First Lines In Adventures - Lynette M. Burrows

As writers, we’re often told that the first line of a story must hook the reader (particularly if that reader is an editor.) Implied is that the editor will not buy the book if the first line isn’t great. But the hooky-ness of a first line is in the eyes of the beholder.

First Lines is a series of blog articles posted on around the first of the month. Inspired by a friend’s suggestion that I write a post on how to write the first line of your story, I started this series. My idea was to inspire my writing with these examples. I also hoped to inspire other writers and point readers to books they might enjoy.

Here in the northern hemisphere, winter means cold and fewer hours of sunlight. It’s the perfect time to curl up in a cozy corner and read. These first lines present adventures in other places or other times. Enjoy!

Almost Human, Degrees of Freedom Book One, by Anne Cleasby

The cover of Almost human is very dark with the image being a look between two buildings down a rainy walkway to a back lit area that appears to have pedestrian bridges on multiple floors. Overlaying the image near the top are a pair of yellow big-cat eyes.

Eight o’clock.

Sabre-Tooth frowned at the illuminated display on the panel opposite his cage. Temperature 293K, time 08:00; the numbers were clear; it was daytime, so where were the labtecs? The light had woken him at seven when they flickered into life as they did every morning. Why had no one come?“

The Tourist Outfitters, LTD: Toronto Time Agents C.N. Jackson

The cover of Time Tourist Outfitters, LTD. is a golden hourglass with a top that looks like an ornate walled city. The background is a brown circular medallion with black scrolling around its circumference.

Mattea’s voice cut through my afternoon fog. “Hey, Wilda! We got a VIP coming in, stat!“

Fan-fricken-tastic. Just what I needed today. After spilling my coffee that morning on the streetcar and ripping my skirt in a flurry of cruel irony, now I had to kit out some over-privileged, tea-sipping time scion. I could take odds she needs full courtier Elizabethan garb. Or Middle Kingdom Egyptian noble.“

Voyage of No Return: Project Orpheus, Book 1 Frank J. Cavell

The cover of Voyage of No Return shows a space view over the edge of a mountainous planet at a moon that is exploding into thousands of bits of flying rock.

Prologue

October 06 -2249

5 hours to impact

Boston, Massachusetts

Karen Rhodes was hurrying to fetch the last of the cardboard boxes from the porch while her husband Gregory was busy blocking the door with some old boards. The terrible moments the entire planet had been expecting had come at last, and everyone was devoting their last hours of peace and quiet for who knew how long to getting ready and trying to protect their loved ones from what was about to happen.

Jovian Reverie: Cyber Dreams Book 4 Plum Parrot

The cover if Jovian Revenge is a look from the floor up at a red-haired woman walking down a rainy, crowded and dark walkway between buildings with wires strung between them. She walks toward the camera hands in her jacket pockets with a pistol strapped to her thigh,

Juliet clenched her abdominal muscles, sucking in short, quick breaths, trusting her acceleration couch and its external lungs to keep her blood oxygenated. It had to be working—her vision was clear, with no red or black tunnel walls creeping in. She smoothly tracked the pirate in her sights, trying to get her crosshairs lined up. He cybernetic arm easily wrestled the yoke into submission, fighting against the G’s and the forces exerted by the drives to minutely adjust the ship’s trajectory so as not to overcorrect.“

Protect: The Unwelcome Trilogy Book 1 R. D. Brady

Thirty-Five Years After the Incident

Lyla Richards crouched down, her head tilted to the side as she strained to listen. Her dark brown ponytail swung up over her shoulder with the movement. She narrowed her blue eyes. The forest around her had gone silent. But she had heard something this way.

“What is it? What do you hear?” Whispered Jamal Nguyen, one of her closest friends and fellow Phoenix as he crouched next to her. At twenty-four, Jamal was one year older than Lyla, but he deferred to her.“

If you liked those first lines, I hope you’ll love this one:

My Soul to Keep, Book One in the Fellowship Dystopia, Lynette M. Burrows

The cover of My Soul to Keep is a dark blue with the silhouette of a woman walking toward the camera at the base of a two-tone orange image of the Washington Memorial that comes to the same point as a large royal blue, winged shield in the background

The giant bronze angel of death loomed over Miranda Clarke’s shoulder. The statue, Shield of Mercy, Hand of Justice, stood at the grand entrance of the Fellowship Center as it had for all of Miranda’s life. With Uncle Sam sheltered in her great black wings, the angel hovered over the fallen body of President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt and pointed to the pile of ash where the assassin had stood. Was it the statue or was it the tiny flare of rebellion inside her that made Miranda hesitate?“

Clarification

There are no affiliate links in this post. I don’t make a cent off of the books listed on this page. Usually I pull these titles at random. They are from Amazon, my personal library, my area public library, or other online booksellers.

Do You Want to Read More?

Do these first lines hook you? Do you want to read more? They are here for your enjoyment. And to entice you to buy more books.

Please consider leaving reviews for books you’ve enjoyed. Reviews can be as short as “I loved this book.” Plus, reviews help fellow readers find books they like and they encourage the author to keep writing. And believe me, there are days when we all need encouragement to keep writing.

Check out previous First Lines posts.