by Stephanie Morrill
For your reading pleasure today, I have the winning entries from the Great First lines contest. There were so many amazing first lines. You all made life very difficult on our judges. Judge Laura L. Smith wanted me to pass this along to you guys:
I was incredibly impressed with these opening lines and had an extremely difficult time narrowing it down to just five winners. You are all creative and talented and understand the concept of grabbing your readers from the get go. All of your powerful openers have inspired me to go back and rework the opening lines of my own upcoming books. I did go through all of the sentences three times. The winners had one liners that resonated with me, had sentences I kept going back to. There were plenty of great sentences that may have resonated with someone else. To all of you – keep writing!
Enjoy!
By Anna Schaeffer, 1st and Honorable Mention:
The day I moved into a Florida retirement community at the age of sixteen was the day I decided God most definitely has a sense of humor.
By Lily Jenness, 1st:
Awaiting your execution is nerve-wracking, no matter how many times you do it.
By Allison E., 2nd and 4th:
My father spent his time digging for artifacts – the buried treasure of ancient civilizations – and I spent my time digging for worms.
By Allison Young, 2nd:
People haven’t always worn masks.
By Jane B., 3rd:
So there I was, standing in the courtyard at midnight, pointing a gun at my best friend.
By Sky W. 3rd and 4th
Nobody goes to Chipotle hoping to save the world
By Jane B. 5th
I secretly watched as my lies were passed around the library like candy.
By Ely Gyrate, 5th
The night the Tiller house erupted, Thane was supposed to be in his room, grounded
By Anna Schaeffer, Honorable Mention:
If God had given Moses an eleventh commandment, it would have been: Thou shalt not give Kristen Fincher a driver’s license.
By Deborah Rocheleau, Honorable Mention:
If it weren’t for my mother’s death, I wouldn’t have been named after an Edgar Allan Poe poem.
By Kaitlyn Johson, Honorable Mention
People have wanted me dead even before I was born.
By Alexandra M, Honorable Mention
My aunt Lina never understood why I always freaked out when we went out to art museums.