So, here’s my task – share your favorite opening TWO sentences of something you’ve written, published or unpublished. In other words, the first two lines in a book or manuscript of yours.
I’ll start. Here’s mine:
My dad is terrified of water – which is odd when you consider he owns and runs a water park. I, on the other hand, love the water – which is odder since I drowned sixteen years ago.Now, I realize this is all subjective. What I like, you may not. And vice versa.
But I, for one, would love to read how YOU started a book, then sat back and said, “That’s good! I like it.”
This are the opening lines from an unfinished novel of mine. Working title: Liars, Perverts, and Thieves. My beta readers loved the first 100 pages, but my agent didn't. So it sits, unfinished, for now.
ReplyDeleteBreaking in was so much easier than it should have been. The electronic signal activator she’d bought online with her police department pension worked perfectly, and Dallas rolled her Vulcan 800 into the garage like she owned the place.
What do agents know, anyway? ;-)
ReplyDeleteDid you ever finish it? One question I have is: Was this futuristic? I've never heard of a Vulcan 800, but that doesn't mean much since I'm not a car buff.
Okay, this makes me want to know why she's breaking in and where she's breaking in. And why is an ex-cop breaking in anywhere?
This is a romantic comedy that was originally contracted by Tiger Publications. But then they dissolved and it is currently looking for a home.
ReplyDeleteDaria Jakobs’ black pump went tripping down the long, elegant staircase. It clicked and clacked its way to the bottom of the marble steps.
Okay, Chris, you're opening two sentences could be deceiving! "Tripping," "clicked," and "clacked" sound light, but why is her shoe going down the stairs without her? You said it's a romantic comedy, so where is she, why did she lose a shoe, and who might be at the bottom of the stairs???
ReplyDeleteHere are my opening 2 lines from Freezer Burn, which will be published by Echelon Press:
ReplyDeleteSuch exquisite hands, what a pity to waste them.
Long, tapered fingers balanced the size of the palms perfectly.
Nice opening, y'all - Here's the first two opening lines from Owen Fiddler
ReplyDeleteHis first thought was that he had to puke. Right now.
From Spirit of the Stallion:
ReplyDeleteThe second he opened the door, the officer was hit in the somach by a 40-pound ball of flailing arms and legs. Regaining his balance, the officer grabbed the raging child and plopped him unceremoniously in a chair.
"You do NOT hit a police officer," was barely heard above the child's angry screams.
Oops--that was three lines :-( Sorry!!
ReplyDeleteI should have asked everyone to state the genre of the work! Some of these I can't tell. Gayle, yours could be the start of a crime novel or a literary tome! Can't guess at yours Marvin. And Joyce, since yours has an officer, I'm thinking mystery.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I probably see mystery/crime in everything since it's what I read the most.
The Dollar Club formed during the filming of a truly bad low budget movie called Steel Legions. I'm talking MST3K bad. The title conjures visions of robot armies, but the movie was actually about illegal gladiatorial games held in a secret compound for the amusement of decadent rich people
ReplyDeleteYes, Helen, mine is a murder mystery.
ReplyDeleteIt sounded like we might be in the killer's head, Gayle!
ReplyDeleteWhy, yes! (insert mischievous smile here)
ReplyDeleteThis is the first two sentences from my NIP. Working title: BLOODLINE. (or either IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES--or something else!)
ReplyDeleteIt wasn’t the craziest thing she had ever done, but it sure ranked right up there with a couple of other doozies. Whoever heard of a fifty-year-old woman, married to a Baptist preacher for thirty years, divorce the guy and then become a licensed private eye?
Here's mine from a published western historical romance called Images In Scarlet:
ReplyDeleteThe man lay across the trail on his back, one arm curled above his head, the other crooked over his chest. He looked so peaceful he might have been asleep.
Makes me want to read more about The Dollar Club!
ReplyDeleteOkay, Sylvia, write faster. I've been waiting for another Third Eye Mystery.
ReplyDeleteAnd Velda, I'm glad you gave the genre. I would have thought your opening went with a mystery. Sounded like a body to me! 'Course there could be a body in a western historical romance, too, come to think of it.
Helen, if I missed this somewhere, please accept my apologies - but I need your snail mail addy to mail you your comp copy of Owen Fiddler for winning the WLWC challenge at my blog Free Spirit.
ReplyDeletePlease forward it to:
marvwilson2010@gmail.com
This is an interesting word game/exercise. I did a version of it on my blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm late with this, but here's my first two sentences from ESCAPE, a Wyoming Historical Novel:
ReplyDeleteAngry winds battered the Wilson cabin, scattering yesterday’s snow. Visibility was limited to brief impressions of the barn as she stood at a leeward pane, squinting through the ground blizzard.
Jean, right off the bat you've got me worried about her. Two sentences and I'm caught up in her life.
ReplyDelete