First Lines?

KellyinCA — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:01:02 +0000

This was a great thread on the Mystery/Thriller thread and I thought I'd ask here too. Hopefully you've got some words in today so share: what is your opening line? Mine begins: The first shards of light penetrated the western horizon as the jet plane descended across the desert of Southern California and into the West coast city of San Diego, now dipping below the layer of fog that obscured the city from the sky. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of the small vehicle knew all too well what awaited them in the city recently tainted with spilt blood.

Re: First Lines?

Renth — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:32:45 +0000

I'm writing a mix between how I grew up and stories about my family, so here is the first line... (Also I'm really bad at the were/was thing, but I don't really worry about that during Nano) My life started in June 1990, welcoming me was my father and mother, two grandmothers, a grandfather, a great grandmother and a bunch of aunts and uncles, who this story will mostly focus on. I was the first kid to be born on both sides of the family, the first granddaughter and the first cousin, around 6 months later we were two and after that a lot more where born.

Re: First Lines?

J.E.Blackworth — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:33:08 +0000

It was that biting kind of cold that went through the thin veil that was her night gown and bathrobe. It wasn't that shivery kind of chillyness that you feel in the nights when your special someone has dared to pull the blanket all for them, it was the cold that bit your skin and went straight for your bone marrow, trying to freeze it as efficiently as it could.

Re: First Lines?

NinjaFerret — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:39:52 +0000

She tasted blood and her ears were ringing as she lay there contemplating the sky. This only lasted a moment before a heavy paw rested on her chest and a broad tongue scrapped along her cheek. "Ugh, knock it off, Apollo."

Re: First Lines?

SVolt — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:41:27 +0000

Fun stuff! Between a convenience store and a Laundromat Mike stood, waiting for the perfect opportunity to begin what he’d walked all the way out here for. He paced around the entrance to the store, trying his best to look less like he was about to cause trouble and more like he was waiting for someone. Essentially, that’s exactly what he was doing; he just wasn’t waiting on any specific person.

Re: First Lines?

Siffleuse — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:57:58 +0000

I definitely wish there were like buttons. First two sentences of mine: A few hours earlier, they had all been sitting on a long row of chairs, lined against the wall of the village hall. All the girls were there, with their pink cheeks and the red lipstick they had been exceptionally allowed to wear, new stockings and clean little dresses falling on their skinny calves.

Re: First Lines?

Arrakiv — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:01:02 +0000

I'll just go with the opening sentence: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to throw yourself off the top of a thirty-story tall building?

Re: First Lines?

Trina — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:05:41 +0000

Greybird Pass definitely narrowed as it went through the mountains, there was no denying it, he thought. Despite what the cartographers showed, the walls of the Iron Mountains closed in on you the farther you traveled toward Tegwyn. This starts my story...right before a cow stampede. LoL

Re: First Lines?

Mobh — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:13:45 +0000

All she could hear was the static hum of the Apocalypse.

Re: First Lines?

BopBopPow — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:15:36 +0000

I like to keep it short. With that in mind; "I don't blink very much."

Re: First Lines?

superminichick — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:17:37 +0000

"You just had to get cocky, didn't you, kid?" "Only four cylinders in the lock? Bo, it's like they were asking me to take it." My shoulders were starting to hurt, digging in to the stone wall behind me. Better than the spears pointed at my neck, but it didn't make me like the situation any more.

Re: First Lines?

purebredred — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:51:35 +0000

My grandparents were of the last people to be born normal. Nobody, viewing those soft squirming specimens of human kind, would have believed that humanity would come to take such a violent swerve.

Re: First Lines?

Renth — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:54:39 +0000

Scary I would imagine:)

Re: First Lines?

Solana Nyx — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:58:24 +0000

It had been three years since i last saw sunlight, three years since i had tasted water that wasnt tainted and grey, three years of pure hell in a dungeon that called out for my death.

Re: First Lines?

k.haskins — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:11:25 +0000

=] "Please take off your clothes" NOTHING gets your attention better than a line incinuating the chance for nudity. =] lol

Re: First Lines?

KellyinCA — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:20:32 +0000

Well I have NOW! Jeeze...

Re: First Lines?

KellyinCA — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:22:33 +0000

I'm reminded of last night's favorite quote "boob"

Re: First Lines?

vikkirose — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:24:20 +0000

July 8, 1990…that’s when it all began. Two people who were meant to be together entered the world, born under a full moon. Two people from two different worlds - a baby girl born to immigrant farm workers in Texas, and a baby boy born to a middle class family in New York. Luna Marie Equiano and Marcus James Scott couldn’t have been more different, yet they were meant to be together. Call it fate, call it destiny, call it kismet – call if whatever you want. This is their story.

Re: First Lines?

KellyinCA — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:39:07 +0000

I forget this isn't my regional thread... we did a plot challenge and the winning plot had the word boob. Every time someone got stuck they'd shout "boob". Yeah... 20 somethings are not more mature than teenagers.

Re: First Lines?

Inkwell Scribe — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:42:31 +0000

"You're not seriously considering eating that, are you?"

Re: First Lines?

malljand — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:21:08 +0000

Fun! Here's mine: The memorial was always packed this time of year, but tonight drew an especially large crowd of mourners and journalists alike.

Re: First Lines?

kaluvinar — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:39:30 +0000

"Natalie rolled on to her back, feeling a sort of grim satisfaction as the rubber slid out of her."

Re: First Lines?

LilithDee — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:40:07 +0000

He hits me with the kind of one-liner that makes the social-climbers swoon. xD I love my MC.

Re: First Lines?

writer-in-the-dark — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:40:14 +0000

When I first thought about death, I was about the age of nine. Many relatives I had were old people; the ones you knew wouldn’t be around much more in your entire life and most generally, within the first ten years of your life, they passed. I can remember when my grandmother had passed and asking my mother where she went. The response I gained from my mother was one that left me scratching my head when I was little when she said, “Your grandmother is now going to lie in the ground, rotting away for the worms to devour her body.” she said before turning her back to me and telling me to go play with my cousins like a good daughter should.

