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Young Writers Society


Favourite First Lines



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Sat Jun 13, 2015 1:19 am
Stori says...



I like Brian Jacques. His prologs really stick in the mind- look at Marlfox for instance.
  





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Sat Jun 13, 2015 2:17 am
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bluewaterlily says...



Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst
"On the day she was to die, Liyana walked out of her family's tent to see the dawn."


Cinder by Marissa Meyer
"The screw through CInder's ankle had rusted, the engraved cross marks worn to a mangled circle."


Splintered by A.G. Howard

"I have been collecting bugs since I was ten; it's the only way I can stop their whispers."


Magonia by Maria Headley

"My history is hospitals."
"A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language." - W.H. Auden
  





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Sun Jul 05, 2015 11:25 am
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TriSARAHtops says...



Another first line I'm quite in love with is the first line of The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater:
Blue Sargent had forgotten how many times she'd been told that she would kill her true love.


And I hate to be predictable, seeing as it's one of the most famous first lines in fiction, but I'm adding Pride and Prejudice to the list, because I really do love the satire Jane Austen brings across from the first line.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.


Rhe first chapter of Going Bovine by Libba Bray is hilarious, and the craziness kicks off from the first line. The absurdness of it is the perfect beginning to this frankly absurd story:
The best day of my life happened when I was five and almost died at Disney World.


I'll add more, no doubt, sooner or later. I might trawl through my bookshelf looking for some more beauties.
if we wait until we're ready
we'll be waiting
for the rest of our lives
  





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Sun Jul 05, 2015 7:27 pm
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BellaRoma says...



Sometimes I look in a mirror and there's nobody looking back.


This line is from Out of Sight, Out of Mind by Marilyn Kaye. I absolutely adore the Gifted series :)
You cannot train yourself to notice,
To feel pain, and swallow fear
  





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Mon Sep 14, 2015 7:32 am
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TriSARAHtops says...



Started rereading The Graveyard Book, which has one of my absolute favourite first lines:

There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.
if we wait until we're ready
we'll be waiting
for the rest of our lives
  





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Tue Sep 15, 2015 1:29 am
Lefty says...



Aliens are stupid.

-The 5th Wave, By Rick Yancey

I wasn't sure what I thought of this, but when I read it I kind of had to chuckle with amusement. Read it over to see if I read it correctly. It was really entertaining and made me interested to know what else she was going to say. Also, it's only a three word sentence but it gives you a taste of the characters personality, which ended up being one of my favorite parts of the book.
Hear me out, there's so much more to life than what you're feeling now. Someday you'll look back on all these days, and all this pain is gonna be invisible. - Hunter Hayes
  





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Tue Sep 15, 2015 9:18 am
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Mea says...



Ash fell from the sky.

-The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

I love this one. It's a little melodramatic, but it perfectly sets up the tone of the entire series, and in just one line!
We're all stories in the end.

I think of you as a fairy with a green dress and a flower crown and stuff.
-EternalRain

I think you, @Deanie and I are like the Three Book Nerd Musketeers of YWS.
-bluewaterlily
  





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Wed Sep 16, 2015 2:22 pm
Mikons3 says...



The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.


Call me Ishmael.


Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do.


These are like most adventurous first lines I have ever read. They set the tone so well...
  





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Mon Nov 16, 2015 7:36 pm
Apricity says...



“All this happened, more or less.”
- Slaughterhouse-five, Kurt Vonnegut
Previously Flite

'And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.' ― Friedrich Nietzsche

~Open for business~
  





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Mon Nov 30, 2015 11:05 am
TriSARAHtops says...



We were watching the telly when we decided to rob the dentist.

is the first line of The Underdog by Markus Zusak, and it really does set the tone for the kind of things that Cam and Rube get up to (and think are a good idea) in these books. There's the kind of absurdity in this opening line, too, that really appeals to my sense of humour
if we wait until we're ready
we'll be waiting
for the rest of our lives
  





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Mon May 30, 2016 4:49 pm
Brigadier says...



I know this thread hasn't been popular in awhile but I recently picked up one of my favorite books again. The first line/sentence, which is nearly one-third of the entire first paragraph, is the reason I stuck with the book for so long.

When Radar O'Reilly, just out of high school, left Ottumwa, Iowa, and enlisted in the United States Army it was with the express purpose of making a career of the Signal Corps.

That's from MASH by Richard Hooker.

Another comes from a historical fiction that isn't among my favorites but the line is.
On rocky islands gulls awoke.

This page of Johnny Tremain goes on to tell of every barnyard and marine creature in the area. It's a quite humorous start for such a sad novel.

There's a letter at the beginning of a good book and the best part is who it's addressed to.
To:
"Mad Dog,"
Research Department for External Intelligence, North Korea;
"Monkey," America Department (DA),
Communist Party of Cuba Centra Committee, Cuba
"Grey Woelf,"
Ministry of State Security (MSS), China

From: Property of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation: The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones

the brigadier rides again!
LMS VI: Lunch Appointment with Death

  





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Fri Jun 03, 2016 7:22 pm
ChieTheWriter says...



"So you boys want to help me on a case?"
"Nobody has an easy time in this world. Either you climb out of the muck and become a human being, or you die." - Josh Randall, Wanted: Dead or Alive
  





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Sat Dec 02, 2017 6:09 pm
DauntlessDagger says...



"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."

"If you like happy endings, don't read this book."

This one was funny, the series ended and ever one whined that it didn't have a happy ending. Duh.
Dauntless Dagger
  








Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.
— Brené Brown