What is your favorite line from something you wrote? One sentence only. Here's mine:

[J.]

"She finally understood the desire to be desired."

From Anvil of God

[Tony]

Try this -The setting sun glinted on the silver white of the ghost gums and lit on the plump and luscious green leaves of the Moreton Bay fig, at whose foot stood a small copper plaque proudly announcing this as the tallest tree in the district.

[Regina]

"Merda, I feel like this in the morning, I wanna at least have been drunk the night before."

[Mary]

I have a lot of nice sentences... Here's a shot from the current published bookChildren of Stone: Voices in Crystal

She shook her head..."I was just an old slut with a stone instead of a heart, but you had to break that stone open and find the jewel in it...and now it's killing me."

[Lisa]

J. -

This is a great question. It's intriguing when I ponder it, because the scenes I come up with aren't about one sentence. They're about an emotion. It's a character reacting to a powerful feeling. So part of why it's powerful is that build-up to the moment. The moment itself is the "crowning moment" but I'm not sure that just the phrase on its own would resonate without that build-up.

For a single sentence, I'd probably go with something that was descriptive. For example, from Badge of Honor -

"A brilliant exuberance of stars coated the clear January sky like a dense school of sparkling minnows in an ebony pond."

[Lisa]

I suppose keeping that "description" theme in mind, I also enjoy this imagery from when my heroine is drugged in A Sense of Duty -

"She breathed in deeply in shock; the smoke raced through her veins, exploded out through her fingers and toes, and now it was a demon who loomed over her, with red hot eyes and fiery, smoke-laced wings, the heat of his breath blasting her, melting her."

[Gary]

Here's one of my favorites. It's in Goodreads quotes.

“Venice appeared to me as in a recurring dream, a place once visited and now fixed in memory like images on a photographer’s plates so that my return was akin to turning the leaves of a portfolio: a scene of the gondolas moored by the railway station; the Grand Canal in twilight; the Rialto bridge; the Piazza San Marco; the shimmering, rippling wonderland; the bustling water traffic; the fish market; the Lido beach and boardwalk; Teeny in the launch; the singing, gesturing gondoliers; the bourgeois tourists drinking coffee at Florian’s; the importunate beggars; the drowned girl’s ghost haunting the Bridge of Sighs; the pigeons, mosquitoes and fetor of decay.”
― Gary Inbinder, The Flower to the Painter

[Alden]

Great idea, great thread. Thanks.

"Ego is the torch that lights the fire of hatred and discrimination in mankind throughout the world."

[Mary]

One from my second book in the series Children of Stone "Going Forth By Day" (in progress)

"Those unheard of places and lands winked their crystal spires at the heavens, reveling in the self-assured pride that they were indestructible, only to sink beneath sand or wave, forgotten; ravaged by war, disaster, and starvation."Mary R. Woldering

[Harold]

"For quite some while it [her rage] would dominate her underlying fear, of events she could not predict and injustices she could not repeal." -- page 399, "Crossing the River," Mary Hartwell, April 20, 1775, the day after the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

[Bryn]

"Dead Mongols don't mind the water."

It needs context.
Amgalant One: The Old Ideal

[Mary]

Bryn wrote: ""Dead Mongols don't mind the water."

It needs context.
Amgalant One: The Old Ideal"
Hey I like that one!!!

[C.P.]

Bryn wrote: ""Dead Mongols don't mind the water."

It needs context.
Amgalant One: The Old Ideal"

That is a good one, and I know the cultural context. ;-)

[Gary]

I wrote this yesterday and don't know if it's my favourite but I really like it:

"A torrent of warm blood flowed over her cold fist, soaking her soul in the gentle embrace of a warm bath."

It's from the yet to be released book 8 in my Urban Hunters series. Four Small Stones

[Jenny]

"My sister is a scheming whore."
Opening line of Leap the Wild Water - one short sentence which speaks volumes about this young man's feelings, and sets the stage for the rest of the novel.

