This is a long thread, so I thought I’d add a refresher of the initial premise:
There’s an interesting post on another writing site I visit where people post the first lines (or first several lines) of their latest work for reader response. I thought it was a good idea, as first lines are 1) relatively short and easy to read and 2) extremely important in terms of garnering that elusive prize, reader interest. I am still wrestling with mine, but would be willing to put it up here if others were also interested in posting theirs. You go first. No you go first.
Since I have posted the first lines of my current work under a different topic (where I’m asking about chapter length - [url]Chapter length ]) I thought I might as well also post them here for the standard L&L treatment.
Chapter one In which the smoke clears on David’s car crash, and sex is mentioned for the only time in the book [/size]
It’s a horrible feeling: a kind of hollow emptiness combined with a warm glow in the pit of my stomach. That, plus a nervous energy that makes me want to run around like a headless chicken. I’m sitting on a small wall by the side of what until a few moments ago had been a quiet road in South East London. Now, of course, the cars have started to build up. The traffic is reaching a complete standstill with drivers unable to get round the accident that I caused. It’s a miserable end to a miserable day.