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Picture the scene. You meet someone well-dressed, attractive, nice ears (or whatever turns you on). A definite prospect. The signals are flying back and forth, you get closer, your Heartthrob leans over and murmurs huskily:

``What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"

Oh, puh-lease! Your hopes are dashed. What went wrong? It all looked so good, and then Heartthrob had to come out with this dumb opening line. Not even interested enough in you to find something original to say. Far from falling in love, you are already moving on, hoping the next prospect won't be so disappointing.

The singles dating scene is a lot like submitting a romance story. You put everything you've got into getting your manuscript looking hot, you put it out there, and hope an editor falls in love with it.

A clich opening line like the one above won't get you a first date an opening line that labors to make its point, that doesn't relate to the rest of the story, or is part of an expositional paragraph that takes up most of the front page before the story even starts, won't have them coming back for more.

A great opening line can set the scene:

The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there. L.P Hartley, The Go-Between.
It can introduce the main character:
Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were. Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell.

It can set a mood:
I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. That is, my feet are in it; the rest of me is on the draining-board. Dodie Smith, I capture the Castle.

But what it must do is give the reader a smooth entry into the story, it must invite and seduce, so that the reader cannot just shrug it off and turn away.

If you can't come up with a great opener, just start writing, and then look over to your story to see where it naturally starts. It should leap out at you.

For example, suppose your story begins "Julie was running late for work. She had lost her favorite lipstick, burnt the toast, spilt her coffee, missed the bus and to cap it all, the heel on one of her new Manolo Blahniks got stuck in a subway grating and came off.
``Here, let me help you.''
He didn't look anything like a knight in shining armor"

As an opening, this catalogue of mundane disasters wouldn't raise editorial interest. But if the reader stayed awake long enough to get to the third paragraph, interest might spark. Who is this helpful stranger? This is where the story actually starts.

Finding a great opening line doesn't just impress editors and sell stories. It keeps your story haunting readers forever.

But don't just take my word for it. Learn from a master:

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me". Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca. (Available from Amazon.com)

That's what a great opening line does it intrigues, it entices, it makes us want to know more.

If you want an editor to fall in love with your story, wine it and dine it and make a commitment, brush up on your opening lines.

``Do you come here often?" and ``What's your star sign?" just don't cut it any more.

Learn more about this author, Gail Kavanagh.
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