First lines in fiction are crucial for grabbing the reader. It helps to create a disturbance, or change in the character's situation. You want to start the story where nothing will be the same after the opening. I find it helps to keep a list of first lines, either in a notebook or a computer file.
Here are a few prompts/first lines to use as story starters:
Something moved in the woods.
The object, unidentifiable at first, floated to the surface of the water.
Your characters are exploring a long-abandoned building. The power suddenly comes on.
Your character awakens to find their spouse standing over them, a knife in hand.
"What's the craziest thing you'd do on a dare?"
A homeowner doing renovations finds a mysterious box when she busts open some drywall.
The storm was like nothing anyone had seen.
"He left last night. I haven't seen him since."
A motorist is pulled over by a policeman on a dark road. The driver realizes soon enough that the "cop" is not legitimate.
I swear I saw my father today. He's been dead for six years.
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