First Lines

Pam is my sister-in-law. She and I share a love of words, knowing that well written words have the power to stir up laughter, reflection, and deep longings. Words can expose and heal hurts we didn't realize we carried. They can expand our imaginations, challenge our preconceptions, and offer the safe harbor of home.

Because of this love of words, Pam and I have undertaken a four month writing project. Each month we complete a different assignment, email it to each other, and then offer feedback. January's assignment was to write about a "first" we've experienced. In February, we wrote a poem. Now it's March, and the assignment is to write a short story. A month ago, I honestly believed that writing a poem would be the hardest assignment of the project. But now, with under two weeks left in the month, I am convinced that the short story is more difficult. My mind is blank. I can think of no story worth writing. Hasn't every story already been told?

To try to get started on this assignment, I did a little internet research on short stories. One website I found said that the first and last lines are the most important--they have to be great.

I've thought of some first lines of stories I know...

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..."

"Call me Ishmael."

Well, those are the only two that I know off the top of my head. So, I grabbed a few books off of my bookshelf and looked at their first lines:

"By now the other warriors, those that had escaped head-long ruin by sea or in battle, were safely home."

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

"I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other."

"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since."

(Can you identify any of the above books without goggling them?)

Each of those lines written above make me want to keep reading the story. So, I've been trying to think of good first lines. I've all but given up thinking up a plot or characters--I just want a first line that a story will grow out of. I've had a few first lines pop into my head over the past few weeks...and I was about to share them with you...but then the phone rang, and I talked for 30 minutes, and then Laurel woke up and wanted to eat...and I've come to my senses and decided not to share my first lines. And, to be honest, I'm not sure I remember any of them.

So...the clock continues to tick...the pressure is on...I need to write a short story.

I am reminded of something I had hanging on my wall in college, written on a piece of notebook paper, copied from some poem or story we had read...

"'Fool,' said my muse to me, 'look in thy heart and write!'"