Have you ever shaken hands with someone only for them to offer a cold, limp, awkward greeting? A book with a week first line leaves a reader with the same feeling. Avoid that at all costs.
In fiction, the first line has to pull the reader in. Make them wonder or grip them enough to walk to the register and by the book. Grabbing them doesn’t have to mean giving your reader a total shock because that doesn’t fit the tone of many books, but it must make a reader want more. Spark enough curiosity to continue.
