Flash Fiction Challenge: Time Again To Write An Opening Sentence
That classic challenge is back:
Do not write a story.
Nope. Mm-mm, don’t do it.
Instead:
Write only an opening sentence.
Not two sentences. Not three. One. Good. Sentence.
Drop the opening sentence in the comments below, and then next week we will make use of some of those sentences for the next challenge. You’ve got one week — due by next Friday, the 17th, noon EST. Get cracking, word-herders.
April 10, 2015 @ 3:20 PM
The mad-eyed squirrel had followed her to work and now sat outside her window preening the small tufts of fur that covered its battle scarred body.
April 18, 2015 @ 3:40 AM
Interesting!
April 10, 2015 @ 3:26 PM
Helen’s Home and Guidepost for the Wandering and Lost sat on the edge of a forest, in the middle of nowhere, and at least half a day’s walk from anything relevant.
April 10, 2015 @ 11:56 PM
oooohhhh. there is an old english word I learned recently that goes with this sentence. apparently people went into the forest just looking for trouble back in the old days..
April 10, 2015 @ 3:47 PM
Daddy, are you listening?
April 10, 2015 @ 3:55 PM
As Willow wiped the blood from her face, she regretted her decision not to wear a hat.
April 21, 2015 @ 12:03 PM
I’m nabbing this one for the 2k challenge. It should be up tomorrow. 🙂
April 10, 2015 @ 3:58 PM
So there it is.
April 10, 2015 @ 4:00 PM
You wouldn’t believe some of the things that wash up on this beach.
April 12, 2015 @ 12:15 PM
Haha… this could go so many ways. Nice!
April 10, 2015 @ 4:07 PM
How did his body end up on the moon?
April 10, 2015 @ 5:32 PM
Someone forgot to yell ‘duck’/’incoming’/’heads’ when space junk came hurtling?
April 10, 2015 @ 4:09 PM
The unnatural end of a natural life leaves an indelible mark on all it touches.
April 10, 2015 @ 4:11 PM
Elegant, thought-provoking and snappy – very cool!
April 15, 2015 @ 3:50 PM
I really, really, really like this line. I’m curious to see where this goes.
April 10, 2015 @ 4:21 PM
Norah sat at her computer looking at hundreds of photos of young Indian men dancing and throwing color.
April 10, 2015 @ 4:28 PM
With horror reflected in his eyes, the blood draining from his face, he reached back and felt that indeed he had sharted.
April 14, 2015 @ 4:53 PM
Bahahah
April 10, 2015 @ 4:42 PM
I woke with the certainty that someone would be dead by nightfall, I just didn’t imagine who.
April 10, 2015 @ 4:47 PM
At 4:13 AM the damn cat stuck his ice-cold nose in her ear, and Varina shot upright with a yelp.
April 12, 2015 @ 10:56 AM
UGH.. as someone who owns a cat who does just that… I feel her surprise and irritating at being woken up so very early! 😀
April 12, 2015 @ 10:56 AM
irritation^ (obviously. le sigh)
April 15, 2015 @ 4:32 AM
AAAAND true story. That very morning. *sigh*
April 10, 2015 @ 4:48 PM
I was far from Earth, the limitless cosmos laid open before me.
April 14, 2015 @ 11:25 AM
Then the peyote wore off and I was like, “Holy Fuck.”
Nice intro. Lots of potential!
April 10, 2015 @ 4:52 PM
I awoke to the lingering taste of tarnished copper on my tongue, startled by the slow, cold drip piercing the flesh on the back of my left thigh.
April 10, 2015 @ 4:53 PM
Like most of the times something went wrong, I had a brilliant idea.
April 10, 2015 @ 5:28 PM
That is so one of my characters… Odd that I was just reading that last night, looking for somewhere to start on editing.
April 10, 2015 @ 11:39 PM
This is actually me. Are you stalking me?
April 11, 2015 @ 9:43 AM
Great line!
April 11, 2015 @ 10:10 AM
Thank you, guys. That means a lot to me :3 and yes, I am stalking you 😀
April 10, 2015 @ 5:12 PM
At least now I understood what Dad meant when he said running for your life is good exercise.
April 11, 2015 @ 9:31 AM
This one made me laugh but also made me think… Hmmm….I could write something around that. Good job
April 12, 2015 @ 1:18 AM
Best way to burn calories lol
April 10, 2015 @ 5:48 PM
A note, and a cold cup of tea.
April 10, 2015 @ 5:49 PM
Even when I’m reborn, I still want to know you
April 10, 2015 @ 5:57 PM
Ignoring his sexy neighbor’s claim to be psychic and her warning of danger had landed Jim in hell…literally.
April 10, 2015 @ 6:01 PM
“Welcome to the Galactic Tea Party!”
April 10, 2015 @ 6:12 PM
“So, I was supposed to press the other button to stop World War III?”
April 11, 2015 @ 9:44 AM
Made me laugh!
April 11, 2015 @ 11:32 AM
This is so clever! I love how you can tell a little something about the character already by this one line. Good job.
April 10, 2015 @ 6:21 PM
No matter what everyone else said, Fox Grey wasn’t an international terrorist.
April 11, 2015 @ 9:32 AM
Very nice. Sets up a good back story and future one.
April 10, 2015 @ 6:29 PM
“When I was young I stole two things: money from a bank, and a priest’s heart, it was delicious.”
April 12, 2015 @ 1:17 AM
A man after my own (delicious) heart!!
April 13, 2015 @ 6:56 PM
*blush*
April 10, 2015 @ 6:37 PM
It’s actually really hard to kill someone with a knife.
April 10, 2015 @ 11:42 PM
oh my….
April 10, 2015 @ 6:40 PM
Seven milliamps.
