Ask these questions about your first paragraph: Does it convey an interesting personality or an action that we want to know more about? • Can you make your first sentence more intriguing by introducing something unusual, something shocking perhaps, or something that will surprise the reader?
— Stein - On Writing
People decide whether to keep reading within a few seconds, and that decision is made on curiosity, not merit. A first paragraph that reveals personality or hints at unresolved action gives the brain a question it wants answered, and questions are what keep eyes moving down the page. Say your story opens with a woman cleaning out her late father's garage. Instead of starting with the cleaning, start with the locked toolbox she's never seen before and doesn't have a key for. That's the same scene, but now there's a small mystery pulling readers forward.
The caution: shock has diminishing returns if it isn't earned. An opening line about a body in the pool means nothing if the next ten paragraphs are backstory. Intrigue should be a promise you intend to keep, not a hook with nothing on the line.
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