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.
510 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: Time Again To Write An Opening Sentence”
She tracked him out of the corner of one eye, she couldn’t wait to see him bleed.
She took his head down from the shelf.
My third like.
I’ve got something in my bag which could be very precious to you.
“Hnnngh grrhh ahhngghh,” he gurgled.
I really like this one…it could go in so many different directions.
Yes! I initially thought about a poor man drowning but then realized it could very well be a rich man drowning. Or a sod at the dentist trying to have a conversation. Or an ogre trying its pudgy hand at spoken English literature. The possibilities are endless.
My first thought had him drowning in his own blood…
Waking up hung over after a monumental binge on pangalactic gargle-blasters!
This made me laugh. It’s got good personality.
Thank you! I kind of just came up with it at random, but then I realized it was really open ended and slightly unexpected.
A nine letter word for constipation is “Nnnnnnnnn!”
Now explain the gurgling. Actually, I’d almost rather not know.
It’s the body’s way of saying “Evacuate! Explosion imminent!”
Waking up next to a dead man will ruin your entire day.
Love it
ahhhh I love this dark humor. its really true. on the scale of day ruining this ranks pretty high.
Like (4).
They always said Mama was crazy, but they never knew how much.
i like it!
That pink easter bunny never had a chance.
I like this! It’s very interesting straight off the bat. I really want to know more about what the pink easter bunny was up to.
“God built the earth in seven days, but I plan to tear it down in five”
I like this. I already want to know more about this character.
I like this too. Would it have more impact if you dropped the “but”?
Agreed!
Double agreed!
But that would make it two sentences, thus violating the accords!
Nah, you can leave the comma in there and still have the one sentence.
Mmm, if you’re going to leave it as one sentence, I think it ought to be a semi-colon. 😉
Okay, fine. Five days late and a synapse short.
Love it!
How about now:
“God built the earth in seven days; I plan to tear it down in five”
Still one sentence, grammatically correct (I think – Chuck??), and it sounds better/is more concise.
Poignant and leaves me curious. Awesome.
On the morning of her thirteenth birthday, the whites of her eyes turned inky black.
Go forth and multiply (your word count). Liking this one.
Impressive, most impressive. Just like the last time we did this exercise
Ooh, curious …
There’s nothing in the world that feels quite the same between your teeth as human skin.
My first thought was, “Is this BDSM or cannibalism?”
Eeeew…creepy. And that’s a good thing.
Trey sat under a bush in the cold December drizzle, watching the street and rubbing the limp dog that lay twitching in his lap.
Despite my normal aversion to starting with the weather, this totally creeped me out and worked and now I’d like to know more.
I’ll give you more. I think I’ll try to take this somewhere, with the author’s blessing, of course.
sure, it’s the first line to the, what, twentieth draft of a novel? I lost count. Give it hell!
Dawn had gone to Callowhill Bridge to find graffiti, and not dragons.
That’s awesome! I love it! Maybe you should just consider dropping the “and”. 🙂
Thank you. And yes, you’re right, I was weighing whether or not to drop the ‘and.’ It’d flow better, I think 🙂
He never thought his love for the extraordinary will take his life.
I’m going to use this sentence. I editing it to have it all be in past tense – He never thought his love for the extraordinary would take his life.
Sarah Bannerman preferred being dead to being married, but it was a close run thing.
poor, poor, Sarah Bannerman!! please tell me she wins in the end.
I honestly don’t know
“Oh, shit.”
hahaha awesome
Classic
This dead guy, his name was Aftermath Brad and I’m not supposed to know that.
Okay, this one I want to know more about! I like the way the character speaks.
Please write more?! I need to meet Aftermath Brad. *Great* name!
Nabbing this one for the follow-up challenge. It’s glorious.
Angels paced in Heaven, unsure of their tidings.
I actually like this!
Beautiful!
After reading through these again, I’ve found this to be one of the most intriguing lines. I hope I get to write on this one ;] Instead of tidings I might use something else but that ‘s just me. I kind of like “Angels paced in Heaven unsure.”
It all started the day I found a live octopus in my shed.
Any chance of changing the ‘shed’ to ‘head’?
I swear, the first time I read this I thought it said “bed”.
Sounds even better!
…in my soup?
To a stationary observer, the USS Susquehanna would resemble nothing so much as an overgrown, mile-long snowball, hurtling silently past at one tenth of the speed of light.
I like this.
Free to good home: one pre-owned left hand – still attached – which is disengaged from motor cortex control and has a mind of its own.
haha would be interested to see both: who responds to this ad and what person put it out.
