Memoir-able First Lines

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Roger J Carlson

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When you write your memoirs, what will the first line be?

I've known mine for several years now:

"I never did anything wrong as a child -- that I remember."
 

Jcomp

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"It was the best of times, it was the....blurst of times?"
 

poetinahat

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Oh, good topic!

I might go with:

"Can we do that again?"
 

Unique

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Nothing ever turned out the way I planned it.
 

davids

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The black hole where my soul used to be was slowly, finally, filling with the guilded light of life's tomorrow
 

Stew21

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The first draft would start out:

Where do I begin and why will you care?

Then I'll revise it to read something better, like:

I've always been suspicious of perfect timing and perfect settings because I never saw any such thing as all the right pieces at the exact right times; no such thing ever happened to me.
 

PeeDee

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Mine. Ahem:

It was a dark and stormy night, rain comin' down like piddle on the cobblestones and hitting me on the way. I turned my collar to it and tucked low under my hat, just trying to stay clear of trouble, and I headed for my favorite pub. Inside, a woman who liked like June and talked like October told me by best buddy had just been shot, which went to show you: never trust buddies or dames to stick around for long. Still, it stank of murder, of Boss Haggis, and of beer, and I knew about all three. I took the case.
 

Roger J Carlson

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PeeDee said:
Mine. Ahem:

It was a dark and stormy night, rain comin' down like piddle on the cobblestones and hitting me on the way. I turned my collar to it and tucked low under my hat, just trying to stay clear of trouble, and I headed for my favorite pub. Inside, a woman who liked like June and talked like October told me by best buddy had just been shot, which went to show you: never trust buddies or dames to stick around for long. Still, it stank of murder, of Boss Haggis, and of beer, and I knew about all three. I took the case.
How about that? It's a new genre: Mem-noir.
 

Bmwhtly

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It was a dark and stormy night, rain comin' down like piddle on the cobblestones and hitting me on the way. I turned my collar to it and tucked low under my hat, just trying to stay clear of trouble, and I headed for my favorite pub. Inside, a woman who liked like June and talked like October told me by best buddy had just been shot, which went to show you: never trust buddies or dames to stick around for long. Still, it stank of murder, of Boss Haggis, and of beer, and I knew about all three. I took the case.

And I thought Dashiel Hammett was dead!
 

Godfather

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As fate would have, I was born.

or

I advise you to light a cigarette, and pour some whiskey as you read this.

or

I'll tell you, life ain't easy for a boy named Sue.

or

In a small woman, in a small room of a small house. In a small town, in a small city, in a small world came the biggest thing you've ever seen.

or

I remember my life like people remember legendary people, I leave all the bad stuff out.

or

I remember my life the opposite to how people remember legendary people, I leave the good stuff out.
 

William Haskins

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I don't know what's sadder—that I would go to the trouble of writing this crap or that you would go to the trouble of reading it.
 

NeuroFizz

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For most hurdles in life, there are no points for style--crawling up one side and falling over the other is quite sufficient.
 

CaroGirl

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"Memory is a tricky thing. It either illuminates the shadows or shadows the illuminations. In our memories, my illuminations were shadowed; my brother's shadows were illuminated."
 
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