Re: First Lines?

DaJaMa523 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:51:21 +0000

“I swear, the sun is getting brighter and brighter every day.” “Come to bed, honey. You’ll give yourself a migraine,” says the wolf. Of course, he’s not really a wolf, he’s my boyfriend. He wasn’t always a wolf either. He used to be a lion, a golden majestic lion, unforgiving and proud, and I used to ride on his strong back across the cobblestone bridges that run over the glinting lakes of the meadow behind our cold two-story apartment. Those were the ebbing days of summer, when the long grasses still held their eager crickets and the golden-pink rays of the sun shone down through the afternoon.

Re: First Lines?

Ryan Lohner — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:06:05 +0000

"Somewhere, this could all be happening right now." I'm doing sci-fi, so I just wanted something to throw people off a bit going in.

Re: First Lines?

mAg347 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:12:09 +0000

Zipporah would look back on that cool Autumn day for years to come, she would rarely talk about it - but then one doesn't really ever talk about the phenomenal experiences that ordinary minds simply could not handle.

Re: First Lines?

KellyinCA — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 06:05:21 +0000

it's slightly insulting... I like!

Re: First Lines?

FallenAngel54 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 06:25:46 +0000

"Get dressed"

Re: First Lines?

allywa — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 06:47:21 +0000

I was born in June, 1990, too! :D

Re: First Lines?

lifelessmind — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 07:31:00 +0000

My opening will probably be rewritten like, 5 times in December, but this is what it currently is: I politely waited for a moment for the swell of applause to die down, at least enough to talk over. In that moment, I really let it all sink in; where I was, what I had accomplished, and the price I had paid to get there. The bright lights, the million eyes on me, and the rolling cameras were amazing, despite the heavy weight on the sliver of soul I had left. Somewhere in those million eyes, there were two that were filled with the tears from a broken heart. I briefly asked myself, was it worth it? Everything, to be right here, right now? Absolutely.

Re: First Lines?

mAg347 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:17:29 +0000

Only if you consider your mind ordinary... :)

Re: First Lines?

Sidoniehelena — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:17:51 +0000

'Running, it’s always running, running through a corridor of trees that were miles high on either side and over lapping at the top, their branches leaning over the gaps.' uhhuh... :)

Re: First Lines?

cuendillar — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:24:14 +0000

"If everything goes according to their plans, I will be dead in three hundred and seventy days." Mmhmm. Cheerful. :P

Re: First Lines?

catlark — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:09:26 +0000

The waitresses were congregated in the back by the kitchen doors; Summer could feel them staring and rustling around in their khakis and red polos.

Re: First Lines?

Renth — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:16:40 +0000

Ohh:) Which date?

Re: First Lines?

Zenxara — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:48:20 +0000

my first line is funny. " I'm dead, I'm dead!"

Re: First Lines?

Mandy Noble — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:49:03 +0000

Trivium As Nathan decended towards the ground, tears flowed heavily from his eyes; it wasn’t the wind that caught him in his beautiful orbs of sight, as barely a breeze drifted past him. It wasn’t the sun light that danced heavily above the clouds he had already lowered beneath. The fact that he was riding in a parachute for the first time in his life that made him cry, made him ball like a baby, made him weep like a maid.

Re: First Lines?

thombruce — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:11:40 +0000

Venus, 67.2 million miles from the sun with a surface temperature of 460°C, an atmospheric pressure which could crush the human body in an instant, comprised mainly of gases which could rip a hole in your lungs, all packed so densely that making a surface walk could be described as akin to pushing yourself through a reinforced steel wall, with only half the visibility. Genre's sci-fi, clearly, though it has a touch of romance and a certain degree of political thriller thrown in for good measure. That's about all I've got so far, though. Best get cracking...

Re: First Lines?

Nouks — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:29:02 +0000

My first lines, translated from Dutch to English (rough translation, no checks done): My God. Where every normal human being will be in a deep sleep at this time of the night, he is just sitting and watching. In his right hand there's a glass of Caol Ila. He sighs. Every normal human being. Not he, no, not he. He doesn't sleep yet. It won't be until dawn when he'll get tired and will go to bed. Until then, he will sit down here. Alone, convicted to loneliness and accompanied by thoughts.

Re: First Lines?

Sinoda — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:51:01 +0000

A nerd - me, a witch, and an Elder God walk into a bar. It would have been "A nerd, witch, elder god and a ROBOT walk into a bar", but we had to leave Arnie home with ZombieFrank. It's not that the bar doesn't allow zombies or robots. It's just that there's a clear 'no shirt, no shoes no service' policy. And getting shoes that fit a brick sized..brick-like foot? Too expensive. I mean, hey, Arnie's on a budget too. Robot's gotta eat...Or whatever you call it when he changes his batteries. We like to call it eating though. Helps him feel like he fits in.

Re: First Lines?

tyrantswine — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:11:52 +0000

Mine's straddling several genres, but it fits in with mainstream fiction the best- influences of Steinbeck and Ursula K. Le Guin I think are going to be the most obvious. Here we go! The skies tore open and the water returned to the Earth. In some cultures this would have been a time to rejoice- the harvest was saved! The drought is defeated! But in San Lomar, it met a different reaction.

Re: First Lines?

A.Liberman — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:57:44 +0000

How sweet! I would keep reading.

Re: First Lines?

A.Liberman — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:59:19 +0000

That is a fantastic sentence. Squirming specimens-love it!

Re: First Lines?

A.Liberman — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:01:46 +0000

There was a rosebush growing in the corner of the graveyard, a splash of color in the gray landscape. And no, it's not about zombies.

Re: First Lines?

Personwhois — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:09:18 +0000

I had such a hard time starting this novel -_- But finally words came out! =o It was cold and the air was stagnant. The only thing that broke the silence was a stifled clearing of a throat that seemed miles away. The lights flickered and seemed to go out for a second before snapping back on.

Re: First Lines?

Lady_Indis_Dress — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:19:47 +0000

Chauncy DeFord kept his eyes trained on his surroundings and his back to the wall as gaily dressed people floated past him. His vantage point gave him a view of most of the hall. His senses were engaged at every level for this was a most perilous situation. This was a court ball.

