Are You Hooked?

I love finding good writing books. My latest: Hooked by Les Edgerton. He gives some great examples of opening lines and how to construct them. He teaches in depth how to construct an opening and how to establish your characters and setting quickly.

Even though I thought I had a "killer" opening in my current work-in-progress, I was able to make some great changes after checking out his tips. So check some of these opening lines out:

"He was so mean that wherever he was standing became the bad part of town." from "Bad Part of Town" by Les Edgerton.

This one I love -- "When I got there they were burying the lion in the back yard again." from "A Need for Gardens" by Richard Brautigan.

Okay, then there's this one from "Children on Their Birthdays" by Truman Capote: "Yesterday afternoon the six-o-clock bus ran over Miss Bobbit."

The book is full of fun examples and written in a quick-read style. As I was reading it, I remember the first line from a book I read years and years ago. It's just stuck with me. "One day Jane went for a walk and forgot who she was." I don't remember the title or the author, but I do remember the first line.

After reading that story so many years ago, I actually came up with my own first line that I may or may not use in the future. I've come up with many variations, but essentially, it's this: "Jane had never unearthed a human skull while gardening before."

So what do you think? Is that a "killer" first line or what? Now I've just got to figure out the rest of the story ... after the book I'm working on now, and the next ....