7 Ways to Create a Killer Opening Line For Your Novel

The Writer’s Dig: Brian Klems

“7 Ways to Create a Killer Opening Line for Your Novel”. The Writer’s Dig. Brian Klems. 9 January, 2014. Writer’s Digest.

“Writing the first line to your book is an incredibly daunting task. This is your first opportunity to hook readers in. I remember writing and rewriting the opening line to my humor book OH BOY, YOU’RE HAVING A GIRL over and over again until I finally felt like I nailed it with this:

“If you’re a guy and you’ve opened this book, you either have a daughter, are on the verge of having a daughter, or are in the delivery room hoping that that sweet bundle of joy that just emerged from your wife somehow, someway, spontaneously grow a penis. I am here to tell you: That almost never happens.”

If you’re having trouble nailing your opening, you’re in luck: writer and WD contributor Jacob M. Appel offers up seven different approaches to writing a killer opening line (he includes examples from classic novels to accompany each, too). Here they are and they are worth bookmarking and referencing each time you begin a story.”