Re: First Lines?

ForsakenOutlaw — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:27:38 +0000

Seventeen floors above the city streets, he stood only inches away from the floor-to-ceiling windows, where it seemed he could see forever, at least when there was sunlight. [rest of paragraph] Night had fallen hours earlier, casting the entire city into a darkness that was just as metaphorical as it was literal. Street lamps, building lights, headlights, and the flashing strobes of the airport's instrument landing system all lit up the night sky around the city, casting a colorful hue of radiance into the darkness looming above the metropolitan city. In some places, it was so bright that a camera flash wouldn't even be necessary to produce a crystal clear, well-lit image while in other places, particular the seedy back alleyways, side streets, and random stretches of road, it was truly pitch black. From where he stood, he looked northwards, across the expanse of the city and its small suburb, tiny flickers of light on the horizon going on and on forever, seemingly stretched all the way around the world. Off in the furthest distance, the red warning lights of tall towers told low-flying aircraft to adjust their heading. To the west, there was nothing but a black oblivion, where settlers had yet to go and to the east, he could faintly see the outline of the mountain peaks behind an ominous, red-orange glow. He couldn't see to the south but there wasn't much to see that way except for more of the city and its airport. This was a clear night, one of the few since he had arrived three weeks ago and for three weeks, he had called the northwest corner of the seventeenth floor of the downtown Hilton his home. The large, single-bedded room seemed dated in both style and décor but it was pleasantly comfortable, far too comfortable for the likes of this city.

Re: First Lines?

Jackrabbit.Moon — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:34:29 +0000

Kudzu is a plant that is similar to a rabbit it its fertility, growth, expansion, and frequency on the sides of highways.

Re: First Lines?

KellyinCA — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:44:37 +0000

hahah! I love it :) I had to hold in my laughter on a conference call too - can't wait to hear from Zombie Frank about his nikes :)

Re: First Lines?

trinagirl98 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:59:23 +0000

This will most likely change in the editing process because my first lines are crap... Wren Hill was dead. Like not dying. Just dead. Killed over in the middle of his fourth period science history class. Time of death: 11: 46am, Thursday, January 5th, 2061. This was odd. Not him dying in science history, because I suppose it would be just as shocking if it were Latin or Chemistry. No, it was odd because he was a digi and digis didn’t die.

Re: First Lines?

Pliva — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:28:02 +0000

It was easy to miss the man’s arrival through the rain. It was pouring down, the kind of hard rain that feels more solid than liquid, and just as transparent. He stepped out from a ripple in the dark purple night and fell to his knees, barely able to support the body he was carrying after such a trip. The man spent only a second catching a breath before he gripped the body tighter and stood up. He squinted through the rain towards the towering house in the middle of the field and began to struggle towards it.

Re: First Lines?

Ace Girl — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:30:04 +0000

I guess I have two possible openers? There's the epigraph, from a letter written by my MC: "I hate this city. I have always hated this city. And one day, when I collapse under the weight of too many miracles and I am finally ended, I will die hating this city. I fear, in spite of everything, that perhaps it will be not the miracles, but the city, that kills me." ...and there's the actual first line: Barely two steps out the door, and she had him by the arm: "Please, Mr. Gage, you need to save my son."

Re: First Lines?

ItsADrizzit — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:52:32 +0000

Ok, mine is lame. It's from the little intro/prologue chapter that might actually get cut...but here it is: "In what was definitely the single most rash decision of his entire twenty-four years of life, Nathaniel Harris had packed up all the things he could fit into his 2009 Jeep Liberty and driven from his childhood home in Providence, Rhode Island across 3000 miles of forest, farmland and mountain to Seattle, Washington. "

Re: First Lines?

Jacktionman — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:17:55 +0000

I love your first line - "When I first thought about death, I was about the age of nine." It's very Ann Rice (Interview with a Vampire)!

Re: First Lines?

Jacktionman — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:19:25 +0000

I love a good stat-cram! Great device, great start!

Re: First Lines?

Jacktionman — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:20:56 +0000

This one was unusual. His whole manner was wrong. Still, the whole event was only a minor inconvenience to Murdoch. He hadn't got to bed yet, despite the time, and the loud thud that provided the knowledge that someone had gone to sleep permanently made him more envious than empathetic. That the corpse's bed were the sleepers of the railway line - and the apartments that overhung it - was of little concern. Sleep, on the other hand, was an issue. Of all life's necessities, food, water, air, sleep, it was only the latter that eluded Murdoch.

Re: First Lines?

rayruz — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:39:26 +0000

The center isn’t a prison, but it has a wall as big as Jayne is all the way around. They told him it’s to keep the kids safe—it’s a busy road, they don’t want anyone having an accident. But he knows better. Walls are built to keep people inside, to keep them from running away. It doesn’t matter though; no wall has ever kept him in before. He could climb it, or climb one of the trees and jump over. If he needed to, that is. He’s not supposed to run away from this place, he’s come here to learn to stop running away. But it’s good to have an escape plan just in case.

Re: First Lines?

allywa — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:49:01 +0000

June 25th :)

Re: First Lines?

kanyewest — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:57:41 +0000

Shut up

Re: First Lines?

Renth — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:19:37 +0000

I'm 16 days older than you then:)

Re: First Lines?

allywa — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:29:54 +0000

There was something so beautifully tragic about him; so wonderfully broken. It was like each error was a little bit of perfection in my eyes. The more flawed he was, the more I loved him. He was my fallen angel, my faulted beauty. He was damaged, but not beyond repair. There was still hope for him. That hope was me. Love opens many doors. It brings life to things that were once untouchable. It enlightens and dwells, swelling hearts until they burst and ache. It is a word that can be discussed at length or thrown out colloquially to describe a particular thing. But, to me, it was my reason for living. I was meant to love him, and him, me. .....I hate it. Since when do I write romance? I think I'm going to start over lol.

Re: First Lines?

Cmdroller — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:48:16 +0000

I've always wanted to fall in love, even when I was very young. I was little Romeo on the schoolyard, the classroom Casanova.

