Heather Reid's FAVORITE FIRST LINES - Compare to your TOP TEN

As writers, it’s drilled into our heads that the first line in a book is the most important line. We toil and fret over every word. We wonder if it’s strong enough to hook an agent, and editor, a reader. This is the thing that keeps us up at night and taunts our muse to madness. Instead of listing my favorite first lines, I decided instead to go back to ten of my favorite books to see how the authors I fangirl over started their books.

‘I bear a deep red stain that runs from my left shoulder down to my right hip, a trail left by the herbwitch’s poison that my mother used to try to expel me from her womb. – Grave Mercy by Robin LeFevers

‘A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.” – Dune by Frank Herbert

‘It is so appropriate to color hope yellow, like the sun we seldom saw.’ Flowers In The Attic by V.C. Andrews.

‘Blue Sargent had forgotten how many times she’d been told she would kill her true love.’ The Raven Boys- Maggie Stiefvater

‘My pen falters, then falls from my knuckly grip, leaving a worm’s trail of ink across Fedwren’s paper. – Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

‘The naked child ran out of the hide-covered lean-to toward the rocky beach at the bend in the small river.’ Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M Auel

‘Jack Torrence thought: Officious little prick.’ The Shining by Stephen King

“We shouldn’t go back,” Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. – Game of Thrones by George RR Martin.

‘It is a truth, universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.’ Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

And last, but not least. . .

‘It was a dark and stormy night.’ – A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L’Engle

This one took me by surprise. Really? How could one of my all-time favorite children’s book and a classic start with a line that is often parodied and scolded as a huge no-no? Upon further research, I found that she chose this cliché on purpose, echoing the first line from 19th-century novelists, Edward George Bulwer-Lytton’s “Wrinkle”. Goes to show, if you’re going to break a rule, you better have a good reason.

What are the first lines from your favorite books? How do they stack up to today’s standars?

 Heather L. Reid

Pretty Dark Nothing, Month9Books, April, 2013
Book 2 (Title to be announced), Month9Books, 2014

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Tuesday Teaser: OLIVER CONROY AND HIS REPOSSESSED SOUL BY L.V. PIRES

My name is Colby Patterson and I’m soulless. Literally. It happened one day when I was in school.  My soul disappeared. I became a raving lunatic, psychopath, craved madman, hell-bent on destroying everything in my path. 

How did this happen? 

Does it have something to do with the scientific experiments being conducted at Velcron Technologies?  Who is Oliver Conroy?  And, how did he steal my soul?

***

Colby woke on the cold floor. Only one of his eyes worked. The other was sealed shut. He pulled himself to sitting, feeling every inch of his body bruised and sore. An ache radiated inside of him like his ribs were broken. Blood dripped from a cut on his lip. He smeared it away with the back of his hand, then looked down at his arms and saw burn marks seared across his flesh. The same red marks covered his legs. Colby struggled to his feet and looked around to orientate himself.

He wasn’t in the room he had been brought to when he first arrived to Velcron. This room was a laboratory—a dimly lit one. The floor was smooth and polished, with a metal table was in the middle of the room. Silver chutes lined one wall, a metal door on the other. He hobbled to the door and tried the handle not really thinking it would work, but determined to escape. He had to get out.

             He remembered the last thing Dr. Wang had said. Take him to the vaporization room. Colby turned around again and saw a shower on the far end of the room—the vaporization shower. He had heard about it before. It was used in prisons to execute criminals. A prisoner would be forced into the chamber and ultrasonic lasers would shoot out of the showerhead, vaporizing the victim into oblivion. Now, they were going to try to execute him without any just cause. He hadn’t even had a trial. There was no jury, no witnesses called forth to testify, no judge to hear his version of the truth. All of it was a set-up, to annihilate him and keep him quiet, but why?

            Searching the room, Colby looked for something to defend himself with, but there was nothing. He scanned the ceiling and sides of the walls for an opening, anything that he could stick his fingers into and wedge open, but everything he touched was polished smooth. He tried to yank one of the legs off the table but it didn’t budge. Each leg was permanently secured to the floor.

A moment later the door squeaked open and the man in the white shirt appeared. “I’m glad you’re awake,” he said, entering with his baton in hand. “I didn’t want to vaporize you without having you awake first.”

            “Why are you doing this?” Colby asked, backing up.

            He shut the door. “You’re a mistake, Colby. Someone already had your soul before you and he wasn’t done with it, so we gave it back to him. That makes you a damaged psychopath. We can’t have damaged psychopaths just wandering the streets now, can we?”

            “What about my trial?” Colby begged. “What about getting to defend myself? Where are the police?”

            The man switched on the baton and laughed. “Police? Now, why would we want to get them involved? We already know you’re guilty.” He stepped towards Colby, waving the baton then prodding him towards the back wall and the vaporization chamber.

Coming Soon:

http://crescentmoonpress.com/comingsoon.html

Find out more about L.V. Pires at lisavpires.com

Merlin’s Carvings by Carol Oates

Emrys, otherwise known as Merlin, is a thinker. He’s a scientist and not above experimenting on himself. Like all good scientist, Emrys makes notes. For him, these come in the form of symbols carved into the wall of the cave he called home for hundreds of years. 

