Listen:  What do all of the following sentences have in common with one another?

1. "While Pearl Tull was dying, a funny thought occurred to her.
2.  "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing"
3.  "Sort of a plane crash in an uncharted region of the park."
4. "This isn't at all what I expected."
5.  "The strange thing was, he said, how they screamed every night at midnight."

(1. "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant", by Anne Tyler.  2. "A River Runs Through it", by Norman McLean.  3. A short story called "Al", by Carol Emswiller.  4. "Last Chance to See", by Douglas Adams, 5. "In Our Time", by Ernest Hemingway.)

These are from works of fiction, memoir, science fiction, journalism, and classic historical fiction, respectively.  They have three important things in common:

1.  They're brief sentences that can stand alone.
   
2. They're compelling.
   
3. They're the first sentence in each of their respective books.
   

These are great first lines.  Anyone who glances at the first sentence of these books will surely be intrigued.  What is Pearl Tull's funny dying thought?  What the heck is screaming every night at midnight?  And for the love of Jove, how do sort of crash a plane?

Good news:  all you have to do to find out is read more of the book.

In every case, it's as if the author is speaking to you personally, assuming you are already on board with the story.  In fact, it almost seems as if prior knowledge is necessary for these lines.  Pearl starts the story with what seems to be her dying breaths- she's fading before we even know her.  Pronoun usage is heavy: Who is "our"? What is "This"? And who (or what) are "they"???  Heck, the third example isn't even a complete sentence!

This is because the author has owned the story before they began writing it.  I think that many authors, myself included, make the mistake of planning their story as they write the introduction, forcing them to discover the world they're creating right along with the reader.  Authors who have their plot and purpose planned beforehand are best prepared to tantalize the reader with what's to come.

Challenge 1:  Try to use your first line to speak to your reader as if they're a confidant.

Challenge 2:  Don't make the first sentence a complete concept, but make it stand alone.

Challenge 3: Don't overwhelm the reader with your first line.

"Let there be words"

Before the reader takes up the first word of your story, there is nothing.  You, in a small way, shall create a universe for us when you begin to write.

The universe is a big thing, especially in the world of fiction.  Take care not to overwhelm your reader.

Case 1:  Line one of "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven", by Sherman Alexie

"Although it was winter, the nearest ocean four hundred miles away, and the Tribal Weatherman asleep because of boredom, a hurricane dropped from the sky in 1976 and fell so hard on the Spokane Indian Reservation that it knocked Victor from his bed and his latest nightmare."

NOW IS THAT REALLY NECESSARY?

I mean, I understand what's going on here.  The author is trying to establish the crazy, mixed-up, angry, unpredictable, and confused world that is used throughout the entire story.  However, on a functional level, I would predict that most of the readers are lost.  Does he intend to lose the readers?  Probably- I think he wants the reader to start off with the same overwhelmed feeling that remains a theme throughout the novel.  Is it an effective move? Debatably.  Is this the best way to handle this?  I would argue not.  When I read this story in college, this lost me.  I felt overwhelmed, discouraged, and negatively inclined towards this story.  The world was created, and in my mind, it was a crumpled-up ball of paper.

Case 2:  Awkward_Ostrich's "Trash" Entry

Her car shuddered to a stop at the light; she found herself lost in the sound of the engine, idling roughly and causing the car to shimmy.

Now this certainly isn't too much information all at once.  However, even with this brief opening line, I'd suggest cutting it back a little more.

In my opinion, it should read "Her car shuddered to a stop."  Period.  It makes much more sense to have the jarring stop of a rough, short sentence and the sudden end of a period, yes?   I believe it improves the second sentence as well:  she's finding herself.  The period disorients the flow, leading the reader to feel much more empathetic to the main character's plight.

Case 3:  Mistvieh's writing

Check out some of her opening lines:

Why is it always a hotel room?

Warm, pale sunlight poured in through the very high, small window.

The house was quiet, as it was most nights.

This is a writer with a very solid idea of what goes into an opening line.  These are great- they're intriguing, crisp, and easy for a reader to absorb while they're fleshing out the universe.  They make me wonder- what's going on in that hotel room?   Is that a prison window?

However, mistvieh sometimes overdoes the "sparse" approach.  Take, for example, these lines:

Something stirs in me.

The corner of Seventh Street and Roosevelt was dead quiet.

Vincent Leopold Reed was a simple man of simple needs, simple desires, and simple living.

These are almost very good opening lines.  The problem?  There's a difference between sparse and direct.  Opening lines should lead the reader, not tell them directly. 

"Why is it always a hotel room?" is rich with communication.  With seven words, the reader knows that the person is frustrated, restless, and has a long history of something related to a hotel room.  We know that the main speaker has lost their patience, and I daresay that some physical action is already implied.  Beautiful!  However, simply stating "Something stirs in me" is a much less, and more sparse communication.  Why?  Because it's too ambiguous.  The reader is given nothing to latch on to:  I imagine a person sitting in a room, in a wooden chair, looking down at their stomach.  My imagination is not, in any way, fed.

Even the slightest details can spark the imagination!  Compare these two lines:

Warm, pale sunlight poured in through the very high, small window.

The corner of Seventh Street and Roosevelt was dead quiet.

In the second example, the details are empty- the street names do nothing for the reader.  I picture a quiet intersection of two streets with a lone streetlight shining.  There is possibly a feeling of danger, but I don't quite have it yet.

In the first example, my imagination is absolutely tantalized.  Warm pale sunlight makes me think of a long afternoon on a fall or spring day, arching through a high, small window.  Simply by saying "very high", I get a feeling of longing for that window.  I'm betting that the main character (notice that I imagine a character without one being mentioned) has tried to reach that window before.  Small... why is small important?  I'm almost certain that this character is trapped and was estimating if their body could fit through.  I imagine a desire for freedom, and a dreary, oppressive world that has trapped the character within.

Suggestion is key when writing first lines.  Don't make them so sparse that there's no room for anything else.

Case 4:  Balloonhat's writing

Check these out:

Here in Dhulat Giraa, they have a word for the color of sea water at dusk.

It was said that the fires of Solrent were cared for like domesticated animals, maybe even pets.

Beatriz's mother's funeral was tomorrow, and she was close to throttling her husband for complaining about it.

These, in my opinion, are the best examples of opening lines in the article.  In each example, there is a story being told- the writer owns their opening lines and there is a strong feeling of recalling the story, or talking about it from firsthand experience, rather than explaining it as they go.  The reader is tantalized with a sense of richness and a strong, imaginative piece while not being overwhelmed.  I see promise, creativity, and cohesiveness.  These are the kinds of opening lines that will spur the reader to want more.

Final Thoughts on New Beginnings

First impressions are everything, and in your story, this is no different.  Readers are impatient, sometimes fickle creatures. Snap up their interest right away, or you're never going to have the grip that drives them enthusiastically through your story.  If you can't write the darn thing, then toss anything down, write the rest of the story, and come back to it later.

Your opening line is a promise, a tease, and your best foot forward.  It sets the tone for the rest of the story.  Engage their imagination, own your story, and leave enough open to their interpretation that they're owning the story right along with you.