The opening lines from a couple revisions ago: I didn't know it then, but I was scudding into work five minutes late on a day that would totally change the course of my life. Everything had been so normal. I didn't have the slightest clue.
Now, I've held on to that first line for a loooong time. As in, that's pretty much how it started 5 years ago...until last night. When the hand of the Muse led me to try this instead: I slid into work on a Monday afternoon that disrupted the course of my life. For seventeen years, everything had been as normal as the Cheerios I'd eaten for breakfast. There was no indication that the Gothic adventures I so loved to read were about to become more than fiction.
Which one would make you read further? What do you know about the narrator after reading each opening? What kind of story are you in for?
I'd like to think that if Jay, Cynthea and Becky read this post they would nod their heads and say, "Yes, now you're getting it." However, I'm content with thinking it of myself because a writers life is a lonely path and you have to rely on your own confidence to get through it.
PS. I want that book for a Christmas present. Hint hint to hubby. ;)