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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#21
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice ‘without pictures or conversations?’. And then the murders began. (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll)
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28points
#22
All children, except one, grow up. And then the murders began. (Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie)
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27points
#23
Jim Gallien had driven four miles out of Fairbanks when he spotted the hitchhiker standing in the snow beside the road, thumb raised high, shivering in the gray Alaska dawn. And then the murders began. (Into The Wild, Jon Krakauer)
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25points
#24
The studio was filled with the rich odor of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink flowering thorn. And then the murders began. (The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde)
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24points
#25
Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea. And then the murders began ..
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
22points
#26
Daddy said, "Let mom go first." And then the murders began. (Across the Universe, Beth Revis)
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20points
#27
"Horn went 'Beep!' Engine purred. Friendliest sounds you ever heard. And then then murders began." (Little blue truck, Alice Schertle)
20points
#28
It was a pleasure to burn. And then the murders began. (Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury)
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19points
#29
"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents" grumbled Jo lying on the rug and then the murders began (Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)
19points
#30
I was born in the Year 1632, in the City of York, of a good Family. And then the murders began. (Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe)
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17points
#31
"I'm going shopping in the village," George's mother said to George on Saturday morning. "So be a good boy and don't get into mischief."
This was a silly thing to say to a small boy at any time. It immediately made him wonder what sort of mischief he might get into.
This was a silly thing to say to a small boy at any time. It immediately made him wonder what sort of mischief he might get into.
And then the murders began.
(Roald Dahl. George's Marvelous Medicine)
(Roald Dahl. George's Marvelous Medicine)
16points
#32
It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York. And then the murders began. (The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath)
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13points
#33
"Yes, it's red," she said resignedly. And then the murders began. (Anne Of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery)
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12points
#34
It was the day my grandmother exploded. And then the murders began. (The Crow Road, Iain Banks)
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12points
#35
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. And then the murders began.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Hunter S. Thompson
12points
#36
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation...and then the murders began. (Gettysburg Address. A. Lincoln)
12points
#37
When on board the H.M.S. Beagle, as naturalist, l was much struck with certain facts in the distribution of the organic beings inhabiting South America.....And then the murders began.
(The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin)
(The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin)
11points
#38
When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home. And then the murders began. (The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton)
10points
#39
On the afternoon of October 12, 1990, my twin brother Thomas entered the Three Rivers, Connecticut Public Library, retreated to one of the rear study carrels, and prayed to God the sacrifice he was about to commit would be deemed acceptable. And then the murders began. (I Know This Much is True - Wally Lamb)
10points
#40
“The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way towards the lagoon.” And then the murders began.
William Goldman, Lord of the Flies
10points