When you pick up a book, what attracts you first? The cover picture or do you open to the first page and read the first line? Here are the first lines from each of my seven books, The Darcy and Flora series and the Ned McNeil series. The third Ned book, Moonstruck and Murderous, is not yet available, but the publishing date is for this year. Can you identify each of the Manos Mysteries by the first line?
When I awoke to sunshine, blue skies, and the fragrance of freshly-perked coffee that morning, I had no inkling that a few hours later, the sun would be blotted out by menacing clouds or that my mother and I would stumble upon a dead body in a brush pile in Goshen Cemetery.
The nightmare jolted me awake.
The letter came on a warm morning in November.
“What on earth are you talking about, Cub?” I asked the big, red-faced man who jumped off the seat of his dirt mover.
My car’s headlights cut a yellow swath through the swirling snow.
I awoke sitting straight up in bed, my heart doing double-time.
Hanging up the phone, I looked down at my dog Ulysses.
Each word, each line in a book is important, but the first line is especially so. Often, the opening is the teaser that makes a reader want to read more, or…not.
Interesting first lines. I like your titles, too. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for writing, Marja. You’re most welcome. First lines are important and they are a lot of fun to do–they kind of stir the old gray matter.
Fun quiz!
Thanks, Kimberly. I’ll bet you got 100%.