Leap the Wild Water

[[deleted user]]

"No words were exchanged, but the message was clearly sent and clearly received." From The Nursing Home Fugitive. I like the irony of writing about no words.

[J.]

It's like using the absence of someone to build anticipation for their arrival and attention for their character. "Where's Waldo?"

[[deleted user]]

Doing what's right isn't always easy. Sometimes there's nothing in it for you." Silas Andrews - A Disloyal Element

This line served as my theme stated ala Save the Cat. I hope it succeeded in stating what my protagonist needed to learn by the end of the book.

[Alexw]

I am unpublished but my favorite line of my writing is "He quit his job because he was tired of people who knew half as much as him, making twice as much money as him".!!"

[[deleted user]]

Alexw wrote: "I am unpublished but my favorite line of my writing is "He quit his job because he was tired of people who knew half as much as him, making twice as much money as him".!!""

Sounds like a great theme to me. He learns that money isn't everything by the end of the book.

[Alice]

Mine is from my rather manipulative Susan (from Susan: A Jane Austen Prequel - obviously, a prequel to Austen's Lady Susan).

Having decided to jilt her fiance (no spoilers!) she remarks, "It was a very pretty letter. It was almost too pretty to burn."

[John]

From THE LIFE AND REDEMPTION OF TEDDY MILLER (historical fiction, Civil War era)

Cyril buries a $20 gold piece on top of his friends grave:

"Mebbe you can bribe your way out 'a hell, colonel; that is surely the only hope for men like you and me."

[[deleted user]]

John wrote: "From THE LIFE AND REDEMPTION OF TEDDY MILLER (historical fiction, Civil War era)

Cyril buries a $20 gold piece on top of his friends grave:

"Mebbe you can bribe your way out 'a hell, colonel; tha..."

Great line. I love the Civil War era.

[John]

Thanks, Barbara

[Abigail]

People seem to like the opening line of my new book:

“The Walking Dunghill was dead.”

[Belle]

I went to church to practice hate and revenge.

[Abigail]

Good one, Belle!

[Kathryn]

"Aurelius has much to answer for, for ever teaching you that you had a brain. A brain is a powerful tool; women don't have the capacity to use it."

[J.L.]

"Old men don't cry; they only try to wash away old mistakes."
from Six Songs for Bonaparte

[Anna]

"Raffles eyes opened wide; what had pirates to do with Lucy? As he pieced together the meaning, he felt his stomach churn, but he had a God-given calling and this battle must be won for this was war between Heaven and Hell."

From One Dark Soul Book 3 of The Dark Moon Series

[Martin]

“I will not,” Jacob replied, swirling the skillet to roast the beans evenly. “We Genoese care nothing for kings. And I do not like the girls in Martinique. They file their teeth.”
Pretenders War

[Martin]

He straightened, bowed and left de Cardonas to the plots that hopped in his mind like so many fleas.
Succession

[Robert]

I also think the dogs were a well thought out and deliberate intimidation, not many things are more frightening than a huge dog with teeth the size of railroad spikes flying through the air at your face after a sudden and very loud noise as the door busted in.

An Incident On Simonka
R H Auslander
http://rhauslander.com/

[Sanford]

"It began like the quiet rustling of dried, sun-scorched summer leaves that had fallen on the cobblestones of the plaza whispering one word: Inquisition".
- Golden Bracelets, Common Threads

[Jenna Marie ~Scheming Scribbler~]

"We were two Jews in city, country, and world of emenies."
-The Burning Ember

[Luigi]

Before he could call out, the light was gone, his unspeaking friend once again his companion.

It's from ALETHEIA Vol.1 In The Shadows, chapter XIX DEATH AND HONOUR.

[Eric]

"The screaming of horses was the worst sound he’d ever heard."

-Legacy of the Bitterroots

[Frank]

Hope is not a method.

-Of Vital Interest