Best First Sentence Contest

Enter our free and fun Best First Sentence Contest! Each winner will receive a 10-page critique from one of the teachers from Master Class.

The deadline for entries is May 1, 2023.

To enter the 2023 Best First sentence contest, please email your submissions to bestfirstsentence@gmail.com. You may only submit one entry. To qualify for entry you must be an ITW member or registered for ThrillerFest XVIII (2023). Winners will be announced on Wednesday, May 31st, 2023 at the CraftFest Luncheon and on social media. All winners will be notified shortly thereafter via email.

Thanks for your entry and good luck!

2022 BEST FIRST SENTENCE

J.D. BARKER:

Nobody oversleeps the day they come to release you from prison.

–David Taylor

ROBERT DUGONI:

She's the kind of girl who leaves graffiti on a church wall.

–Amy Pendino

MARK GREANEY:

Ed Naden was in a back booth of Marky’s Bar, waiting for one of Vin Rackham’s boys to put a bullet in his head.

–Brandon Barrows

STEVEN JAMES:

I never had much interest in performing card tricks, until Bobby Docherty cut off my hand and tossed it into the Mississippi.

–Chris Kudlacz

TOSCA LEE:

Duke Miller wondered if the 460-pound patient in room seven-twelve was hiding pizza under her breasts again.

–Jason Swink

DONALD MAASS:

They were friends once; the kind of special friends the men of the hill tribes call "death friends" to distinguish them from those with whom one merely shares rice and talk.

–Andrew Kaplan

CLARE MACKINTOSH:

I was eight years old when I decided to kill my mother; I was twenty-five when someone else did it for me.

–Marie Still

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:

It could never be attributed to coincidence that all the women of the village who were of childbearing age woke up pregnant on the very same day.

–Stephen DeBock

ITW Community

  • patrons
  • sponsors
  • supporters

  • Actives

    • Sandra Brannan

    • Clive Cussler*

    • Dirk Cussler*

    • Shane Gericke*

    • Faye and Jonathan Kellerman*

    • John Lescroart

    • Joanie McDonell

    • Karin Slaughter

    • Larry D. Thompson

    Associates

    • Tucker Andersen

  • Actives

    • Kathleen Antrim*

    • David Baldacci*

    • Neal Baer

    • Steve Berry*

    • J. Jackson Bentley

    • Gary Braver*

    • Sandra Brown*

    • Dale Brown*

    • John Case*

    • Lee Child*

    • Michael Connelly

    • Glenn Cooper

    • Richard Curtis*

    • Jack F. Du Brul*

    • David Dun*

    • Joseph Finder

    • Brian Garfield*

    • Tess Gerritsen*

    • Leslie Glass*

    • Jeff Gunhus

    • Vicki Hinze*

    • Lisa Jackson

    • Alex Kava*

    • Raymond Khoury

    • Deborah LeBlanc

    • Eric Van Lustbader*

    • D. P. Lyle M.D.*

    • Gayle Lynds*

    • Steve Martini

    • Brad Meltzer

    • David Morrell*

    • Katherine Neville*

    • Michael Palmer (2004-2013)*

    • James Patterson*

    • Andrew Peterson

    • Douglas Preston*

    • Lissa Price

    • Keith Raffel

    • Christopher Reich*

    • James Rollins*

    • M.J. Rose*

    • JoAnn Ross

    • Hank Phillippi Ryan

    • John Saul*

    • Andy Siegel

    • Susan Arnout Smith

    • R.L. Stine*

    • Brad Thor*

    • Lisa Unger

    • Paul Vidich

    Associates

    • Maria Carvainis

    • Leisure Books*

    • JK Franko*

    • Ed Mitchell*

    • Henry Morrison*

    • Adrian Muller*

    • Bill Sewell

    • Tor/Forge Books*

  • Actives

    • Steve Alten*

    • Ashok Banker

    • Ted Bell*

    • Emily Benedek

    • Janet Berliner-Gluckman*

    • Gary Birken

    • Mike Bond

    • Sandra Brannan

    • Allison Brennan

    • Mike Brogan

    • Jan Burke*

    • Lorenzo Carcaterra

    • Lincoln Child*

    • Stephen Coonts*

    • Brian D’Amato

    • B. J. Daniels

    • Nelson DeMille

    • Eileen Dreyer*

    • Joanna Elm

    • Linda Fairstein*

    • Vince Flynn (2004-2013)*

    • Chris Fox

    • Joel Goldman*

    • Howard Gordon

    • Heather Graham*

    • Thomas Greanias

    • Gary Grossman

    • Humphrey Hawksley

    • Bonnie Hearn Hill*

    • Alan Jacobson

    • Judith Kelman*

    • Harley Jane Kozak

    • Jon Land

    • Dennis Lynds (2004-2005)*

    • Patricia McLinn

    • Michael McMenamin

    • Francine Mathews*

    • Kyle Mills*

    • Twist Phelan

    • Christopher Rice*

    • Wendy Roberts

    • John Sandford

    • James Siegel*

    • Carl T. Smith*

    • Deborah Smith*

    • Taylor Smith*

    • L.A. Starks

    • Mariah Stewart*

    • Peter Straub*

    • Lee Strobel

    • M. Diane Vogt*

    • Thomas Waite

    • Stuart Woods*

    Associates

    • Linda Adams*

    • Brilliance Audio*

    • Mike Brogan

    • Steve Hadden*

    • Emory Hackman

    • Inkwell Management, LLC*

    • Jennifer Kreischer

    • Mario Mastro*

    • Amy Rivers

*original member joined by June 4, 2005