Opening Lines

2007-09-18T15:46:00.000-07:00

This exercise is from A Tool Kit For Writers by Naomi Epel

‘Study Opening Lines’ – Read the opening lines of several favorite novels. Ask yourself what makes them work. Do they grab your attention, set a mood?

Brainstorm a list of 25 opening lines. Then pick one and compose the paragraphs that follow.

1. The desert sky was steel blue and heavy with growling thunderstorms.

2. Jay saw her with new eyes, the shy college co-ed he’d met 20 years age had turned into a tough kick-ass broad.

3. Gray waves thick with salt slapped at a woman’s half clothed body.

4. Two little maroon pills would open a door few ever pass through.

5. The tequila bottle glistened in the light between two Arabic women in berkas.

6. There are Christians in Arabia, one percent whose political clout amounts to zero.

7. “What is it they say about lost innocence, once you lose it you can never get over your utter stupidity?”

8. “If I knew we were in for an all-nighter I would’ve brought a bottle of Jack Daniels and a change of underwear.”

9. “Downtown Madaba rocks, they’ve got rusty engine blocks in every yard.”

10. Thunder boomed with the coming of the clouds and every eye looked skyward.
(Rewrite of Revelation 1:7)

11. He stood at the door and knocked. He tried the knob then called out, “We are here!”
The door opened. (Rewrite of Rev. 3:20)

12. Thunder rumbled and a wind thick with the smell of rain came up from the east.

13. The moon rose, a sickle of pale light in the evening sky.

14. Hunger clawed her belly with its greedy fingers.

15. She leaned on the tailgate as fatigue took liberty with her body.

16. Dust rose from the street with every step they took.

17. The afternoon sky turned amber as a dust storm rose like a veil.

18. The crisp smell of beer mixed with the pungent scent of roasting flesh.

19. He gazed out the window regretting the arrival of his first victim.

20. Her little black dress was nothing more than a bit of lace stitched to a swatch of satin.

21. A hand brushed his shoulder and he started like a spooked mustang.

22. Mondays were always the worse with stragglers gawking at the collection of nude Roman gods.

23. Confetti rained down on the striking workers like joy on a gaggle of honking geese.

24. Her cleavage was more suited to a sex worker than the president of a corporation.

25. The road descended into a fertile valley thick with flowering apple trees and tall grasses.

Chosen Opening Line #8

“If I knew we were in for an all-nighter I would’ve brought a bottle of Jack Daniels and a change of underwear.” Annie Seven leaned back on the windshield of their rented Jeep Cherokee and stared up at the constellation Pegasus wondering how drunk you would have to be to see a horse there.

“I’ll second the whiskey but I don’t know where clean knickers would get us.” Jay pulled out a cigar and lit it with a BIC lighter, his hand guarding the flame from the night breeze. “Unless you’re planning on getting ours wet.”

“You’d need two bottles of booze for that, son.” Annie took the cigar from him and puffed.

He laughed and took the cigar back. “What’s you take on our chances?’

“For what, a comet sighting or lucking into to bottles of Jack Daniel at midnight in the middle of nowhere?” She sighed. “I figure chances are we’re in for a boring night.”

A boom thundered across the desert night followed by a flare of flames across the horizon.

Jay dropped his cigar in the sand. “What in hell was that?”

Annie was already off the hood and grabbing at her delicate photographic equipment. “I don’t know and I sure as hell don’t think it’s anything good.”

They stood side by side for a moment watching the flames spread across the horizon into a fiery wall.

Carol Bardelli's Writing Exercises

2007-09-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

This is a blog of writing exercises I do to practice the art and craft of fiction writing.

Writers should write every day whether they're currently working on a project (novel, short stories, poetry, songs, essays, non-fiction) or not. I write nearly every day, barring illness, to keep my skills honed.

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This Writer's Exercises

Opening Lines

Carol Bardelli's Writing Exercises