When I was imagining the cave and the symbols, I went back to very early notes on my lists of locations. Knowth, in an area around the Boyne Valley known as Brú na Bóinne is thought to have been a place of ritual but also of science. Some believe at one point in history, it may have been a place for scholars and astronomers. Emrys is both. In my notes on Emrys, he spent time at Knowth before going to Camelot, so it may not be a surprise that’s where the inspiration for some of the symbols came from. 

It’s suggested the kerbstones at Knowth(some damaged or missing) were detailed depictions of the night sky and that once upon a time the moon and sun travelled though the passageways and illuminated the internal chambers during the equinoxes. There are more carvings on the wall behind Dagda’s Cauldon inside.

You can read more about Bru na Bionne and see lots of pictures here.

The Shades Series (book #2)

Publisher: Omnific Publishing

Paranormal Romance

Summary

Ben Pryor grew up as an average kid in Camden, Maine, unaware of the supernatural storm brewing in his Celtic blood. However, at nineteen, as the last born in the royal line of the beings that once ruled Atlantis, Ben has eagerly embraced his newfound abilities and birthright.

When Caleb, his sister’s mate, goes missing under suspicious circumstances, the prime suspect is the last remaining member of the overthrown corrupt Guardian Council.

With the discovery that an old acquaintance has been keeping secrets and the future Ben was so sure of shifting before his eyes, the situation becomes more complicated, the ransom for Caleb too high.

In the sequel to Shades of Atlantis, Ben will delve deeper than he ever imagined into the magical old ways of the Guardians, the secrets of Excalibur, and the truth behind the legend of King Arthur.

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Omnific Publishing

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About the Author

Carol Oates came into the world on Christmas morning, in an elevator. Raised just across the street from the childhood home of Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, it was only a matter of time before Carol’s love of all things supernatural would emerge.

She began experimenting with fiction at school and keeps the notebook containing her first unpublished novel in her desk drawer. Over three decades later, all her stories still begin life scrawled on paper.

When not writing, Carol can be found exploring history with her son. Luckily, he shares her love of old buildings, castles, and tombs.

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Dark Secrets about Critique Groups by Katie O'Sullivan

The first writing group I ever joined was an eclectic mix. A friend dragged me along and I fell in love with the idea of being part of a group of writers, sharing dreams and goals along with our coffee. We met for two hours once a week, bringing pages to read out loud and copies for everyone to follow along and jot feedback.

We spanned genres. Two of the members were writing memoirs, one a cozy mystery, one a women’s fiction. And then there was me. I wanted to write for young adults, but the group discouraged that. I worked on an adult fiction piece that never sold, as well as the psychic ghost story that became my first published novel, UNFOLDING THE SHADOWS.

But any time I tried to start something for teens, the group disapproved. When I brought my first mermaid pages, they listened politely but wrote cutting comments on the papers they returned to me.

They didn’t understand.

Finding the right writing groups or critique partner is like dating. You need to find the right fit, and you should keep trying new ones until you do. You’re getting into a relationship, and it needs to work for everyone involved, so don’t commit before you know it’s right for you.

You might go on a second date with a guy, even if the first one wasn’t so hot. You know, give him a second chance, because anyone can have an off day. But. You wouldn’t make long term plans until you were comfortable that you actually liked him and he liked you. That you wanted the same things, had the same goals.

Same with a critique group.

When my group didn’t want to read about my mermaids, I was a little crushed. I mean, I liked these other writers. Didn’t they like me enough to respect my choices?

My middle child took pity on me and offered to read it. He turned out to be an awesome critique partner, with the added bonus of giving me insight into what a young teen likes to read. Then at a high school reunion, I ran into a guy who’s now a computer programmer and an aspiring novelist. We exchanged emails and manuscript pages, and he made some great suggestions that added action and drama to my storyline, helping me mold my bad guy into something more evil than he was before.

And SON OF A MERMAID sold soon after.

I left my group. Or should I say, we broke up. We clearly didn’t want the same things out of that relationship.

My second young adult mermaid book – BLOOD OF A MERMAID – just released YESTERDAY. And those other writers in the group? 

None of them have published anything.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

 

About the Author:

Katie O’Sullivan lives next to the Atlantic Ocean, drinking way too much coffee and dreaming of mermaids. Her new release, BLOOD OF A MERMAID, is available now on Kindle with a full release at the end of the month. For more information, visit her website at www.katie-osullivan.com.

 

About the Book:

Mermaid blood.

When Shea MacNamara fell into the ocean for the first time, he found he could breathe underwater. The son of a mermaid, the sea is in his blood. Literally. The best part of Shea’s new life? His girlfriend Kae, who also happens to be a beautiful mermaid.

But darkness lurks under the sea. When evil mermen kidnap Kae, the king reminds Shea that having royal blood means making tough choices. 

An Arctic dungeon, a fiery plane crash, the legendary halls of Atlantis…and narwhals?

Having mermaid blood just got a lot more complicated.