The opening line of a book is extremely important, as it has to be intriguing and powerful enough to capture the reader's imagination. Then, the second line has to intensify the intrigue. Coming up with these lines can be pretty difficult, yet one writer came up with a second line that would almost always heighten the intrigue to its peak, and the Internet is going crazy.
"And then the murders began" - that's the clever line Marc Laidlaw came up with. Add it to almost any opening line and you've got yourself a hell of an intriguing book opening. Now people are tweeting famous first lines of books followed by Marc's second line, with the hashtag #LaidlawsRule. The results are absolutely hilarious! See for yourselves below, and feel free to add your own intriguing openings to the list.
(h/t)
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#201
"Way out at the end of a tiny little town was an old overgrown garden, and in the garden was an old house, and in the house lived Pippi Longstocking ........... and then the murders began." (Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren)
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#202
" 'Yes, of course, if it's fine tomorrow," said Mrs. Ramsay. 'But you'll have to be up with the lark,' she added." And then the murders began.
To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
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#203
"In the great green room there was a telephone. And a red balloon. And then the murders began." (Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise.)
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#204
In a great green room, there was a telephone and a red ballon. And then the murders began.
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#205
It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight. And then the murders began. (Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov)
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#206
"When I left my office that beautiful Spring day, I had no idea what was in store for me. To begin with, everything was too perfect for anything unusual to happen. And then the murders began.
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#207
T'was the night before Christmas when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. And, then the murders began. (The Night Before Christmas, Clement Clark Moore)
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#208
"It happened every year, almost a ritual." And then the murders began." (Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson)
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#209
An unassuming young man was travelling, in midsummer, from his native city of Hamburg to Davos-Platz in the Canton of the Grisons, on a three weeks’ visit. And, then the murders began. (The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann)
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#210
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. And then the murders began. (The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald)
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#211
"Once there was a tree....
and she loved a little boy.
And everyday the boy would come and he would gather her leaves
and make them into crowns
and play king of the forest.
He would climb up her trunk
and swing from her branches
and eat apples. And then the murders began..."
(The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein)
and she loved a little boy.
And everyday the boy would come and he would gather her leaves
and make them into crowns
and play king of the forest.
He would climb up her trunk
and swing from her branches
and eat apples. And then the murders began..."
(The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein)
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#212
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#213
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. And then the murders began.
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#214
I don' t do it for the money. And ten the murders began.
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#215
''Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...and then the murders began!
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#216
I am born, and the the murders began. Dickens, David Copperfield.
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#217
I think, therefore I am. And then the murders began. Descartes?
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#218
You can say I was thinking of other things when I shampooed my hair blue, and two glasses of red wine didn't help my concentration. And then the murders began. ( An Unnecessary Woman)
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#219
Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.
And then the murders began.
Charles Dickens
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#220
Good night moon. And then the murders began. (Good Night Moon, duh).
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