Your first line, paragraph and page are absolutely crucial. The beginning of your novel should grab readers' attention, stir their curiosity and compel them to read on. How do you achieve this? Introduce a striking, distinctive character, or set up an intriguing or unique situation, preferably a conflict that the protagonist (your main character) must resolve during the course of the story. Your first page is the first - and only - test of literary merit used by publishers : if page one doesn't hook them instantly, they merely toss the manuscript onto a heap and pick up the next. Sample these famous first lines :

☆"Dr Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature. " Anita Brookner, The Debut.

☆"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. " George Orwell, 1984.

☆" They shoot the white girl first. " Toni Morrison, Paradise.

☆"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkable smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974." Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex.