The First Line.

A good novel needs several things. Words, for starters. Words typically help. Then those words need to tell some kind of story, hopefully one worth reading. They need to get together to somehow create some good characters too, and then go on to make those characters do interesting things. They need to set a stage, dress it, light it, do the wardrobe, hair and makeup, etc., not to mention all that stuff we learned back in middle school English class like setting, theme, proper punctuation, subject/predicate/verb agreement, all that crap.

But among the most important elements a novel must possess, in my humble opinion, is a good first line.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

"Call me Ishmael."

Now I'm not going to kid myself and say that the first line of my newest project could even lick the boots of those famous zingers, let alone claim a seat in the pantheon of great first lines of world literature. But it's important for me to get it right, and to feel like my first line does what all great first lines must do.

What All Great First Lines Must Do:

1. Hook the reader. Call you Ishmael? You got it, dude. That may not even be your real name for all I know, but dang if that's not what I'm gonna call you. Oh and I can't forget you, Chuckie D. I just can't wait to find out about this whole best-and-worst-of-times thing.

2. Set the tone for the entire book. Oh, Jane, you're so right. That IS a truth universally acknowledged. You're so witty and insightful. And so is the next sentence. And the next. And the next.

3. There is no third thing.

For me, if I don't have that first line - or at least some shadow of a first line - in place, the book's not going anywhere. The first line is like the key to a car. You can sit inside that thing, admire the fine leather upholstery, twiddle the knobs, lean the seat back and get comfy, but without the key, you aren't going very far.

As for this particular first line, I've had some variation of it or other rattling around in my brain for the past eight years or so. Even now, I'm not certain that the version I've written will be the one that ultimately makes the cut, but as things stand right now, I think it works. I like to envision myself perusing the shelves at Barnes and Noble. The covers of some books will undoubtedly speak to me, despite that all-too-familiar judging-books-by-their-covers thing. So I'll pick up a few, flip them open to the first page and read that ever-significant first line. If it doesn't get me, then forget it. The book doesn't stand a chance. But I think that, upon picking up a copy of my book, if I read this first line, I think I'd keep reading. Then it's up to the first two paragraphs to reel me in.

So, does my first line do the things all great first lines must do?

You tell me.

"The way I heard it, it was the Thompson boys who saw her first."