• Home
  • Books
    • Dance of Thieves
    • The Remnant Chronicles Extras >
      • The Kiss of Deception
      • The Heart of Betrayal
      • The Beauty of Darkness
      • Morrighan
      • The Remnant Chronicles Map
    • The Adoration of Jenna Fox >
      • The Fox Inheritance
      • Fox Forever
    • A Room on Lorelei Street
    • The Miles Between
    • Scribbler of Dreams
    • Short Stories/ Anthologies
  • Blog
  • Events
  • About Mary
    • Bio
    • FAQ
    • Favorites
  • For Writers
  • Contact
    • Contact
  • Book Clubs!
                                        Welcome . . .

Opening Lines

7/30/2013

2 Comments

 
Picture
I don’t usually participate in memes but I couldn’t resist this one.  Opening lines! 

There are so many reasons opening lines grab, haunt, shake me, or send a little shiver up my spine so that I’m compelled to keep reading. 

It might be an intriguing premise, or a character I have to know more about,  an incredible voice, or language that is simply irresistible.  Here are some opening lines from both recent and older books that I have loved and made me keep turning the pages.

What are some of your favorites?


I didn’t know how long I had been in the king’s prison.  The days were all the same,
except that as each one passed, I was dirtier than before.  

--The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Now come the mousies nosing out their hole, thinks Kuhru as he wipes fresh bone marrow from his snout. Three pretty little mousies.  Humans.  Females.  Ripe and soft and full of warm blood.

–Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill.

The circus arrives without warning.  No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. 

It is simply there when yesterday it was not.

–The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

There is a certain kind of girl the goblins crave.  You could walk across a high school campus and point them out: not her, not her, her.

–Goblin Fruit by Laini Taylor

I am dying: it’s a beautiful word. Like the long slow sigh of a cello: dying.

–Surrender by Sonya Hartnett

The sirens are louder than I anticipated.  Not that I ever in a million years anticipated sirens at the beginning of all this.  Otherwise, obviously, I never would have agreed to it. 

Hindsight.  It’s a bitch.

–My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody

Being dead became fashionable approximately forty-five seconds

after Samantha “the Divine” Devereaux came back from summer break.

–Dead is the New Black by Marlene Perez

The screw through Cinder’s ankle had rusted.

–Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Here’s the thing: I was probably gonna write a book when I got older anyways.  About what it’s like growing up on a levee in Stockton, where every other person you meet has missing teeth or is leaning against a liquor store wall begging for change to buy a beer.

–We Were Here by Matt De La Pena

There was a hand in the darkness and it held a knife.

–The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

I have been in love with Titus Oates for quite a while now—which is ridiculous since he’s been dead for ninety years.  But look at it this way. In ninety years I’ll be dead, too,

and then the age difference won’t matter. 

–The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean


2 Comments
Brenda Kahn link
7/30/2013 05:49:13 am

Good ones! We Were Here is one of my favorite, favorite books ever. It just gutted me.

I decided to choose 8 that I've read in the last few months and 2 from my to be read pile. I thought of a bunch of older titles, The Graveyard Book and Feed were on that list. Thanks for sharing.

brenda

Reply
Mary Pearson
7/30/2013 09:24:01 am

Yes, Matt is an amazing writer. Loved you first lines too--esp Julie Halpern's. Yep, she has my attention now. And of course the title is a bit catchy too ; )

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    My ramblings about writing and books--and news!

    Archives

    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    September 2017
    July 2016
    June 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012

    Categories

    All
    Ask Me On Tumblr
    Audio
    Authors
    Author Visit
    Awesome Fans
    Banned Books
    Bloggers
    Book News
    Book Signing
    Book Tour
    Butterflies
    Comic Con
    Craft
    DANCE OF THIEVES
    Fox Forever
    Giveaway!
    Guest Blog
    Librarians
    Map
    MORRIGHAN
    Movie News
    Pinterest
    Pub Day!
    Remnant Universe
    Scribbler Of Dreams
    Thank You Readers
    The Adoration Of Jenna Fox
    The Beauty Of Darkness
    The Fox Inheritance
    The Heart Of Betrayal
    The Jenna Fox Chronicles
    The Kiss Of Deception
    The Morrighan Chronicles
    The Remnant Chronicles
    Tools Of The Trade
    Travel
    Tweeters
    Twitter Chat
    Writing
    Writing Process
    YASH

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.