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”
He’d found it after getting lost in the vast oceans of his imagination, the trail he’d walked was nowhere to be found but there on the ground it was.
I have to admit, being dead isn’t nearly as boring as I feared it would be.
It wasn’t the fact that it was pitch black that worried me, but what the fuck was that smell?
Who knew that our fate would end up resting in the clumsy hands of a three year old?
I like this!!
He flipped his still glowing cigarette out of the wrecked windshield, squinted out into the rain, not sure if he had just seen a large blurry hunter or a large blurry bear approaching his crash-landed mustang, the deciding that he needed to have a better look, if he was going to acknowledge anything existing outside of the car.
I think- He flipped his still glowing cigarette out of the wrecked windshield. – is fantastic without the rest of the exposition 🙂
Spoken like a bona-fide editor and I second it.
thanks, you’re right.
thanks a lot. 😉
Edited: He flipped his still glowing cigarette out of the wrecked windshield.
Earlier, when the writing tutor talked about death by PowerPoint, he hadn’t thought she meant it literally.
“What we do is serious business, son,” the clown said as he set the bomb’s timer.
Nice sentence.
Clowns creep me out – my nightmare is a magician clown hypnotist trying to sell me something on a street corner. If I chose this one, the bomb would be faulty and blow up the clown.
Love this…going to see what I can do with it.
The machines in the corner of the room beep and wheeze in slow, regular patterns.
This one makes me sad.
I love it. I am going to use it for my story. Thank you for writing it @tshawn
I woke up with scabs on my hands and blood in my mouth.
There is a room in the house that is empty save for new flesh.
todonne how many times do we have we to tell you not to put the flesh in there? it goes off too quickly, put it in the fridge like a normal serial killer.
love it.
Magic starts out as an itch in your fingertips, a maddening itch, and it works its way up behind your eyes and into your brain, until you can’t see what everyone else is looking at—until you realize what they’re looking at—is you.
While waiting, I wandered; dust illuminated by sunshine evoked normality and before-the-war and I escaped through the kitchen window to autumn leaves and laughter, until an imperious knocking echoed in the hall and dragged me back.
“ouch”!
I grew up in the kingdom of the cul de sac.
And died driving a minivan. Nice sentence – This story could go anywhere.
This is awesome.
If I had to choose between being killed by unicorns or werewolves, I would bathe in barbeque sauce and throw myself at werewolves.
This is the opening line for a comedy, right? 😀 I like it!
Thank you. Can you let me know if you use this one?
Facing potential death at the cotton fluff filled paws of a small army of stuffed animals was not how I imagined the end of my evening.
The voracious slurping of noodles was once the tiger eating the writer’s hand writing a Djinn story.
http://aliceekeyes.blogspot.com
edited – The voracious slurping of noodles was once the tiger eating the writer’s hand penning a Djinn story.
“To gaze upon the Great Pyramid of Giza*, with its gargantuan proportions, its cruel and bloody history, and its indifferent permanence would have been life-altering for Jan and Barry, but they had taken a wrong turn somewhere, and their chance was irrevocably lost.”
You can pick a natural wonder, a Wonder of the World, or make up one to insert in lieu of the pyramid and its description, if you wish.
They said everything went right the day his mother died.
I love it!
The war ended long ago, but nobody told us.
This I like (1)
Such a simple opening, yet epic at the same time.
She hefted the sack into a splintered canoe and, not for the last time, cursed her father.
To a people-watcher, there is something uniquely special about the post-midnight caffeine imbiber; there’s always a story.
“I know you’re a really happening guy but I just wish you’d happen somewhere else.”
A good story is about to happen. I can feel it.
Oooh. Nice.
We walked along the beach at the end of the world, holding hands for the last time.
I would write this story,except that it happened to me, and it’s just too painful. Really.
“…?”
“Awww, that’s cute… you think you’re people.”
[…] it. Â Bizarre, but useful since I have so much other work I really ought to be doing. Â Anyway. Â Chuck Wendig’s challenge this week is to write the opening sentence to something, nothing more. Â Here […]
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being a teenager, it’s that plausible deniability is everything.
White lights float in my vision, my brain pounding out the tune of Zeppelin’s Black Dog against my skull, as I begin to retch.
