First Lines

I think I've been having so much trouble with Chapter 1 because I didn't have a first sentence. So, for inspiration, I checked out the 100 top first sentences for novels (googling that brings up several sites), and once I got past stupid ol' "Call me Ishmael," there were some good ideas there. Looking at the structure helped, too. I found that, personally, I hate the long first sentences, but was attracted to the short, simple ones. Also, I liked the ones that created some sort of beautiful image or made a contrast. This site really discussed more of how to construct a first line, which helped, too.

And now that I've got a first line, I've got a better sense of direction for that opener...which means I might finally get out of the first chapter in my revisions! I've only written, you know, five different openings by this point!!