as elastic as they were - is the bladder problem.

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  16. They didn't actually end up together Frances. It became a crime story, not a romance. I didn't know where it was going until I decided to spice things up and she robbed him of his wallet and made a get-away. Which is probably why I can't write for the womans' mags!

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    1. But apparently they're crying out for "cosy crime" (though I've never quite worked out what that is). Try it on them!

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  17. Crime could be fun. I don't think I could ever do comic but I bet I could do crime!

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    1. I'm quie enjoying bumping people off. Well, it makes a change...

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