Every Thursday in recent history Doctor Tongue had brought a cake for the library staff, but for some reason this Thursday rated pie.
I like this a lot, actually made me smile. Could be tightened up a bit for more impact but I’d definitely read further.
The golden blaze from the eastern sky illuminated me as I stood on the hilltop overlooking the quiet town, trying to suppress the need that was rising again.
He was just sitting down to a cup of tea and a book out on his patio to enjoy the brisk autumn morning when he felt the hairs on the back of neck stand up.
They say that to err is human and to forgive is divine, but I think they got the second half of that saying all wrong.
Revision: They say that to err is human, to forgive is divine; the second half of that saying is a complete lie.
Well, it looks like you erred. I will not forgive you. 🙂
I used yours, though I simplified it a bit (and made it two sentences). It will be up on Friday 4/24. I’ll post a link then.
The Dark God rose behind her, quietly building the fury it would unleash.
I would write the story but I’m afraid that it would make the Clean Reader app gag and then self-destroy.
Nobody on this forum wants that, right? :-))
It’s alright, Ada. Your writing isn’t THAT bad. Hey! Stop pinching my arm!
Most couldn’t bear it, they turned away, but Mr.Patendale had seen it all in his day.
I like this!
Everyday I visit the same pond and everyday I see the same silver duck with the grey tail.
I remember exactly where I was when the first bomb went off.
Near the end, he could feel her presence closer than ever.
or
Once the first bullet flew over my head, all my faith perished.
or
Sweet Valya is dead.
The barman turned with a grin and spat into my whiskey.
There were only two people in front of Roy in the queue, and one of them was dead.
This I like (2)
You’re my favorite.
A day without fusion is like a day without sunshine, and, unfortunately, we were running dangerously low on fusion.
Thank you! I’ll use this one 🙂
Clever. I like
It’ll be up in about three hous time (Friday my time 🙂 ) It’s also letter U for the A to Z Challenge… http://jemimapett.com/blog/2015/04/24/flash-fiction-friday-upwelling/
Happiness is a cold beer, an enormous burrito, and enough time to down them both before the werewolf catches up with you again.
Yoink!
I had hoped that my past had forgotten me… right up until the moment they kicked the door in.
Like this. Was picturing an opening scene from “Alias” when I read this.
Oh, I could right something about this ….
Story is up: http://andreaspeed.com/2015/flash-fic-challenge-past-prologue/
“From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli” — some time travel expeditions sound a lot better in the brochure.
Very Douglas Adams– I like it.
[…] Last week, over 400 (!) of you wrote opening sentences for the challenge. […]
Little did Harold know that the sneeze he was about to experience would bring about the end of humanity and the world as he knew it.
… I think I just had a Douglas-Adams-y moment of some kind…. 🙂
I aim to please. 🙂
I imagined Stephen Fry reading it as I wrote it.
I used your sentence to start a story – this is part one. https://thestoryhive.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/tick-tick-tick-achooo/
I can’t wait to read part two! I think I can sympathize with the AI – I’d find those routine tasks boring as well.
Amusing note: When I read Brack and Pain, my brain immediately inserted Barack and Palin, and produced some interesting images.
Haha, looks like you have two writing you’re line. 🙂 Here’s my contribution, a case of *really* bad luck:
https://whatrealityisthis.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/flash-fiction-challenge-harolds-sneeze/
As a cat-owning Dick, I really enjoyed reading your story. While it was a bit rough (as first drafts are), it actually made me laugh out loud on multiple occasions, and that is the highest of praise from me.
(While I greatly enjoy humor, it is a rare comedic work that even manages to make me crack a smile – let alone laugh loudly at multiple occasions.)
Wow, thanks for your praise, I’m glad you enjoyed it! As a newbie writer, comments like yours helps keep me writing, knowing I have the potential to entertain. Cheers!
I need you to stop petting the test subject!
He forced me to watch the hanging.
[…] http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2015/04/10/flash-fiction-challenge-time-again-to-write-an-opening-se… […]
Just when you think you have everything going right in your life, the fist of Satan smacks you in the face so hard with unexpected swagger and sting.