: This is an odd question, but not for the reason you likely think I say that. Let me explain. It doesn't matter how good your opening line is, if it isn't completely in line (or in tune)

@Shakeerah107

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This is an odd question, but not for the reason you likely think I say that. Let me explain.

It doesn't matter how good your opening line is, if it isn't completely in line (or in tune) with the rest of your novel.

If I were to write an epic tale about three friends who need to save the world, and I open with:

The tortoise, how marvellous creature it truly is. Slow and lumbering, to be sure, but determined to walk a thousand miles all the same.

What I am in fact doing here is foreshadowing the novel and the underlying theme (underdog story, perhaps). But more importantly, look at what else I am doing.

I'm setting a narrative voice (just look at how the sentence flows) (the slow, almost documentary styled word choice, the slow-pace that one might assume comes from a countryside-styled living. almost like the Lord of the Rings, starting in the Shire)
I'm showing the character as a bit of a factoid nerd (or biologist, or philosopher depending on your personal view) (showing that the Point of View character would even consider this, so they might well be a bit of a nerd, or a biologist to refer to tortoises in the first place)
I'm showing that this will be a long, slow battle, but in the end we'll get there (wherever 'there' is) (the battle, referring to the end of the epic tale, the climax where you fight 'the big bad')

It's a killer line, not because of rules or guidelines, but because it's the right line for this tale I'm telling.

So my advice is to consider just what your tale is, what the author voice and character voice is, and fuse all that into an opening line that will say just what is going on (or purposely obfuscate that, as Stephen King does to give you a sense of normalcy to rip that away from you).

How you go about fusing all that is what sets master storytellers apart from apprentices. (a nice way of saying I don't know how to put that into clear-cut rules... and I'm not a master)

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