Captured!

"Call me Ishmael."

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

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

"It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

And from my favorite classic novel: "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." Except Dickens used commas and semi-colons prodigiously, instead of using periods!

But punctuation aside, these first lines are gripping, enticing, surprising. One line in and the reader is captured!

As I design the perfect query letter -- my novel is as ready as it will ever be -- I begin to doubt. (Begin? Ha!) Is my opening line strong enough? Will it capture the reader's attention? My well-developed characters and steady plot mean nothing, if the reader closes it after the first line. As I research what makes a good opening line, I've culled some suggestions from other writers:

Stephen King was quoted in a 2013 interview with Joe Fassler as saying the opening line is about voice. More than just style, voice is a uniqueness the author brings to a story or series. Personally, I think it is inherent in the characters that have already been created in the author's mind. My historical YA novels have a very different feel than my contemporary genre mystery series. But the question remains: is the opening line of my YA historical novel unique enough?

Jacob M. Appel offers advice which is shared in Brian Klem's Writer's Digest column. One of Mr. Appel's suggestions is to simply state a fact. A short sentence grabs the attention, I suppose, because it conveys only a small piece of the story and we want to know more.

Mr. Appel also offers another suggestion. "State an eternal principle." The themes of my novel are strong and, I believe, easy to recognize. By the end. But would a statement at the beginning sufficiently grab the reader's attention? Something to consider.

Joe Bunting, a blogger, shares what he feels makes a great opening line. "Great first lines, like the montage of a film, lead us into a scene." This may be my ticket! I can see where the character is standing as the story begins. I strive to convey that to the reader. In my historical novels, the setting is very much a character itself.

It's time to get this novel published. The dust bunnies it has collected could populate a museum. But perhaps before I send it out, I'll take another look at the opening line.