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.)
Sandy Coffta says:
Some words, like mythical watermelon seeds, grow roots and vines inside you when swallowed.
November 10, 2013 — 1:53 PM
Andrew Jack says:
Every second Saturday Tom Pope had a beer with Devil.
November 10, 2013 — 1:59 PM
Tony Taylor says:
I love this!!! I still haven’t decided though…but I am dangerously close to choosing yours.
November 15, 2013 — 6:32 PM
Jeremiah Boydstun says:
This is my favorite out of the 200+ entries. Let’s see if I can turn it into a story…
November 18, 2013 — 10:22 PM
threeoutside says:
Later, Andy realized he owed his life to a man he thoroughly disliked.
November 10, 2013 — 2:42 PM
Allison Rose says:
I won’t tell you how I died, and they can’t tell you why.
November 10, 2013 — 4:13 PM
Andrew Goodman says:
I think you might have the winner here, damn it. Great opening line.
November 12, 2013 — 4:18 PM
pmillhouse says:
Lucan jabbed the elf. “Now what the hell do we do about all those dragons?”
November 10, 2013 — 4:17 PM
RickAlan says:
Jared exhaled a plume of pot smoke, just as he stepped on the creature’s entrails.
November 10, 2013 — 5:56 PM
Jan O'Connell says:
Appropriately enough, it was a shopping trolley that killed her.
November 10, 2013 — 7:04 PM
Jessica says:
The moment they landed, Martine decided mistakes this egregious were worth homicide charges.
November 10, 2013 — 7:40 PM
Caroline Arbelay says:
The bloody Arc de Triomphe is up the arse end of the Champs-Élysée again.
November 10, 2013 — 8:35 PM
Mo Robin says:
I was sitting in the hot tub with the morning’s paper and the bottle of cyanide when they walked into the bathroom and informed me that my brother was dead.
November 10, 2013 — 8:41 PM
Caroline Arbelay says:
The bloody Arc de Triomphe was up the arse end of the Champs-Élysées again.
November 10, 2013 — 8:43 PM
JD says:
Nothing good ever happened after midnight.
November 10, 2013 — 9:23 PM
treyzguy says:
I accepted the fact with humility, that I would worship myself against my own will.
November 10, 2013 — 9:38 PM
Ashley M.K. says:
Lock. Unlock. Lock. Unlock. Lock. He always locked doors three times. Everything in threes.
November 10, 2013 — 10:36 PM
Michael says:
They sell happiness for a buck but if you want to know fear that will cost you extra.
November 10, 2013 — 10:53 PM
boydstun215 says:
Sam was puzzling over the hatch in the basement floor when he heard a knock.
November 11, 2013 — 12:41 AM
Victor says:
Cracking up is never easy, but the rewards can be quite spectacular.
November 11, 2013 — 3:08 AM
queenbee3645 says:
Like this…a lot
November 11, 2013 — 12:18 PM
Wade says:
I haven’t always been blind.
November 11, 2013 — 8:16 AM
B Lynn (@DaddyDM) says:
Aunicks bit his tongue gently while aiming for the guard’s head through the arrow slit.
November 11, 2013 — 8:23 AM
markstenbo says:
Seven whole inches. Caligula would approve, and request impetus.
November 11, 2013 — 8:47 AM
Jackie says:
Last time I saw my dad he was dancing naked in the rain singing Sinatra.
November 11, 2013 — 8:50 AM
Mildred Achoch says:
Jesus returned today.
November 11, 2013 — 12:30 PM
flyawaybluebird says:
It’d been awhile since I’d killed someone with kindness, or any other weapon.
November 11, 2013 — 12:37 PM
Mildred Achoch says:
Killing with kindness…I like it!
November 11, 2013 — 1:10 PM
Nick says:
“It was a dark and stormy night” was once an acceptable beginning to a story.
November 11, 2013 — 12:40 PM
Alecia Miller says:
Lolly dropped the crayons, picked up the knife, and snuck down the hall.
November 11, 2013 — 12:53 PM
Jon Jefferson says:
And then the screaming started.
November 11, 2013 — 2:19 PM
Hudds says:
I thought back fondly to that last punch before they started in with the electricity.
November 11, 2013 — 2:48 PM
Fatma Alici says:
When I woke up I realized I wanted to be free.
November 11, 2013 — 3:43 PM
rexpullman says:
“Oh Fuck…stick it in already!” She screamed.
November 11, 2013 — 3:58 PM
jcooleac says:
As the gaoler marched past, the torch lit his path and the prisoner heard screams.
November 11, 2013 — 4:00 PM
Jenni Wiltz says:
On the scale of colossal fuck-ups, this was between High Karate and the Hindenburg.
November 11, 2013 — 4:33 PM
jebdarsh says:
Now, I’m not exactly saying the cat was plotting to kill me. But.
November 11, 2013 — 4:36 PM
Doreen Queen says:
This one is priceless!!!
November 17, 2013 — 9:59 AM
Rick says:
She was the kind of typical bleeding-heart liberal who thinks drowning kittens is somehow “wrong”.
November 11, 2013 — 7:26 PM
amy says:
They danced like they would shatter the walls with only the movement of their feet.
November 11, 2013 — 7:39 PM
Cassandra Vann says:
It doesn’t feel like I’ve lived my own life.
November 11, 2013 — 10:41 PM
Jess says:
Of all the front yards in the world, the spaceship had to land on mine.
November 11, 2013 — 10:46 PM
Jacob Cornell says:
“That’s a dead man’s bong.”
November 11, 2013 — 10:57 PM
Courtney Cantrell says:
“I can see why you don’t have any friends,” said the poltergeist.
November 11, 2013 — 11:21 PM
joshrgordon says:
The apocalypse was loud. Loud like Mrs. Baker taking the stairs in her wheelchair.
November 12, 2013 — 12:17 AM
queenbee3645 says:
Um…about Mrs. Baker and those stairs. During the twenty-plus years I’ve used a wheelchair for mobility, I’ve never “taken the stairs.” So if there’s a way, I’d love to know what it is,
November 12, 2013 — 12:41 PM
Toni says:
So there’s a story in that opening, then. One that would tell you “what it is.” (I’m thinking it might have been involuntary, for example.)
November 16, 2013 — 3:53 AM
zer_netmouse says:
I have a friend who was stuck in a wheelchair during his later teen years, and often tells the story of hopping down the stairs to escape the hospital for a night with his friends. So.. it’s possible. At least by high-risk-taking teens…
November 16, 2013 — 3:13 PM
victoria says:
Sometimes it takes a zombie bite to reorganize your priorities in life.
November 12, 2013 — 1:44 AM
Lynna Landstreet says:
“Don’t cry, honey,” said Mama, wiping blood off her hands, “He’ll never hurt you again.”
November 12, 2013 — 9:44 AM
Rita Harris says:
Washing her husband’s blood off her hands, she smiled at her reflection in the mirror.
November 12, 2013 — 10:08 AM
mattyweaves says:
At the time, we were fresh out of the ground.
November 12, 2013 — 10:28 AM
thatcalamity says:
Before the rebellion turned its turquoise waters red, Tunides was a paradise.
November 12, 2013 — 10:56 AM
Aileen Kelly says:
The first I knew I had done wrong was when my father praised me.
November 12, 2013 — 12:11 PM
R.T. Wilder says:
The Eyeless Rat took another drag from her cigarette and said “Welcome to the show.”
November 12, 2013 — 1:43 PM
JR Simmang says:
We decided it would be best if Frank died; he was sleeping by the fire anyways.
November 12, 2013 — 3:01 PM