My name is Shawntelle Madison. And I’m addicted to a quality first line. For the past several weeks, I’ve pondered, chewed on, thought deeply as I stared at snow drifts outside. I spent a lot of my time thinking about how I’d approach the first page to my second book. For many writers, this might be a simple task. They ask themselves deep and thought-provoking questions like: where does my story begin? Where do things change for the hero and heroine? Based on these questions we may expect the writer to say, “Hey! Let’s drop kick their butts in danger!” (With guns, of course!) “Or why not just start the story out with, what’s-her-face walked into the room. Yeah, that sounds easy enough…”

Well, for a first page junkie like me, it’s not that simple. I want to try my best to make sure that this first page not along brings you into the story, but this  first paragraph tells you something important about my protagonist. And I don’t mean the color of their drawers or the fine purplish tint of the sunset in the sky. (For goodness sake, please don’t open your book with weather…)

As part of this post, I did a fun experiment. I went into Borders and browsed the  aisles—in particular the science-fiction Fantasy aisle and I opened the books to look at the first page. I asked myself the fun question: which book stood out with a kick ass first line. A first line/paragraph/page doesn’t necessarily need to have action, sex, or humor. It’s the voice of the author coming out to draw the reader into the moment and make me ask that critical question: what’s going on here? Should I get some popcorn?

Here are a few that caught my eye.

Laura Resnick – Unsympathetic Magic

As summer in New York City ripened into a sweltering stench of suffocating heat and humidity, I found myself arrested for prostitution, menaced by zombies (yes, zombies) and staked out as a human sacrifice.

I laughed out loud with this one and pictured the heroine getting wrongly arrested as a prostitute. You just can’t get any better than that. I also had a  critical question in mind, how the hell did she get into this mess?

Neil Gaiman – American Gods

Shadow had done three years in prison. He was big enough and looked don’t-fuck-with-me enough that his biggest problem was killing time. So he kept himself in shape, and taught himself coin tricks, and thought a lot about how much he loved his wife.

I really enjoyed this book. I’ve read it before over a year ago so I didn’t remember how it began. This opening paragraph gives you an interesting introduction to the hero of the book. I just wasn’t ready to see that description for some reason… Here we have this big guy who you wouldn’t mess with and yet he kept to himself and taught himself coin tricks. My first thought was, what is up with this guy? Matter of fact, until the end of the book that was my main question. What made Shadow special?

Deanna Raybourn – Silent in the Grave

To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband’s dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor.

These two sentences for this mystery book show a great example of voice. I could hear the heroine saying this with a straight face as she points to her husband’s twitching body. “See, he’s still movin’!”

Alan Campbell – God of Clocks

In the dark heart of Cospinol’s great wooden skyship they boiled a demigod. Her wings and legs had been broken with hammers to fit the, inside the iron cooker—a witchsphere now strengthened to resist steam at a high pressure.

WTF? Boiling a demi-god… Whoa! What’s going on here? (Sits down as the boiling continues…)

Gini Koch – Touched by an Alien

My first superbeing was an accident. Literally and figuratively.

This is unexpected and piques my curiosity as well. If someone picks up my book I’d like for them to feel the same.

James Patterson – Kiss the Girls

For three weeks, the young killer actually lived inside the walls of an extraordinary fifteen-room beach house.

Even though this is part of the prologue and I’ve never read his work before (really, I haven’t), there is just something creepy and sinister about this opening. Was there some crazy guy really living in the walls?

Jaye Wells – Green Eyed Demon

On my extensive list of enemies, the top two spots belonged to Lavinia Kane and time. One I planned to kill as soon as possible. That is, if I didn’t run out of the other one first.

This is the kind of paragraph that shows me several things: the voice of the author, what problem the heroine faces, and a snippy sarcasm that makes me smile. Definitely my kind of book!

Maggie Stiefvater – Shiver

I remember lying in the snow, a small red spot of warm going cold, surrounded by wolves. They were licking me, biting me, worrying at my body, pressing in. Their huddled bodies blocked what little heat the sun offered. Ice glistened on their ruffs and their breath made opaque shapes that hung in the air around us. The musky smell of their coats made me think of wet dog and burning leaves, pleasant and terrifying. Their tongues melted their skin; their careless teeth ripped at my collarbone, the pulse at my neck.

This opening just drew me in for some reason. I could see, feel, smell—all those senses drawn together into a vivid paragraph. Real nice stuff!

Of course, all of these selections were subjective. What I find entertaining might be boring compared to some. I pretty much avoided long and drawn out openings with descriptions and such. No setting descriptions or weather. There is nothing wrong with those, but that’s just not me. I wanted that instant hook factor for my experiment. I put myself in the place of a buyer who was browsing the shelves at Borders and I wanted to select a book quickly. Naturally, I could’ve passed up great books (I’m sure I did), but this is how some readers select what they want to buy. Not everyone looks up an author for that impulse buy at the store.

So, what about you? Do you have a favorite first line? How did that first line/paragraph/page draw you in? Was the pacing slow or fast? Also, what is your process to create that magical first page?