A Great Opening Line

You’ve probably heard it before, but the opening line of your story can make all the difference when you are in the submission phase of your story.

And yet it eludes many writers. We are too close to the story. We are sure we need to start where we started when we wrote the first draft. We want to establish the scene, the character, the theme.

Often times we just plunk our reader down in a seat and expect them to stay. Sometimes they will if that seat turns out to have a good view, but if they are agents, editors or publishers, they might have more important places to be.

So how to write a great opener?

First lets examine some classic openers that just do not work anymore.

It was a dark and stormy night.Cliche

Jennette awoke to the bright sun streaming in her window.Boring and…