Last 20 First Lines meme

[vanillafluffy]

Acquired by way of pwcorgigirl.

Post the first lines from your last 20 stories. Do you see a pattern?



20. A closed casket can hide a lot of things, one of them being the absence of a corpse.
19. Hank steps away from the table at Chewy's Crabs---just for a minute---to say 'hi' to Jim Harper and see how he's doing after the interferon treatment.
18. Liddell stops in the middle of "dinner", a sliver of canned peach dangling from the tines of the plastic fork he's holding.
17. The house where they were a happy family is silent with loss.
16. To lull herself to sleep at night when the day's events have disturbed her, Abby's favorite fantasy is of Gibbs brushing her hair.
15. His daddy used to say the devil was in the details.
14. In the days of the Roman Empire, a foot-soldier of the 10th Legion is issued a newly-forged spear.
13. When his phone rings at 4:45AM, Sam feels a wave of joy and relief wash over him.
12. Irina is waiting for him when he returns home.
11. It's weeks like this one that make Nate Ford wish he still drank.
10. Money management is a game, but one that Neal Caffrey takes seriously.
9. Max paces the balcony of the penthouse, looking out over the Seattle skyline by moonlight.
8. After the events of what the media dubbed "The Hanniger Mine Disaster", the town of Harmony closed its ranks on outsiders.
7. It was Andy Micklin, of all people, who gave him the nod-and that was in August.
6. "Right here. This is where it all began."
5. "You gotta let me make a phone call!" Julio hollers as they drag us into the station house.
4. They say you're only as sick as your secrets, right?
3. The dark blue SUV with the yellow and red license plate jounces down the dirt road carpeted with fallen leaves.
2. The Hallowed Halls bear scorch marks from Holy Fire.
1. In the hours since his "exile", Boyd Crowder has tried to make sense of the day's events.

I believe that the opening line is just as important as the final sentence. It’s what lures the reader in. So I try to create a little mystery, hinting that somehow circumstances are not exactly normal, or presenting a vivid image---something to set the mood.

Reviewing these bears out the fact that I write in present tense almost exclusively.

In at least half of these examples, if you're familiar with them, you can tell which fandom it's from because I refer to canon persons or places.

Six of them are Supernatural. Two are Watchmen crossed with other fandoms. About a third of them are from fairly obscure/small fandoms.

If you read the stories themselves, about a third of them feature OCs---not necessarily as a lead character---none of these do, although I have in the past and doubtless will again.


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Comments

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

This is like getting to see old friends again. :) I wish #14 had gotten more notice because it's such a wonderful story -- not the usual SPN fare but so compelling. And I just adore the one about Abby.

You would have made a kick-ass news feature writer. You've got the killer lead nailed, along with the active voice and so many other great writerly traits.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

*blushes* Aw, shucks. I agree, #14 got a lackluster response, but I'm not overly surprised. I think I'm one of about eight people in the fandom who really liked Gen's Ruby.

My problem is, when I say, "That would make a great story!", I'm thinking more in terms of fiction that news. I keep up with enough news that I can often spot where someone has borrowed details of a real event to invent an episode of something---clealy, I'm not the only one.

Thanks for the cheerleading. I'm hot and listless and can't quite focus on a particular story...meh.
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[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

The mister and I still hear or see something and say, "There's a story!" -- meaning a news story -- but I mostly think of fic now.

It's the headachey-oppressive kind of humid-hot here today. Wish it would rain and cool things down.

[foreverhermit.livejournal.com]

Just in case you were ever wondering, I haven't commented on any of your SPN stuff (entries about episodes and fanfic) because I've never watched the show and have no idea about the characters, etc.

Didn't want ya to think it was anything personal, or that I didn't like your stuff!

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

Not to worry. I have a few other SPN lovers on my f'list, and just as many who don't care for it. And of the ones who like SPN, not all of them comment on my stories, so no biggie.

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

A punchy first line is definitely as important as a KEL. I was sort of surprised to see them all in present tense. I know any tense can be effective, but I'm more of past tense gal myself and I have a theory that younger writers tend to present tense more because that's how they see the world. Said theory is obviously rubbish.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

I wrote past tense pretty exclusively for a very long time, but a few years ago, I had a breakthrough. Now I find it difficult to write any other way, although I occasionally do. My theory is, screenplays are written in present tense, and in the last few years, I've gotten a lot of comments of the "I could see this, it was just like a movie/episode" variety. I think it triggers something in the way the reader processes the narrative.