April 10, 2015 @ 6:56 PM
“You’are a cancer on society, on me.” He said to me in the darkness of our bedroom.
April 10, 2015 @ 7:00 PM
The 3rd time I killed Mr. Jenkers I knew i had a problem.
April 19, 2015 @ 4:22 PM
I had to use this one. Good stuff happened. https://pavorisms.wordpress.com/2015/04/18/the-immutable-mr-jenkers/
April 10, 2015 @ 7:17 PM
He was an ordinary man, living an ordinary life until she entrusted him with an extraordinarily deadly secret.
April 10, 2015 @ 7:25 PM
“I could’ve lived my whole life without crossing that bridge.”
April 10, 2015 @ 7:50 PM
Every night I risk getting caught when I come out of page 26 to whisper into her ear.
April 10, 2015 @ 8:40 PM
The End began on an ordinary day.
April 10, 2015 @ 8:44 PM
Layla woke up with a dry mouth and a raging headache.
April 10, 2015 @ 8:52 PM
I quit!
April 10, 2015 @ 8:55 PM
It seemed I had been asleep my whole childhood and suddenly awoke, somewhere in my twenties, hugging the inside corner of a musty broom closet.
April 10, 2015 @ 9:16 PM
Dread filled her when she heard the sound of liquid pouring over the tile.
April 10, 2015 @ 9:37 PM
11:38 on a brilliant January morning, as he gasps his last breath, and I stand there, a numb witness, imprinted on the moment like a newly hatched bird.
April 10, 2015 @ 9:42 PM
The earthquake and bat infestation shocked everyone at the wedding but Gwen, who had conjured them.
April 10, 2015 @ 9:42 PM
All those disapproving looks — was it HER fault she misjudged the purpose of the duct tape, bull whip, handcuffs, chocolate sauce and eye mask that sat in such a peculiar arrangement on the coffee table?
April 10, 2015 @ 11:43 PM
BIG LAUGHS.. most of them out loud. Thumbs up.
April 11, 2015 @ 4:58 AM
I like the attitude implied in this. Did she stumble on to a movie set?
April 10, 2015 @ 10:06 PM
As the cackling glee of her disembodied, high pitched voice echoed down the walk, Gerald wondered “Why is she at it again?”
April 10, 2015 @ 11:24 PM
With a calculated swing of his net, Garoul captured the Janiquid and placed it in the pink crystalline container with the others.
April 10, 2015 @ 11:39 PM
Clearly I’m the only weirdo that doesn’t write SFF on here. I write personal narrative and fictional short stories and poetry. Here goes:
Laying on my back, in a 8 X 10 room; surrounded by pills, notebooks, clothes, and items for health and beauty; feeling nothing but the cold floor beneath me; I began to think about and dread the inevitability of my death.
April 11, 2015 @ 11:11 AM
I don’t either, so you’re not alone. 🙂
April 12, 2015 @ 11:00 AM
That’s the great thing here, you don’t have to be an SFF writer to have fun with the friday flash challenge. 😀 (Or read all the incredible advice and apply it to your writing in some way.)
April 22, 2015 @ 12:01 AM
Sooo, would you be offended if I turned this into sci-fi?
April 10, 2015 @ 11:44 PM
Richard’s good eye robbed the screen of its information as his hand idly flicked ash into the open mouth of his bosses corpse.
April 15, 2015 @ 3:53 PM
*Shiver* Damn. Nice line.
April 11, 2015 @ 12:14 AM
Rain poured on the day the God of Justice was sentenced to death.
April 11, 2015 @ 1:25 AM
I learned an important lesson today: When making a deal with the devil always, ALWAYS, get a receipt.
April 11, 2015 @ 10:15 AM
Awesome!
April 11, 2015 @ 6:09 PM
love this one!
April 11, 2015 @ 1:28 AM
“It’s me, calm your tits!”
April 11, 2015 @ 10:31 AM
Ha! Is “calm your tits” a common expression? I have never heard this. I must use it.
April 11, 2015 @ 1:51 AM
I think I’m just done living for today.
April 15, 2015 @ 4:37 AM
I SO know just what that means! Sounds like magic and mayhem are about to ensue, and I want to read it!
April 11, 2015 @ 4:22 AM
Never say “you found my diary” when they discover the necronomicon, despite how true that statement is.
April 11, 2015 @ 10:15 AM
Love it :3
April 12, 2015 @ 11:01 AM
Oh man, did I leave it lying around somewhere, AGAIN?
Or
I really shouldn’t have put my address on the inside cover… (ahahahaha)
April 13, 2015 @ 5:53 AM
The worst part was that they were chanting a soup recipe in my ancient language.
Ha ha. I’m glad you like it. and i look forward to seeing what happens next. Thanks!!
April 15, 2015 @ 3:55 PM
Yes! Made me laugh. I want to read more.
April 17, 2015 @ 3:40 AM
thanks!
April 22, 2015 @ 11:03 AM
If you don’t mind, I’d love to use this as my opening sentence for this week’s challenge! I’ll give you credit for it, of course. 🙂
April 22, 2015 @ 11:14 AM
Absolutely. I look forward to reading it!
April 22, 2015 @ 11:20 AM
Oh, yay! Thanks! 😀
April 11, 2015 @ 4:55 AM
I thought the world would never finish ending.
April 11, 2015 @ 10:34 AM
Nice. I guess it would be better if it happened quickly.
April 11, 2015 @ 4:57 AM
There were only three cigarettes left, but Frank held the pack out, offering it to the others, and muttered, “What the hell – we all gonna die anyway.”
April 11, 2015 @ 10:35 AM
Awesome. You packed so much character into one line.
April 11, 2015 @ 5:35 AM
It all started with a chinchilla named Carl.
April 11, 2015 @ 9:04 AM
Doesn’t it always? I love this line.