Re: First Lines?

JaimeKristal — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:02:11 +0000

My novel is Chick Lit (I think). I had a touch of difficulty getting started and needed a little "help" to jump start me, so this might change at a later date... "It may be a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife, but what Jane Austin fails to mention is that every mother of a good age is in want of a grandchild."

Re: First Lines?

Yin_Silverblood — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:13:50 +0000

First line! "They were much heavier than I ever would have thought."

Re: First Lines?

Ellyndia — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:44:58 +0000

In the darkness, she could hear them whimpering. Sniffling. In the darkness the rustling of dirty rags and dirtier hair was amplified. Heightened. The floor boards creaked as the young people shifted their weight, quietly awaiting their fate.

Re: First Lines?

A.L. More — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:51:58 +0000

It's supposed to be romance, but you'd never think it from the opening lines. Heh. Boom. Thud. There was something satisfying when a zombie was knocked down by a well-aimed shotgun blast to the head. It had taken her a while to get there, but Raina no longer had any qualms about killing something that had once been living. She didn’t even blink as a small child zombie came at her, gore on her lips and teeth.

Re: First Lines?

MrsX — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:09:49 +0000

Peleps Shiri could not help herself, and covered her mouth with her kimono sleeve to hide the fact that she was yawning. That action, however, wasn't all that discreet, and was met with a light nudge in the ribs from her twin sister. "Shiri," Canta hissed quietly, using her fan to shield the lower half of her face by possible onlookers,"don't be rude." Gotta love boring plays to spur your characters into reacting.

Re: First Lines?

E.M. Jeanmougin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:24:46 +0000

Mine simply starts "The king was dead." all by itself on a line.

Re: First Lines?

fairyydust — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 05:18:29 +0000

My first line is awful. =/ It will definitely be reworked later on, after November. But as it stands, it's... “Isn’t that the loveliest thing you’ve ever heard?”

Re: First Lines?

TitsMcScandal — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 05:35:17 +0000

While I reserve the right to change it before the end of November- "If anyone saw Melinda that night, they wouldn’t have been able to recognize her the next."

Re: First Lines?

Serafiron — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 05:43:24 +0000

"Silence, the solemn hermit of the kingdom dungeons, was pierced by eerie howling." Obviously, I write fantasy. I don't, however, have any characters named "Silence" in my book.

Re: First Lines?

inhaleandvomit — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 06:13:38 +0000

"I killed my mother on Tuesday."

Re: First Lines?

LHSflute — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 06:18:29 +0000

"It wasn’t until I watched the familiar blue Totoya finally pull out of the parking lot in front of my apartment and drive away that I broke down and started crying."

Re: First Lines?

Dragonn — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 06:37:32 +0000

First line in my first attempt in the Horror genre: "It should have been a beautiful morning."

Re: First Lines?

ms_erupt — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 06:58:19 +0000

"Steve remembered him well, shouting over the noise of the machine as it turned him into something a bit more than human, remembered him lowering his goggles in amazement when Steve stepped out a taller, stronger replica of what he’d been previously." Captain America fanfic.

Re: First Lines?

Erosaf — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 08:10:01 +0000

Fantasy/Romance for me My first Paragraph was: Death had come to the lands, and lots of it. A tall male elf strode through the carnage, searching for the one he loved. He knew that Gem was alive, but he did not know where. She had vanished from the tent that he shared with her, and Drannor had no idea how it was even possible. She had been too weak to walk after the fight with Rhothilion and Lindan Marcos. They were still camping on the plains before a smaller settlement that had only been used out of folly by Lindan Marcos in the first place.

Re: First Lines?

Irish_Carbomb — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 08:13:43 +0000

Southern Noir, loosely based on my experiences as a bartender. Opening Paragraph: Their shovels stabbed into the earth in a staccato rhythm, mirroring each other to the beat of frequent curses. Only the crickets and an occasional grunt of labored breathing broke the silence of their task. Together, the three of them shoveled dirt at a quick pace, too caught up in their own thoughts to speak. While her friends continued to dig, the blonde paused long enough to wipe at her sweating brow, leaving a smear of dirt across tanned skin. Moonlight poured through the canopy of the trees in sporadic, silvery beams. It illuminated the growing chasm they surrounded, a hole in the dry dirt—a shallow grave.

Re: First Lines?

wolfloverapril — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:20:13 +0000

Supernatural uh...urban fantasy maybe...not sure... Opening Paragraph It wasn't the first time she was found with fresh warm and sticky blood on her face, nor would it be the last. Such was the life of a supernatural creature killer for the government who wanted a world where every supernatural creature was eradicated from the earth. Evelyn Grace Taylor stared down at the dead male human body that had once been covered in fur and had been attacking her with sharp claws. Werewolves were definitely her least favorite supernatural creature to kill, they always transformed back into their human forms and were always bare naked. Vampires were her favorite, all that was ever left of them was ash. Demons were not fun to get rid of since the only way to be rid of them was to banish them back to Hell. It was tough, but she would not complain about her job. This was what she was born for.

Re: First Lines?

o0hawaiigirl0o — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:39:59 +0000

^ I would as well.

Re: First Lines?

o0hawaiigirl0o — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:45:44 +0000

Ah noir. I wish I were better at it. Beautiful.

Re: First Lines?

o0hawaiigirl0o — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:46:13 +0000

"The clean swept asphalt felt cold beneath my paws. I lifted my ears briefly, hearing the sound of dry kibbles landing in a metal dish. It echoed against the ceiling, traveling down the row of chain link to my corner."

Re: First Lines?

Tenbatsu85 — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:20:06 +0000

This is very cool! Such a lot ofbgreat first lines! Here's mine: "It's really too bad we had to take your eyes."

Re: First Lines?

feathersinthepages — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:26:26 +0000

I like it!

Re: First Lines?

DaveTriesBallet — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:34:05 +0000

Here's my first couple of lines: Seb waited in the wings. As he stretched his arms high above him and shook the nerves from his legs one final time he heard the strings pick up and got ready for his entrance.

