Many writers believe you've got to have a "killer line" that leads off your book or story. Something that instantly hooks the reader into your story, that forces them to read on. There are famous opening lines, of course: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" from Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, or "Call me Ishmael," from Moby Dick. Meh. My favorites are lines like "The man in black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed," from The Gunslinger by Stephen King, or "All this happened, more or less," from Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, or even "It was a pleasure to burn" from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
     For myself as a writer, I've never put that much emphasis on the opening line of each of my stories. In my books, I have a tendency to take something a little bit out of time or place and use that as a little introduction to the story. The first line of my first book, Feels LIke the First Time, is very simple: "Dawn was at the side of the room, crying softly." I guess that served its purpose - telling that this opening scene was fraught with emotional import and sadness. When I told the same story from a different perspective in Both Sides Now, the first line was a little more direct: "The instruction sheet had said not to eat breakfast." 
     Without realizing it, I had immediately struck upon the dichotomy of those two stories. The first book, told from my perspective, focused on the emotional, which was the most interesting aspect of the story to me. The second, told from Dawn's perspective, was a little more numb and just the facts-like, which is exactly how Dawn was feeling at that moment.
     What might be interesting is that these first lines are virtually never the first line I write. When I sit down with a blank page staring me in my face, I never try to craft the perfect opening line. That's way too much pressure! If I did that, I'd never actually start a story, let alone finish one. Instead, I hold the beginning of the story in my mind and just start telling the story - framing the setting, introducing the characters, beginning the action. It's much later, often when the book is nearly finished, that I go back and write the opening line. 
     At the same time, I try to pay attention to my subconscious. For instance, sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that from the very first book, my company is called Pertime Publishing. What there was no way to know until recently, is why I called it that. With the release of my latest book, Rock ''n Roll Heaven, the answer came at least partially into focus when you met the angel Pertime. What there is no way to know, is, why did I pluck the name of a character from a book I hadn't yet written to name my publishing company? The answer is, because Pertime's name came to me in a dream, like a gift from my subconscious. It felt right to honor that gift by naming my publishing company after it.
     With my new book, presently untitled, I had a similar gift yesterday. I woke up with four words ringing in my brain, and I instantly knew they were the first sentence of this new book: Later, there were questions. That's it. Very simple. But, it changed the whole beginning of this book. I had known all along that this book would be driven by a sudden, tragic event that happened five years before the real start of the story, but I had planned on looking at that event only in the rear view window. With that one line - Later, there were questions - that had changed. The story would, at least briefly, now look at that event.
     I am always fascinated by the creative process, but I've found that even when I am in the midst of it - when it's happening within my own brain - I still don't understand it. I'm just glad to have the freedom to explore it.