Most Recent First Line

"The bell rang and I went to the front and opened the door and there she was. I said good morning."

Rex Stout - Over My Dead Body

Talk about a first line that highlights the importance of a first line. This one did nothing to inspire me to read on. Although the writing, straigtforward, direct, no-nonsense, is perfectly in line with the style of Stout's writing, it lacks all of the flambouyance he can find in the language, all of the humor, and all sort of pizzazz. A few posts ago I wrote about how the negative can be used to highlight descriptions. This first line is an apt representation of poor first line emphasizing the importance of all first lines.