The Hook: Great Opening Lines of Short Stories

We've talked about the importance of a riveting first paragraph -- first lines -- designed to draw a reader into a short story and ultimately keep him there until the final lines. Known as the "hook," these opening lines needn't be obnoxious, overly sensational, or bizarre in order to garner attention; they just need to be strong and somehow gripping.

Consider some examples that spring to mind:

“None of them knew the color of the sky.” — “Open Boat” by Stephen Crane

“One day you have a home and the next you don’t, but I’m not going to tell you my particular reasons for being homeless, because it’s my secret story, and Indians have to work hard to keep secrets from hungry white folks.” —“What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie

"Two men in a smoking-room were talking of their private-school days. 'At our school,' said A., 'we had a ghost's footmark on the staircase.' " -- "A School Story" by M.R. James

"Young Goodman Borwn came forth at sunset into the street at Salem Village; but put his head back after crossing the threshold, to exchange a parting kiss with his young wife. And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap while she called to Goodman Brown." -- "Young Goodman Brown," by Nathaniel Hawthorne

"The twilight of evening. Big flakes of wet snow are whirling lazily about the street lamps, which have just been lighted, and lying in a thin soft layer on roofs, horses' backs, shoulders, caps. Iona Potapov, the sledge driver, is all white like a ghost." -- "Misery" by Anton Chekhov

"On his bench in Madison Square Soapy moved uneasily. When wild geese honk high of nights, and when women without sealskin coats grow kind to their husbands, and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park, you may know that winter is near at hand. A dead leaf fell in Soapy's lap. That was Jack Frost's card." -- "The Cop and the Anthem," by O. Henry

"A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck." -- "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," by Ambrose Bierce

Opening lines are of great importance to novels, too. Check out these "100 best first lines from novels" from American Book Review.