Opening Lines

Although most readers, writers, and editors would agree that hooking the reader right from the start is important, not everyone "hooks" in the same way. Lines that may grab one person may only elicit yawns from another.

Still, writers do - and should - strive for openers that keep the reader reading. Here are some of mine:

The autumn rain splashed against the patio glass and trickled in silent streams to muddy pools near the sliding door. I stood unblinking and watched it, relieved for dry, cozy shelter, and yet wistful for the future my haughty recklessness had prematurely extinguished.

As the fog rolled inland off the lake, the approaching dusk grew uncommonly gloomy. 

The old man huddled into the corner of the building and buried his shriveled head into the snarled fur of the sleeping dog. 

The rain that shrouded the gray listless skies all afternoon now pattered onto the classroom roof with monotonous steadiness.

 “Snap!”

The shrunken man sat behind the counter smoking his clay pipe.

Seventeen-year-old John-Peter Simotes poured the bucket of black water down the drain of the old porcelain sink, careful not to splash it onto the wood floor and create another mess he would have to clean. 

I love stories, and my entire life has revolved around that love.

“Hurry, sir, oh please, hurry!”

The man in the long frock coat and extra-wide cravat had stared at her with peculiar steadiness all night, almost as if goading her to notice him