Oh the first line. The opening volley. The intro to your story. The cousin to judging a book by its cover.

Ever stopped reading a book after a bad opening line?

Most opening lines fall into one of three categories:

Dialogue

''Call me Ishmael." Moby Dick

Action

"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow." To Kill a Mockingbird

A statement

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much." Harry Potter

But it is more than just a line. It's your opportunity to showcase your writing style, your stories genre,  introduce your main character or setting or inciting incident etc. Some options to kick off your story with a bang:

1. Establish your books theme. The opening line of Pride and Prejudice instantly lets you know this is a book about marriage, social norms and even gossip.

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

2. Establish your character's voice. "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since." from The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald gives us insight into the person the story is about.

3. Set the scene. "When Mr Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventyifirst birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton." We are not in Kansas anymore. The first line of The Lord of the Rings builds a world right off the bat

4. Convey the stakes. Tell us where the story ends. "I'd never given much thought to how I would die — though I'd had reason enough in the last few months — but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this." Twilight.

5. Begin with a strange detail. Dickens starts off A Christmas Carol with a fact, but in a curious way. "Marley was dead, to begin with." Isn't death usually an ending?

6. Introduce your narrative style. You know I love my Charles Dickens so he gets two examples. With this juggernaut of an opening line to "A Tale of Two Cities", you know what kind of writing style you are in for. This is all one sentence:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way."

Here's the opening line to my first book:

"Tired of staring into the crystal-clear aqua water before her, Ali adjusted her sunglasses and caught a glimpse of what had to be a new pool boy." Ruby Red

What's your opening line?