Thanks! That’s some challenging character development. Who would want an extra hand, and what would they do with it? Maybe a mate for Thing from The Addams Family?
That would be a really cool story actually. It would just be in the format of emails going back and forth between the provider of goods and the interested party. Haggling, among other things, could ensue.
Great suggestion. It would just about fill out a short story.
I can’t open my legs.
The possibilities are endless.
Oh, god. Exactly. The possibilities ARE endless… and enticing…
I didn’t wash my hands before using the bathroom, even though I had been chopping jalapeno peppers; a quick rinse will do, I thought.
I actually laughed out loud
A guy I worked with in a pizza shop totally did this. True story.
They were still laughing and cruised only a few blocks when they heard a blast and the great sloping windshield of the Olds shattered and caved in on them.
Rose sighed as she broke through the surface the lake, the water glistening off her hirsute chest.
Her? Hirsute?! What the!
I’m really hoping this is a superhero story. this really does happen and these women need more role models!!
I brush pieces of earth from Michael’s hair, his body buried shallow enough that an animal of some kind, a wolf or coyote or cougar, clawed into the half frozen dirt to eat his stomach contents.
I am definitely interested in learning more about Michael’s demise. Is there a way to tighten it up? Maybe reducing the number of animals that are suspect?
I know you didn’t mean to break the parallel barrier, but now that it’s done we really need to figure out what to do with all these extra versions of everybody.
it seems like the story would be amazing
I can’t wait to find out what we’re to do with all these one-liners next week. I’ve got my eye on a couple others. 😉
Behold! A copier that doesn’t jam!
Ah, but what if it does? 😉
There will be the usual swear words plus a technical fix that shall commence with the removal of the all important metal feeder rods!
I leaned forward, coughing, spitting out blood and glass.
Shane’s feet stunk bad.
All Joe’s dreams would come true, if he sacrificed his penis.
Fox could never turn down a dare- no matter how stupid, how idotic it could be
How about:
Fox could never turn down a dare, no matter how idiotic.
Muriel awoke covered in mucilage.
I never believed my husband could die young, but Jenny makes it all sound so easy.
Run Forest run!
The old straight-legged coyote approached,blew his breath onto my face as my body lay pressed into the sand dune as I watched from the ancestral night’s broken sky.
The entrance to the cave was impossible to see, but he could feel it.
Nice!
We burned him in a mighty fire using freshly mixed dish detergent and gasoline, the poor man’s napalm.
The spaceship’s engine spluttered for a moment, then died.
This can work well. I think you meant sputtered and not spluttered though?
Maybe it’s liquid fuel? 😉
Everybody knows there is no crying in baseball, so I took my first-ever home run ball, set it gently in my mother’s still hands and dropped into the porch swing next to her balling my eyes out.
My day went from zero to what the fuck with one glance towards the back of the subway station.
Ooooh! Ooooh! Can I edit? I hit reply too quickly…
My day went from zero to what the fuck with one glance over my shoulder.
I like it!
I’m ready to read!
Liking this one as well. I agree with Webb, shorter works better here for impact. Love the zero to what the fuck.
He just jumped out the window, like it was nothing! Did he expect me to do the same?
It was raining on Mars.
Autumn leaves and dead twigs crunched under his feet and a coyote’s yap echoed in the fog.
Ichabod had whiskey eyes no matter the light upon him.
Chose this for my story! So fun!
“Just have lots and lots of confidence,” Felix whispered as I turned the dial on my father’s safe.
The city fell in the space of a single breath.
Ooh!
Yes. I keep coming back to this one. I want to read it!
The sun never set on the Majestic Empire of Ki, and, as curses went, “may you never see night” was marvelously effective.
I LIKE this!
Thank you! 🙂
I slipped on my brain again this morning.
I followed the nice man to his basement.
Mind if I tag in on this one? There’s a story that’s been itching the back of my brain for years now, and this is the perfect opening line for it.
Sure! Can’t wait to read it. 🙂
Here you go! It’s NSFW. http://wp.me/p1Tyuy-bd
I hate when my wife’s snoring wakes me, especially since she’s been dead for two years.
Still giggling.
I like this one (lost count).
When the screaming and the crying and the breaking bones stopped, there was a kind of unexpected irritation about being dead.
The star-speckled ocean above my canoe that morning glittered, and I read it as the world bidding me farewell. https://lpstribling.wordpress.com/2015/04/10/ripple-effect/