Re: First Lines?

4loveofaharp — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 02:08:25 +0000

Willow Gardener knew responsibility. She knew its weight, how it felt on her shoulders, on her mind, second after minute after hour after day. And, sometimes, after week after month and even after year. She knew how to walk with it cradled to her chest with her school books or wear it on her ring finger, somehow underneath and also a part of her engagement ring.

Re: First Lines?

Hobbit Missa — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 02:19:56 +0000

"Twenty-two years ago, the world fell apart. My parents told me that it could have been prevented. Honestly, I don't care. I like the way the world is now. If the Colonials would just leave us alone, maybe we could even prosper again."

Re: First Lines?

rushingtide — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 02:22:20 +0000

"They weren’t there last week. New scratches crisscrossed over old scars etched into Owen’s hip, deep scars that went past the waistband to who knew where."

Re: First Lines?

nyroeon — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 03:19:19 +0000

"Numbness. The world around me was completely numb." Is it cliche? Boring? I'll never know.

Re: First Lines?

TravisMaximus — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 03:31:49 +0000

At the state fair with a girl in ragged denim I am twelve years old.

Re: First Lines?

sw_warrior — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 03:55:10 +0000

Many people are born into this world like a flower. They are conceived, grow up, live and die in a heartbeat without ever having done anything truly meaningful with their lives, stuck to the ground of mediocrity. However, others live their lives like leaves on a tree. They are born and live their lives as the others do, but eventually they will break away from that and soar on the air towards greatness.

Re: First Lines?

McDiablo — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 03:59:00 +0000

This is great!

Re: First Lines?

McDiablo — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 04:05:00 +0000

First paragraph from my YA novel: I’ve done it again. I’ve drifted off in Mrs. Palmer’s History class. I clearly heard her talking about Germany’s re-armament in 1935, but now she sounds muffled and weird, like all the adults do in a Charlie Brown cartoon. She stops talking, and I feel the all too familiar sensation of everyone staring at me. It’s a skill I’ve developed ever since I started attending Hawthorne Secondary School. It’s what I imagine being stabbed by hundreds of icicles feels like.

Re: First Lines?

poi_son_joy — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:51:47 +0000

My story's some weird mix of a horror fairy tale and an LGBT YA slice-of-life/romance. The two will come together later, but at the moment, the horror fairy tale parts are just at the beginning of chapters, set apart almost like a separate story. So I have two openings, really: [ When the story began, Meghan was seven and a half years old, she was at the park in the middle of the summer, and she had a box of animal crackers. ] ...and... [ The first day of school, truth be told, wasn't really as bad for most kids as books and TV would have someone think. Sure, summer was over, and for a lot of kids summer was great, but by the end of things vacation seemed to stretch on a little too long, even if many wouldn't admit it. The start of school was something new again, at least until the shine wore off again and it became another dreary, repetitive, difficult task, much worse than the long break before it. Absence really did make the heart grow fonder. Or, at least, it made the heart grow forgetful and stupid. ]

Re: First Lines?

AltoidStorm — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:38:37 +0000

These are fabulous! I want to read more!!! Here's mine; it's young adult: South Carolina is complete shit. Not just the sort of lackluster setting that begs for sunscreen and bedbug checks, but equipped with humidity seeping into my pores and drying out ever piece of hair on my body. That includes arm hair, leg hair, and the tiny hairs on each of my toes. I can’t stand this state. The sticky air, the moss dripping from branches.

Re: First Lines?

MeganLorraine — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 23:51:26 +0000

Still wishing we had a "like" button on here.... Very cool to read these. "April walked up the board walk, heels clicking on the planks with every hollow step. She leaned on the railing, letting her silk scarf drift on the salt water breeze." Can't really tell what the story is about, but eh it's what I came up with :) couple thousand words behind, so I'm gonna go work!

Re: First Lines?

SavedbyGrace — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 03:17:42 +0000

"The doorbell rang, and she jumped up from the couch and flung the door open--to stand there dumbfounded." >.> <.< so interesting, I know.

Re: First Lines?

Dunmaglas — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 06:21:00 +0000

Tim should have been terrified, but he wasn’t. After all, this wasn’t the first time one of his aerials ended disastrously. It wasn’t the second time either. The number was closer to seventeen, or was it eighteen? Tim wasn’t sure, all he knew was that the familiar sensation of falling didn’t scare him anymore.

Re: First Lines?

Madilyn Quinn — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 06:27:28 +0000

My first line is shameful, so I think I'm just going to keep it to myself for now. Really great first lines I'm reading here, though!

Re: First Lines?

roonerspism — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 13:35:44 +0000

I seem to have changed plots completely today, so the first paragraph of my new novel goes like this: How does one start a story about oneself? A name, a simple introduction? Something witty and satirical would be wonderful, but maybe it's better to head into things like this perfectly straight. What is this anyway? A memoir, perhaps. No, that sounds far too old fashioned and artistic. It's more like a recount, like something you'd write in primary school: 'On Tuesday the year five class of room twelve visited the zoo…' Only it's not quite a recount either. See, most of the things I'm planning to write about haven’t actually happened yet.

Re: First Lines?

KellyinCA — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:59:04 +0000

Actually when I posted my first line on another thread I realized it needed more so I added a sentence. Go ahead and post and you might be surprised!

Re: First Lines?

ShadowScribbler — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 18:55:27 +0000

In the dark a voice called out, but there was no answer. Opening line and also the only line on the first page. It left me with some sense of emptiness when I read it, and that's why I love it, haha. <3

Re: First Lines?

Surgation — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 23:30:56 +0000

My first line is: “It’s all done. It’s all just a story now.”

Re: First Lines?

johnmackfreeman — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 23:54:01 +0000

I hadn’t written about Thomas Jefferson, and I knew I was going to be in trouble.

Re: First Lines?

Madilyn Quinn — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 03:23:14 +0000

How about opening paragraph? Adeline sat in the hallway. Her light hair hung limp and her eyes vacant as she stared at a hole in the wall across from her. The basement was musty, the light dim. She felt uncomfortable in the muted light, searching for him, for those pitch eyes lingering in the shadows. She hadn't slept in weeks.

Re: First Lines?

Maks87 — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 03:58:20 +0000

She cried alone in the dark, begging for him to kill her and yet still hoping that he wouldn't listen.

Re: First Lines?

metteius — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:15:58 +0000

"The first time my life took a seriously unexpected turn was on an October afternoon. There wasn’t anything particularly weird about the weather – no storms, no rain, no nothing. It was just an ordinary afternoon." It's nothing fancy or anything but I usually always struggle with beginnings and this time I had it planned out weeks before nano even started.

Re: First Lines?

Navenna — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 16:38:07 +0000

"The marsh was unseasonably warm the night I was captured," is my first line. I'm writing a dark fantasy novel told from the POV of a magical(ish) being who is caught by human researchers who have no idea what they're getting themselves into.

Re: First Lines?

KKriesel — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 16:46:48 +0000

Writing semi-autobiographical lit-fic: I'm concentrating carefully on not spilling my tea, the rest of the room evades my vision. Upon setting my cup down and collapsing into the couch, I look up. There's a baby. A baby in his lap. How on earth did that get there?

Re: First Lines?

Mistress Aeryn — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 01:05:47 +0000

They said that the world would end in 2012.

Re: First Lines?

Elicia — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 05:23:29 +0000

In a world where nothing goes the way you want it to, do you ever try to want it to go the opposite way of what you really want?

Re: First Lines?

moose2438 — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 05:36:08 +0000

"Here's your drink, sir," the skinny blond waitress said as she slid the tall glass in front of Alan. He nodded subtly and muttered a simple thank you, though he barely took the time to lift his eyes from the wood table where he was sitting. He knew he should at least look up and acknowledge her, but by the time he got around to it, she had already scurried away.

Re: First Lines?

alkaline-kiwi — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 06:24:58 +0000

Mine is: “For the last time Sasha, we're not allowing a five minute drum solo in the middle of our set. Just no”

Re: First Lines?

alicerabbits — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:46:21 +0000

The first line of Chapter One: The grating of metal on metal, screams of people trapped helpless in the twisted van echoed through the night. There is a prologue as well: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them.

Re: First Lines?

Surgation — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:32:10 +0000

Actually, my first line is the main character reading the last line of a book I love. Anyone know what it's from?

Re: First Lines?

PaigeResig — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:19:41 +0000

By your first line I am already hooked. Why is she tasting blood and who is Apollo? For some reason my first thought was a tamed lion. Don't ask me why. :)

Re: First Lines?

PaigeResig — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:30:25 +0000

All I know of my mother is what I have learned slowly and over many years.

Re: First Lines?

kittymammas — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:08:11 +0000

Oh I wanna play, here is mine! Queen Eunice draped her trembling arms over her protruding belly. Little movements showed life though her skin. Her thoughts traveled to a far off place where this child would grow to be strong and healthy. Here however, her third baby would face the same fate as the ones before it

Re: First Lines?

amandapearl2 — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:12:07 +0000

Mine's a YA paranormal/freaky/scary book. I have two options for an opening line. They are: "My life has never been what you'd call a dream world, which is why I created one inside my head." OR "BREAKFAST BOMB!"

Re: First Lines?

Cygfa — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:28:03 +0000

My first two lines: There was a peculiar air to the library in the morning. A bit like entering a house where a party has just ended, as if the books had a life of their own that started once he locked the doors behind himself in the evening.

Re: First Lines?

Animakitty — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:37:52 +0000

Also, scrapped --> scraped. Nice hook though.

Re: First Lines?

InkGoddess — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 04:59:26 +0000

It was a very typical day, the daylight filtered through the frosted dome that protected the inner city making everything bright and cheerful with the aide of flood lights affixed to the ceiling. The dome was nothing new to many of the city's inhabitants, it had been there for many years keeping the inner city safe and clean from outside attackers. Among the busy streets were a pair of girls walking, talking about their days and their careers. Angela had taken the more aggressive career as a journalist and wrote articles for the paper, she'd had the job for two years now and had the pleasure of working with her best friend Talia who served as a fiction writer for the paper. Funny little stories would be published every few days and life was good for the two, but today was a particularly different day.

Re: First Lines?

Selah Ex Animo — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:14:48 +0000

"As usual, it is Gabriel's idea to eat lunch at Shifflett's Sundries and Diner, and Luther's job to actually perform the grunt work of ordering the meal." I have no idea what my story is, ;_;

Re: First Lines?

Natalia Denny — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:31:34 +0000

Hi all.Here is my opening lines.Hope everyone is getting on well. There was anticipation in the air. All the sounds of the street seemed strangely subdued and strangled. Those outside could sense it and the urgency was present in their hurried steps. It was the calm before the storm as the cliché goes. Pedestrians cast wary imploring glances at the sky. A silent plea to the gods to allow them to get home before the heavens opened. The rain came like the pavement was thirsty. A barrage of people suddenly rushed through the streets with collars and umbrellas upturned,their barrier from the inconvenience of British weather. Everyones faces were gloomy and downcast paying little attention to their surroundings and all displaying the same fixed determination to get home and fast.Everyone apart from her.

Re: First Lines?

ahilton — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:38:36 +0000

What a great thread! Nanowrimo is my first serious attempt at writing. I am viewing it as an opportunity to not just reach 50,000 words, but to also get some excellent feedback from much more experienced writers. My opening line, as of today at least is: Even from this distance, the low rumblings filled the air, breaking the now typical silence. As Cass peered through the binoculars, she could barely make out small figures, anxiously engaged in their task. Within a matter of minutes, a small puff of smoke billowed up through the crisp air, signifying that what remained of the building had fallen.

Re: First Lines?

Kyle_Carpenter — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 06:34:00 +0000

I'm born on June 5th, only '91, not '90.

Re: First Lines?

Kyle_Carpenter — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 06:37:28 +0000

Great hook! Also, did I pick up Harry Potter references, or is that all in my head?

Re: First Lines?

