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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#401
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. And then the murders began. (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)
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#402
They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did. And then the murders began. (Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea)
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#403
When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin. And then the murders began.
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
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#404
Jack and Jill ran up the hill to fetch a pail of water, then the murders began
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#405
Dick said, "look, Look Look up, Look up,up,up " And then the murders began From Beginging of Fun with Dick and Jane
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#406
Blackthorne was suddenly awake. For a moment he thought he was dreaming because he was ashore and the room was unbelievable. And then the murders began.
Beginning of Shogun.
Beginning of Shogun.
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#407
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)
(The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald)
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#408
Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy. And then the murders began.
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#409
I'd never given much thought to how I would die - though I'd had reason enough in the last few months - but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this.
I stared without breathing across the long room, into the dark eyes of the hunter, and he looked pleasantly back at me.... and then the murders began. (Twilight, Stephanie Meyer)
I stared without breathing across the long room, into the dark eyes of the hunter, and he looked pleasantly back at me.... and then the murders began. (Twilight, Stephanie Meyer)
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#410
"'Harvest is ended and summer is gone,' quoted Anne Shirley, gazing across the shorn fields dreamily." And then the murders began.
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#411
To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night, and then the murders began. (David Copperfield, Charles Dickens)
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#412
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
And then the murders began. (One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez)
And then the murders began. (One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez)
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#413
When I wrote the following pages I lived alone in the woods on the shores of Walden Pond near Concord Massachusetts.And then the murders began.
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#414
A long time ago, when all the grandfathers and grandmothers of today were little boys and little girls or very small babies, or perphaps not even born, Pa and Ma and Mary and Laura and Baby Carrie left their little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsion...and then the murders started.
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#415
I peered around the tree at the couple who sat on the park bench, their faces set, their bodies taut and anxious. And then the murders began.
The Cure (Unbounded Series, Book 2) by Teyla Branton
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#416
For a long time I would go to bed early. Sometimes, the candle barely out, my eyes closed so quickly that I did not have time to tell myself: "I'm falling asleep."
And then the murders began.
(In Search of Lost Time , Vol. 1, Marcel Proust)
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#417
Gram [was] worried about me. And then the murders began. (The Sky Is Everywhere, Jandy Nelson)
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#418
I went down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon the son of Ariston, that I might offer up my prayers to the goddess; and also because I wanted to see in what manner they would celebrate the festival, which was a new thing. And then the murders began. (Plato, The Republic)
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#419
Brown bear brown bear, what do you see? I see a red bird looking at me. And then the murders began. (Brown bear brown bear what do you see? by Bill Martin Jr.)
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#420
Evil Flourishes when Good Men Do Nothing. And then the murders began. (Edmund Burke)
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