The first line.

The first line of a story is the author offering to buy me drink. I want that first line to sweep me off my feet, make me laugh, surprise me, strike a match of burning curiosity. I want that first line to be so charming that it takes my breath away and demands that I stick around.

Here’s a few punchy, angsty and enticing favourites of mine to wet your whistle and inspire your next read or perhaps your own story.

1. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

2. I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

3. I drove myself out of New York City, where a man shot himself in front of me. Animal by Lisa Taddeo

4. "'What’s it going to be then, eh?'". A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

5. I stand at the window of this great house in the South of France as night falls, the night which is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin.

6. Making love with a Yeti is difficult and painful at first, but easy once you've done it more than 30 times. Yeti Lovemaking (Bliss montage Stories) by Ling Ma.

7. Once we have a father, but our father dies without us noticing. The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh.

8. When we were younger we learnt men the way other people learnt languages or the violin. Blood rites (from FEN) by Daisy Johnson.

9. My sharpest memory is of a single instant surrounded by dark. The Liars Club by Mary Karr.

10. A strange melancholy pervades me to which I hesitate to give the grave and beautiful name of sadness. Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan.