Last week’s challenge: “1667.”
Once again, time to write just the opening line to a new story.
No more than 15 words long.
Plop your opening line in the comment section below. Only one entry, please.
Then, the following week, it will be the task of other writers to pick one opening line that they will use in a new piece of flash fiction.
If you write the line that is most chosen by other authors, I’ll send you a signed physical copy of my new writing book, The Kick-Ass Writer. I’m not doing the picking, so your goal is to write a line that excites other writers enough for them to write a story using that opening line.
Tricky? Could be.
So, get to writing.
You’ve got one week — due by Friday, November 15th, noon EST.
(I’ll send the physical book and pay for shipping if you’re in the United States. Outside the country, you’ll have to front the shipping, I’m afraid, or be okay with an e-book copy.)
Aaron Clark (@RageTheme) says:
He had tried to say “Give me the gun,” but the knife piercing his larynx allowed only a wet gurgle.
November 8, 2013 — 3:43 PM
Wade says:
Seems like he shouda meant to say “gimme the knife” before the blade pierced etc. Just saying!!
November 11, 2013 — 8:33 AM
Mark Stenbo says:
Graphic start wade. I like it. Does he live by any chance with a wound like that ?
November 11, 2013 — 8:56 AM
Aaron Clark (@RageTheme) says:
Doh! Must.. self-immolate.. failure.. to.. read.. instructions [power-chugs gallon of Dave’s Insanity Sauce]
November 15, 2013 — 1:15 PM
Paul Bulzan says:
In a boring village, inside a boring house, on a particularly boring Sunday afternoon…
November 8, 2013 — 3:47 PM
M Durant says:
Crime pays alright, but it don’t pay like the magus pays.
November 8, 2013 — 3:50 PM
George L says:
Jason was destined for great things, he knew that. He was special. Then he died.
November 8, 2013 — 3:53 PM
Kate says:
As her eyeball rolled across the floor, she lit the last cigarette from the pack.
November 8, 2013 — 3:54 PM
ILikeBubbles says:
Imke woke up to a pile of corpses at her feet. “Well, shit.”
November 8, 2013 — 3:56 PM
JD says:
247 fake entry forms later, he won the date with Taylor Swift. She was his.
November 8, 2013 — 4:07 PM
JD says:
Oops, just occurred to me why you have not cleared this from moderation (had waking nightmares about the flash fiction that could result from this). I will enter a new one with a fake pop star name.
November 8, 2013 — 4:58 PM
Taureyscribe says:
They called him Curious George, just like the monkey, but today that would all change.
November 8, 2013 — 4:10 PM
S.W. Sondheimer says:
Jade wore black.
November 8, 2013 — 4:16 PM
Indigo Spider says:
All I ever wanted was to make mommy’s monkey jump.
November 8, 2013 — 4:19 PM
lafrance922 says:
Pinmonkey loved working at the bowling alley, it was the only home he knew.
November 8, 2013 — 4:20 PM
Kyra Dune says:
Have you ever woken up next to a dead body? I don’t recommend the experience.
November 8, 2013 — 4:21 PM
Goss says:
When I shot Satan I thought it would be the end of Hell, but all I did was open up the throne…
November 8, 2013 — 4:24 PM
Leah D says:
Hey, Wendig! Just ordered your new writing book. Yeah, the one you’re offering up as prize. It’s available here in Sweden too, can you believe it?! Don’t worry, I will give it a good home and protect it from snow storms and hungry wolves.
Please observe that this is not a flash fiction entry. I don’t need two copies. o_o
November 8, 2013 — 4:34 PM
John Lewis says:
He was a Corporate Assassin, but clarified that this meant he killed Corporations, not people.
November 8, 2013 — 4:37 PM
Jon says:
When the bomb dropped, I was sharing a pizza with the Emperor of Chicago.
November 8, 2013 — 4:37 PM
Mikey Campling (@mikeycampling) says:
Martin stared at the cop. “Which part,” he said, “of apocalypse do you not understand?”
November 8, 2013 — 4:39 PM
Doug Welch says:
At first the naked truth of me felt alien, in fact, the awesome act of being terrified me.
November 8, 2013 — 4:51 PM
JD says:
After 247 fake entries, he won the date with Ca$hi$h. The lithe songstress was his!
November 8, 2013 — 5:01 PM
Gayle says:
It started with the killing of the kittens.
November 8, 2013 — 5:01 PM
RTAllwin says:
It was a morning just like any other, except for waking up dead of course.
November 8, 2013 — 5:07 PM
Kerry Benton says:
“Just this once,” she said, “why don’t you try *talking* with the Devil?”
November 8, 2013 — 5:12 PM
Jenny Drew says:
The car came at full speed, with no choice I stood in front of it.
November 8, 2013 — 5:28 PM
ZTS says:
At first it was just a tiny dot in the cool blue afternoon sky.
November 8, 2013 — 5:58 PM
Nora says:
All she had to do was wait.
November 8, 2013 — 5:58 PM
Dave Farmer says:
It was finally time to blame the chickens. Those deceitful fluffy morons had ruined his life.
November 8, 2013 — 6:31 PM
Ely says:
The past haunts me with its body of haze.
November 8, 2013 — 6:34 PM
Doreen Queen says:
It all started with John Wayne standing in the back of the church, not really John Wayne, but a corrugated cardboard cutout of the Duke holding a rifle standing on the groom’s side of the entry – well, at least that’s how the wedding started – but it really started five years ago with a dress and a different groom.
November 8, 2013 — 6:46 PM
Jeremy Podolski says:
The bone proved difficult to break. He expected the corpse to be brittle as balsa.
November 8, 2013 — 6:59 PM
Michael Wilts says:
It didn’t go as planned. Apparently God didn’t like my way of doing things.
November 8, 2013 — 7:02 PM
Dan Sheehan says:
She glimpsed his blade flash. ‘So this is what you mean by no loose ends.’
November 8, 2013 — 7:07 PM
David Blackstone (@DavidWriting) says:
She awakened to a ruckus, and not the usual kind of ruckus either: a kind of super-ruckus that threatened to jar her bodily from her bed and leave her skittering across the cold hardwood floor like one of last night’s discarded bottle-caps.
November 8, 2013 — 7:30 PM
Selena says:
She was not related to the victims, but she knew the prisoner well; she was the one that got away.
November 8, 2013 — 7:47 PM
Mozette says:
He handed her a ‘Superman’ amulat, “I don’t need this anymore. I’m strong enough.”
November 8, 2013 — 9:24 PM
Mieke Zamora-Mackay says:
I knew he’d get here soon. He wasn’t alone this time though. Phooey!
November 8, 2013 — 9:24 PM
Amy says:
It’s a little known fact that a four year-old girl started the fire.
November 8, 2013 — 9:30 PM
Dani L says:
Endings make me suicidal and I’m not good with beginnings. We’ll start in the middle.
November 8, 2013 — 10:53 PM
soniafogal says:
This one is different. She is a living message, not a dead one.
November 8, 2013 — 11:03 PM
James McCormick says:
This guy was pokin’ me with a knife, so I asked him to stop with a fist–he obliged.
November 8, 2013 — 11:18 PM
Sandra Lyon says:
Stick-up men, speakeasies, bootleggers, prostitution and tent revival meetings define my childhood in Southern Illinois.
November 8, 2013 — 11:20 PM
Lester Nieves says:
When I saw the cabin’s light, I decided part of me needed to die.
November 8, 2013 — 11:55 PM
Karis says:
Snowflakes rain down, diluting our beer, dripping with sweat, soaking naked in the hot tub.
November 9, 2013 — 12:03 AM
Kory Basaraba says:
I remember the night I delivered him – when his head crowned all the other babies in the nursery stopped crying.
November 9, 2013 — 12:28 AM
Kenneth Jobe says:
Fifteen minutes turned Pete Dodd from zero to hero. He had never been more miserable.
November 9, 2013 — 12:32 AM
momdude says:
Okay, I’ll see where this takes me.
November 21, 2013 — 10:32 PM
Brent says:
Andy Freeman was my name, and shooting monsters my game. Neither of those are true anymore.
November 9, 2013 — 12:45 AM
June Weiss says:
It looked more like involuntary spasms than interpretive dance, but it was oddly entertaining.
November 9, 2013 — 12:55 AM
DC says:
I swore eloquently, aimed, and shot the bastard in the head … the other one.
November 9, 2013 — 12:59 AM
Jess says:
How had things gone so horribly wrong?
November 9, 2013 — 1:34 AM
theviewfromtuesday says:
When making chili be sure to buy your peppers from Rico, the local hit man.
November 9, 2013 — 2:53 AM
@davekearney75 says:
Just once I’d like to go to work and not have to snap someone.
November 9, 2013 — 3:39 AM