A Hook or a Dud

There’s an adage in the fiction writing world that the first few lines of a novel are the most important in the book. You’ve got to hook the reader on page one. 

It's highly unlikely you'd throw away a book you'd bought or delete it from your eReader if the first paragraph doesn't totally knock your socks off. But an author does need to set the tone and keep the reader turning the pages. I have hung in past that first page, but if the magic doesn’t kick in by the third chapter, paid for or not, the book is history.

As an experiment, I pulled some of my favorite books from the shelf. I tested the rule to see how impressive these published, successful authors did with their first couple of lines. See what you think:

Diana Gabaldon, Outlander
It wasn't a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance.

Maeve Binchy, Circle of Friends
The kitchen was full of the smells of baking. Benny put down her school bag and went on a tour of
inspection.

John Sandford, Ocean Prey
Five years earlier, the high school guidance counselor sat Barney Hall down and said, "Barney, you're not college material. Not yet."

Robert James Waller, The Bridges of Madison County
On the morning of August 8, 1965, Robert Kincaid locked the door to his small two-room apartment on the third floor of a rambling house in Bellingham, Washington.

Nora Roberts, Angels Fall
Reece Gilmore smoked through the tough knuckles of Angel's Fist in an overheating Chevy Cavalier.

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem's fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury.

Hmmm...A couple might pass the test, but all in all, it’s going to take at least the first page to hook me. A couple of these do rope me in after the first page, but a couple of others took even more reading to make me want to hang in until chapter three.

In the end, I'll keep doing as they say and not as they do. Trying to hook a reader on the first page is a good model to follow.

Here are the first lines of some of my stories. When I separate them away from the rest of the text, it's easy to see which have "oomph" and which do not. 

I woke before Wesley that morning, the first morning waking up next to him. I silently yawned, stretching my feet against the cowboy sheets tucked tight at the foot of his bed. 

The throb behind Abigail’s eyes scraped at her temples like chiseled fingernails. She squeezed her lids tight. Was the sheet twisted around her? 

The cheap chenille could have been angel hair as I smoothed the spread over the bed, my mood sunnier than the faded yellow walls of the room. For most of my life, I'd never had my own room. 

Phoebe awakened sudden and breathless. Not slow like when the sheet tangled around her legs or when she needed a trip to the toilet in the gray fog of near-sleep. What noise had she heard that now wasn’t there? 

“Cameron!” Elidor MacKenzie screamed. The excruciating crunch of bones and flesh meeting rock vibrated in her ears. 

Lacy quickened her pace. The footsteps behind her did the same. As fast as her feet touched the bricks, her heart beat twice that speed. If only she could clear the narrow alley, step onto the lit sidewalk…  

Laughter mingled with the jangle of the bell above the door. Magpie MacKenzie glanced over her shoulder from atop the stepping stool where she arranged music boxes on the top shelf of a four-tiered display. 

Maybe not all of my first lines grabbed you so I invite you to try a bit more. You can read the first chapters of all of my books here:

https://brendawhiteside.com/first-chapters