Saturday, April 07, 2007

The Last Word

In case you haven't noticed, I'm prone to flights of whimsy. For the past few weeks, I've been involved in Karin Tabke's First Line Contest. I'm out, but my friend Elisabeth is still in (her lines are fabulous, too).

Anyway, I got to thinking about the last lines of books. So I dug through my files and here are the last lines on my manuscripts:

What Mattered Most: “I love you, O’Reilly.”

Truth and Consequences: “I’ve got everything I’ve ever wanted, right here.”

His Ordinary Life: Smiling up at him, Barbara nodded.

Hold On To Me: “All the time in the world, precious, but right now, I want to hold on to you, just for a while longer.”

A Formal Feeling: And so was he.

Anything But Mine: Together.

Memories of Us: “That’s what I love about you most.”

Hmmm. Somehow, final lines don't seem to have the impact first lines do. Maybe last paragraphs would be better. What do you think?

Do you have any favorite last lines from books you love?

1 comment:

MJFredrick said...

The last lines are the HARDEST!!! I can't think of any books I've read where the last lines stand out.