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| First lines and daisies remind us that small is beautiful. |
In a recent post on Strictly
Writing, we looked at famous opening
lines of books. Taking that as my inspiration, here are the opening
lines to our own books, some published, some going through the publishing
journey and some wearing the badge of pride that is 'Work in Progress'.
In no particular order, here are
our paper children (phrase borrowed from Richard Bach) along with a few
background details. Take it away, Strictlies!
Cracks by Caroline Green
Opening line: 'The first crack was
freaky'.
Genre: YA dystopia
Background: Cal's discovering that
his life is not as ordinary as he thought. That's scary. Particularly when it
seems he's the very last to know. He needs to find out the truth - but, with
lies, danger and deceit on all sides, is there anyone he can trust?
Doll by Tracey Sinclair (pub.
Kennedy & Boyd)
Opening line: Before you
start feeling sorry for me, there's something I should tell you.
Genre: Fiction.
Background: Devastated by the
death of her best friend, Thea Stanton goes in search of the father who
abandoned her as a baby and the family she never knew - only to
realise that sometimes the past should stay buried...
Re:Becca by Deb Riccio (writing as
D.A. Cooper. e-book available on Amazon)
Opening line: 'My parents could
have been a part of Hitler's army.'
Genre: YA.
Background: Becca Banks is
misunderstood. When her parents confiscate all her electronic gadgets for
doing something silly at school, she starts to understand how life must have
been before the age of mobiles, internet and iPods, and she doesn't like
it. She can't see what the bullies are saying about her anymore and she
can't stare at Judd Crawley's photo on Facebook until she falls asleep.
Becca's best friend Liberty, however, sees only the good that can come out of
the situation but it's her creepy brother Jason who Becca has to watch out for.
Covenant by Derek Thompson
Opening line: For an hour Errmoyne
had sat, facing the altar where the stone Tablet rested.
Genre: Fantasy
Background: Isca has followed the
faith since childhood, taking her from the Settlements and into the City
States. Now, as a priestess, a prophecy bears fruit. But what if the
long-awaited Righteous One isn't so righteous after all?
Standing Man by Gillian McDade
(pub. History Press Ireland) date to be confirmed
Opening lines: Once he
started singing, no one could stop him. It gave him great joy. So when he
suddenly stopped and clutched his chest, that's when we knew something was
wrong.
Genre: Northern Irish
contemporary literary fiction.
Background: Set at the height of
the Troubles, the novel explores the complex relationship between a young
survivor of a church shooting and a repentant IRA man and asks if it's possible
to forgive and move on from the past.
Coming Through by Deb Riccio
Opening lines: 'The last time I
saw Price Johnson he'd had his hand up the back of my t-shirt in a valiant
attempt at unfastening my shiny new Wonderbra; if I'd had a bit less fear or a
bit more to drink I'd probably have told him it was a front-loader and let the
passion commence.'
Genre: Rom-Com.
Background: When Price
Johnson, the famous Midland's Medium returns to his hometown and drops into his
old local radio station for a bit of free publicity, he's surprised to find
himself sitting opposite Lizzie McCarrick, the geeky one from High School who
was supposed to be a Doctor or a Scientist or a Barrister by now. His
only hope is that she's forgotten everything that he can still remember because
he didn't see THIS coming.
Dark Dates by Tracey Sinclair
Opening line: SO, WE’VE all
seen Buffy, right? I mean, you didn’t pick this up because the shop was out of
Jane Austen and this looked like the next best thing.
Genre: Urban fantasy.
Background: All Cassandra Bick wants is to be
left to get on with doing her job. But when you’re a Sensitive whose business
is running a dating agency for vampires, life is never going to be
straightforward – especially when there’s a supernatural war brewing in London,
a sexy new bloodsucker in town and your mysterious, homicidal and vampire
hating ex-lover chooses this moment to reappear in your life…
Dead Good by D.A. Cooper (ebook
available on Amazon)
Opening line: 'This sucks.'
Genre: YA
Background: 16 year old Maddie
Preston's father loses his well-paid banking job and moves his family out of
their 4 bedroomed home and into a small house that hasn't been lived in for a
while. It's not until Maddie starts seeing the ghosts of the previous residents
who perished at the house in a fire that she starts to make sense of life, love
and everything in between. With best friend and spiritual know-it-all Amber,
Maddie sets out to help the gorgeous (but not breathing) Leo and his
family move on with their deaths.
Life, Lopsided by Deb Riccio
Opening line: 'My left boob is
bigger than my right.'
Genre: Rom-Com.
Background: Lisa Thomas likes
her life nice and organised. Jars have to face out, potatoes evenly
roasted; pictures have to be straight and boyfriends aren't supposed to dump
you whilst you have toothpaste running down your chin. So when her mother
turns up at the shop where Lisa works looking more like Cher's older, bolder
sister than her usual young Margaret Thatcher and announces her father has left
her for a girl Lisa used to share tampons at school with, Lisa knows she needs
to do something drastic to make everything go back to normal again.
Scars & Stripes by Derek
Thompson
Opening lines: Thursdays had
always been my favourite day of the week, until that one. "I've got
something to tell you," Polly whispered breathlessly, as we stood in her
bedroom, "and you're not going to like it."
Genre: Comedy drama.
Background: It's the late 1980s.
Madonna's star is still rising and punk is dead, although 20 year-old Alex
barely knew it when it was ill. He's been happy to drift along with retro
hippy-chick Polly, until she decides that she wants more out of life than
watching old sci-fi videos and eating tofu. Something's got to go - and that
something is him.
Those first few opening lines can
serve many purposes:
- They can entice the reader in.
- They can set the scene and
deliver a flavour of what's to come.
- They can tell the reader what
the POV is.
- They can give you a sense of the
voice (external or internal) of the main character.
- They are the author looking back
at you through their words and whispering, 'This is me.'
Don't be shy, tell us what you
think - we can take it. And if you've written something of your own, add your
title, first line and genre in your comment.
