During an Internet trawl, I somehow stumbled upon an almost surefire method for improving a story. You might've heard of it, but it was so entertaining, I'm posting it here anyway. That method is:

Take the first line of your story, and make sure the second line is, "And then the murders began."

No, seriously. It sets up an inciting action and almost always provides a dramatic contrast with the first line. Try it with some famous stories.

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Well, I'll say this: I'm less dead than I look.

Anyway, today I'd like to take a moment to talk about opening lines. We've got an Original Short Story Writeoff finishing up this evening.[1] I've spent a lot of the last week reading and reviewing, and beginning some revisions on an original story of my own. Going through this month's Writeoff entries, though, got me thinking about one of my favorite topics in fiction—and one it seems I've never blogged about before—opening lines.

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