There’s a neat first line contest going on at http://cherstinieveen.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/first-line-contest/ that is sort of in connection with the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conference. Since I can’t go to this conference, and I also won’t be able to make it to LDS Storymakers (sob, wahh, boohoo), I am trying to stay connected by hitting more blogs of local people.

In doing so, I found this contest. Check it out and have fun. Also, Carol Lynch Williams, at the blog she and some other lovely and excellent writers maintain, did a writing exercise wherein she wrote multiple first lines of different stories. Here’s that blog: http://throwingupwords.wordpress.com/. So with all this talk of first lines, I figured I would do the same thing.

I invite you to do the same with your writing, or on your blog. But for now, on my blog, I want you to pick your favorite first line, tell me why you like it and the most popular one will be the first line of my next book. Seriously.

Here goes (in no particular order):

1. “I’m here to kill you. Don’t you remember me?”

2. It turned out I was Satan incarnate, but all I wanted was a root beer.

3. On the first day I breathed dead people and fell in love with canned corn.

4. I saw the magistrate coming, his palanquin holders dripping with sweat, and reached for my particle accelerator.

5. Aiden dove into the shrinking hole, reaching for his little brother’s disappearing feet.

6. He couldn’t decide if it was the way she put his Chex in the plastic bag or her smile that he fell in love with first.

7. I knew something was wrong when I died and somebody else’s life flashed before my eyes.

8. Wayne crept into his daughter’s room, sat on her still-messy bed, and felt his heart break all over again.

9. “Nothing you could do or say could change my mind.”

10. Quicker than Stan could say, “I need a spear,” the glimmering black dragon turned and struck.

11. “You just wish nobody else had superpowers so you can hog all the capes!”

12. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before; call me Ishmael.

And that’s where I’d better stop. What a fun activity! I found myself mentally building story lines and characters with each of these lines. So many words, so little time.

Don’t forget to comment and tell me which line you like best and why!