Kyle_Carpenter — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 06:40:49 +0000

Here's what I have: She simply couldn’t believe it. It felt like a lifetime of suffering had brought her to this point, and upon reaching it, the result was utterly beyond her comprehension. She fell to her knees as a quiet sob slipped through her dry, cracked lips. “No. It wasn’t supposed to be this way,” she muttered wretchedly as tears began to glide down her filthy cheeks. “I’ve been through too much; too many people died. It’s not fair!” Her words were harsh, composed of the bitter notes born of excessive hardships.

Re: First Lines?

AsAboveSoBelow — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:59:06 +0000

Had to keep mine simple and hopefully interesting! enough to get the reader going: It's easy to take for granted the concept of living in a world driven by pure chaos.

Re: First Lines?

TheWoWExp — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:00:13 +0000

My first line is: When Dae breaks, Dei will follow, and both will be tethered to the Bane of existence.

Re: First Lines?

Slow the Second — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:19:33 +0000

Very nice. Mine: Strange light spun its way down into deep strata of black.

Re: First Lines?

Emma Rosloff — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 02:39:59 +0000

"Genie came awake in a cold sweat. It was Induction Day. She nearly fell out of her bunk, clutching her stomach, stumbling down the hallway into the bathroom. The light came on, bright against white-tiled walls and the backs of her knees as she curled over the metal toilet’s rim. Her chest heaved." Yes. My story starts with my character throwing up :P.

Re: First Lines?

Dontknowdontcare — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 04:17:32 +0000

I've got a fantasy tale that's been a blast to work with that for now I'm just calling 'Crossing' for several reasons. It starts out like so. "Julien never wanted to be a knight, not really. He also didn't want to be a hero, wanderer, or name to draw inspiration from by young dreamers who hoped to achieve glory one day. He was quite happy farming and feeding animals and going into town to meet with his friends or a pretty girl and just being ordinary. Which drove his parents crazy."

Re: First Lines?

Gene Marlow — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 06:21:10 +0000

I'm probably going to end up changing mine, but here goes. He was well versed in the realm of sleep.

Re: First Lines?

ModestTreasure252 — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 06:21:13 +0000

Mine is supposed to be a fantasy novel. It starts like this: “Hey there, sexy,” The guy slurred. Alexia avoided his gaze as she sat his beer on the table. She glanced at the other drunken cowboys sitting next to him and bit her lower lip as she placed their drinks on the table. Their smiles and suggestive looks followed her as she walked away from the table. Suddenly, she felt an arm wrap around her waist and lost her balance. Instead of falling to the floor, the first guy had pulled her close to him.

Re: First Lines?

sariaru — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 06:22:16 +0000

“Where the hell are my pants?” she said, blinking rapidly and looking around. The cave was dark; that would suggest that it was underground somewhere - either that or she was someplace very, very bad.

Re: First Lines?

K. Thurman — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 06:44:29 +0000

First line, chapter one (fantasy). Life took on a new meaning when a body was always wet—especially when that life began to smell like the wrong side of a pig.

Re: First Lines?

chessapphire — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 18:08:28 +0000

Mine probably won't stay this way, since I have an annoying habit of writing a terrible first three chapters (it's always three!) and completely revamping them when I finish the novel, but at the moment: Before going to Kergeulia, I’d never really given much thought to how I’d die. I should have known better, traveling to a place like that, but when you’re a teenager you really do think you’re invincible.

Re: First Lines?

Heathertruett — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:06:14 +0000

I told my first lie in the womb.

Re: First Lines?

Heathertruett — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:07:01 +0000

I am definitely interested enough to read more.

Re: First Lines?

rachum_05 — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:49:40 +0000

Dr. Michael Demangone paused. Not the best time to pause, he mused, in the middle of performing heart surgery.

Re: First Lines?

writer-in-the-dark — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:33:29 +0000

After getting assaulted by a new idea just the first few days into Nano, I decided to follow along with the new story and wrote what my fingers were told to (even though it's slightly difficult to tell an idea NO if you are held at gunpoint by the scary idea D: ). "Slivers of light lit the black pavement up, making it easier to see as I crept along in the alley. My small black bag clanked silently against my leg, reminding me that I needed to hurry up to get to the small storage unit before the young girl showed up. And I had to hurry because in this case, it was a matter of life or death, for the both of us. "

Re: First Lines?

ADuvall — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:08:13 +0000

There was a bustling city, filled with people of all types, all doctrines, all nationalities, all swirling and ignoring each other in the melting pot of the modern world.

Re: First Lines?

ModestTreasure252 — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 06:27:46 +0000

Oh man! Now I wish I could write a novel which started off with "Where the hell are my pants?" I would want it to be a comedic one.

Re: First Lines?

Aracertariel — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 07:44:25 +0000

First bit of story: Martha Gallagher didn't look up when she heard someone come in the kitchen door. She had five small daughters, so the sound of little footsteps on the stone tile was nothing unusual. No one was crying or fussing, so she finished getting the pie into the oven first, then turned to see which of her children had come in from playing and whether they were in trouble or not. But the first bit I wrote (which keeps popping up in bits and pieces): We'll sing to the Sun, and to Mistress Moon, We'll sing the white queen, we'll sing to the black, We'll sing you to sleep and to life again, We'll sing when we betroth you to fairy men. We'll dance you above, we'll dance with the sky, We'll dance you around and under the ground, We'll dance you to dark and to light again, We'll dance when we wed you to fairy men.

Re: First Lines?

KatBrown — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:13:48 +0000

"Tara turned eight on Red Day."

Re: First Lines?

ParticleMan — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:45:38 +0000

It was a cool summer evening in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. Cool mountain air blew past, making the endless fields of corn sway in its cool breeze. The pickup truck driving on the barely-paved roads was the first sign of human life just outside of town for days. The man in the driver’s seat, a middle-aged, wiry but built black man with a calm but grim face, carefully scanned his surroundings as he drove. He pulled into a gas station and up to one of the pumps. He looked around carefully before opening the truck door, noting the dead body in between two of the pumps. He stepped out in his camouflage fatigues with a shotgun on his back, a short sword on his belt, knives in his combat boots, and a hunting rifle in his hands. The moment his foot touched the Earth his rifle was at the ready, pointed at the body. He walked slowly towards it, watching it carefully for any signs of being not quite dead.

Re: First Lines?

AntiNeko — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 04:05:08 +0000

Everyone has a story to tell, some are just more interesting than others. This is mine: When I was seven-years-old, I stood before a judge. Bright lights. Cameras flashing. The sounds of clicks and whispers filled the air. And somewhere in the sea of faces, I lost my resolve.

Re: First Lines?

francesjoy — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:22:38 +0000

Love this! Here are mine: The rented Jeep on the sidewalk outside of Cristian’s house should have tipped her off. She should’ve known then that there was someone else there, someone she might not want to see, but none of this occurred to her as she pulled a box of papers out of the backseat of the car and made her way up the drive. Camila balanced the box on her hip as she pressed the doorbell. The door swung open and she started talking, “So, you’re lucky, because I only brought half…” Except that it wasn’t Cristian standing at the door, but his brother, Mateo, large as life and looking as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

Re: First Lines?

JennyChr88 — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 04:21:03 +0000

There is something wild inside of me. If it had a shape, it would be a horse, plunging and striking, made entirely of flame. I cannot seem to tame this beast -- it has a hold on me, and all too often I am subject to its will. It troubles me that I like it.

Re: First Lines?

cursetheflame — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:00:49 +0000

These are all so great! Here's mine -- There's a clock in my cell. Don't ask me why. I've never been sure if the stupid thing was standard issue or if it was just something that they stuck in my cell when I first came to live there... what is it now? Six years ago? Almost seven? I've lost track of the time, which, I admit, makes the idea that the clock is hanging on that wall just to mock me all the more reasonable. I don't know. I never leave my cell anyway. I wasn't in solitary, but I might as well be.

Re: First Lines?

AnAutumnRose — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:13:52 +0000

The first Paragraph from my story, The Identical Rule: "Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" The high pitched shriek could be heard from the edge of the palace grounds, over the roar of the rain that blanketed the area. Workers and pets all throughout the Palace, startled, stopped what they were doing and worriedly looked in the direction the scream came from. A cook, preparing for the supper meal, chopped far too close to his finger as the piercing sound reverberated through the air. All the Kings and their wives, save one, sat in a dining hall in awkward silence, nervously picking at their lunch. They, too, looked towards the sound of the cry, but said nothing. Tradition bade they wait in silence.

Re: First Lines?

Surgery — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 03:06:46 +0000

A lot of intriguing first lines, I like this thread. My first paragraph is currently: "Behind the ratty curtains of a window on the second floor of a run-down tenement building on South Water Street I sat at a chair pushed up to a desk. The desk sat in the middle of the room, about four feet from the window, looking out an odd angle through black mesquito netting hung between the desk and the window. The room was otherwise bare. No pictures hung on the walls that might cover up peeling paint, no chairs or couches sat on the floor that might cover up stained linoleum and carpet. At one time it might have been called a "studio apartment." 11 years ago, it might have been called a "studio apartment." Now it might be called a "hole in the wall." It had that dusty smell that sometimes accompanies the outside creeping inside. Bugs, rats, wind debris. It obviously hadn't been cleaned for the three years it was empty. None of the apartments on this floor had in recent years. Been cleaned or occupied. That was good. I didn't need to be interrupted, and only three people needed to know I was here."

Re: First Lines?

ElleDrumheller — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:39:06 +0000

"I was at the party because of the lights. I remember those. I don’t remember the things they’re saying I did, but those goddamn lights. Those, I can’t forget."

Re: First Lines?

shortyduapp — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 05:54:21 +0000

My first paragraph: Valt is one of those towns that time forgot. One of those towns seen in 50’s T.V. shows where every family has two kids who get along perfectly; an ageless dog who sits in the sun all day long, getting up only to play with Dick and Jane, or Bob and Sue, or whatever storybook names their parents gave them; and a mint-condition, dentless car which fits the family perfectly, and faithfully carries them to picnics in the forest (where, of course, the ants and rain don’t dare invade). It is also where the system sent me once my mom and her boyfriend decided they didn’t want a good-for-nothing delinquent daughter anymore.

Re: First Lines?

Mitchels — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 13:06:43 +0000

The bright headlights of a car, racing toward him, the screech of tires, before the pain hit like a sledgehammer. Then nothing…

Re: First Lines?

Stinula — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 13:24:54 +0000

My first few sentences: The girl slumped in a deep arm chair and glowered at the old man with disdain. She had spent a whole dinner in the company of her increasingly merry family and now most of them had retired to their rooms to get ready to sleep off the effects of the heavy dinner and liberal alcohol consumption and only the girl and her grandfather were left in the warm sitting room. The old man looked at the girl over his glasses. “You like to read, don’t you? Pick a book. Any book.” Ironically the grandfather then goes on to tell her a loooong story, so we don't really hear about these two again until the end. Although she does occasionally interject.

Re: First Lines?

SkylineProphet — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:13:13 +0000

'He should have been dead. There was nothing more to it than that. He should have been dead, and yet here he was, alive and so close that Dimitri could hear the subtle whisper of his breath as he moved about the hotel room.'

Re: First Lines?

theredherring — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:27:31 +0000

Well, okay people. I only wrote this a couple of days ago, and I haven't edited it, but here it is (apologies in advance if you have an aversion to strong language). "It was so easy to get out of one’s depth. So very easy. So damn fucking easy. This was a perfect example, she thought, as she floated in the midst of the crystal clear waters of the aptly named Crystal River, or perhaps more specifically, King’s Bay, or to be most specific, the trio of springs referred to as the Three Sisters. It was such a mystery how she ended up in this place. And if there were any place that would so perfectly illustrate how she was out of her depth, it was snorkeling in the pure waters of Florida’s springs."

Re: First Lines?

Angryman — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:15:16 +0000

My favorite line that I started a story with: Shahryar, the long-time ruling king of the ifrit, was dying. Who starts a story with a line that blunt about a person's imminent death?