First Lines

[sleigh]

I noticed on amazon that they pulled a line out of A MAGIC OF TWILIGHT and put it underneath the title. Which got me to wondering...

How important is the first line of a novel to a reader? I would think that it's not as important as the first line of a short story, since readers tend to be more 'patient' with a novel. But does the first line of a novel matter? Do you expect to be hooked from line one?

I'm curious...

Just for grins, here are the first lines from each of my novels (in no particular order). Which one makes you most inclined to read on? And most importantly, why? Here they are:

Thunder arrived as a stunning burst of light.

The lioness slipped through the tall, dry grass surrounding the house, her muscular haunches down as she stalked.

He woke up... somewhere.

McWIlms never let his hand stray far from the sheathed dagger's hilt.

She had a name, but she would not let it enter her thoughts.

Hell screamed behind them, a nightmare of fire and death.

Pause. And shiveringly inhale.

Jemi pushed the welding equipment into the navigational compartment.


Raw power smeared red and purple across the night sky, held captive in the glow of the mage-lights...

MUSIC UP:

"Talk about jumping out of the frying pan..."

Wednesday had to be the most depressing night of the week in any nightclub.

CosTa's belly ached, her stomach muscles drawn taut from lack of food over the last three days.

The autumn day was as hot as any in recent memory.

The pines nearest Torin Mallaghan sighed in the wind as if weary of holding up their branches.

The stone was a gift of the glowing sky.

If a city can have a gender, Nessantico was female.

SStragh stepped unsteadily from the floating stone into moonlit darkness, her bones aching from the cold, her nostrils full of the sharp smell of ozone from the time storm, her neck raw and torn from her fight with the Gairk Klaido.

"Hey!" Aaron shouted.

Green Town sweltered.

For that matter, which one doesn't grab you, and why?

Or, for another game entirely, can you tell me which line belongs to which book? :-)

Comments

[ontology101.livejournal.com]

This is an interesting thread. I don't count on first lines as an indication of whether or not I will like the book.

This is what I tend to do....open the book in the middle and read some dialogue. I love dialogue. I support and encourage you to start every book with dialogue. That being said I rather liked "He woke up...somewhere.", "Wednesday had to be the most depressing night of the week in any nightclub.", and "The pines nearest Torin Mallaghan sighed..." The last because I love to listen to pines sighing. Someone once told me that first time novelists tend to start their tales with their protagonists waking up. Was that you Steve? Was "he woke up ...somewhere" your first novel?

And now my friend Kathleen would like me to share with you her favorite first line: "There are Gods in Alabama: Jack Daniel's, high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and also Jesus." Personally, I like the fact the author goes on to say she kicked one under the kudzu and left it to the roaches. (Gods in Alabama, Joshilyn Jackson). However, the book does not get my blessing....and the dialogue was very weak.

Long live witty repartee! (and Kurt Vonnegut)

Anne

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

As I said somewhere above in response to someone, I often tend to start chapters with dialogue...

No, my first novel (SLOW FALL TO DAWN) is the one that starts out "Pause. And shiveringly inhale." The "He woke up... somewhere" is from CHANGELING, which was the first book in the ROBOTS & ALIENS series set in Asimov's universe.