As writers we all know the importance of creating a kickass first line. The first line should make the reader read the second line, then the third, and then...well you get the drift. The first line won't make or break the novel, but it should spark interest. As a crime fiction writer maybe you've crafted a dramatic scene to open your story by introducing the protagonist, or another character crucial to the storyline and plot. If it's a murder/mystery, it's not a bad idea to get right to the meat of the story buy dedicating the first chapter to the crime. You know who’s in the scene and what’s going to happen to propel the novel forward. No matter what’s in that scene, the reader should have some idea what the story is going to be about after reading it, or at least have a good sense of the theme and be eager to turn the page.
One of my favourite authors of crime fiction novels was Elmore Leonard, winner of the Grandmaster Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Mystery Writers of America. Many of his novels have been turned into movies, Here are a sample of opening lines in a few of his books...
"Carlos Webster was fifteen the day he witnessed the robbery and killing at Deering's drugstore."
The Hot Kid, 2005
"Honey phoned her sister-in-law, Muriel, still living in Harlan, Kentucky, to tell her she'd left Walter Schoen."
Up In Honey's Room, 2007
"Dale Crowe Junior told Kathy Baker, his probation officer, he didn't see where he had done anything wrong."
Maximum Bob, 1991
"Tyler arrived with the horses February eighteenth, three days after the battleship Maine blew up in Havana harbour."
Cuba Libre, 1998
"Dennis Lenahan the high diver would tell people that if you put a fifty-cent piece on the floor and looked down at it, that's what the tank looked like from the top of that eighty-foot steel ladder."
Tishomingo Blues, 2002
"Raylan Givens was holding a federal warrant to serve on a man in the marijuana trade known as Angel Arenas, forty-seven, born in the U.S. but 100% of him Hispanic."
Raylan, 2012
When you buy a copy of my books, send me a review, let me know what you think of the opening line...and the opening paragraph and the first chapter...and so on.