Last week, over 400 (!) of you wrote opening sentences for the challenge.
This week, your job is to pick one and write a story with that as your opening.
Let’s say you’ve got up to 2,000 words for this one. Write the story and post it at your online space. Link back here (with a shout-out to the author of the original sentence, please!) so we can read it. Story should be done by noon EST next Friday (the 24th).
Pick your sentence and get to writing.
103 responses to “Flash Fiction Challenge: Pick An Opening Sentence And Go”
We’ll need at least a week just to pick the sentence!
Thanks to Lisacle for her opening line. It inspired me to write this.
https://joetblogs.wordpress.com/2015/04/21/terribleminds-pick-an-opening-sentence-and-go/
Nice! This is the first chapter of a longer piece, you know. 😎
So many incredible options- can’t wait to see what people put out there!
How can I go back and read the comments before I start with the story?
Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the post and you can view the multiple pages of comments.
Thanks!
http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2015/04/10/flash-fiction-challenge-time-again-to-write-an-opening-sentence/
Okay… I picked out Ashlee Jayde’s first sentence…
However, my blog is fucking up… so if you’re having problems seeing my work, let me know and I’ll put the story up here in the comments, okay?
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/remembering-my-death.html
Thanks for using my first line!
Thanks to Shauna Clinning for her ‘I can’t open my legs’ line.
https://p33d33.wordpress.com/2015/04/18/i-cant-open-my-legs-chuck-wendig-challenge-4
WordPress ate my lunch. Only the first para published and I didn’t notice it until later. Full 1,261 word short now available.
I chose this one by thesexiestwriter. Thanks in advance for the inspiration.
“Trey sat under a bush in the cold December drizzle, watching the street and rubbing the limp dog that lay twitching in his lap.”
I’ll post a link when the story is done.
OK, my little story is done. I hope y’all like it. You can read it at
https://elctrcrngr.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/dog/
I picked poorerdick’s line: “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.”
Thanks for the great inspiration. 🙂
I’ll post the link here, when I’m done.
So this is part one – https://thestoryhive.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/tick-tick-tick-achooo/ – be patient with me
part two up now https://thestoryhive.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/tick-tock-tick-achoo/ – I think I’m going to kaboom some parallel universes. 🙂
[…] http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2015/04/17/flash-fiction-challenge-pick-an-opening-sentence-and-go […]
I chose this delight from Nicholas:
“The 3rd time I killed Mr. Jenkers, I knew I had a problem.”
What can I say, my cats are on my nerves lately.
Here’s “The Immutable Mr. Jenkers”: https://pavorisms.wordpress.com/2015/04/18/the-immutable-mr-jenkers/
That was fantastic 🙂
Glad to hear it! I went back and re-read it today, and man, there are some bits I’d like to clean up, but it seems to have found a positive reception here nonetheless.
I love it!
Amazing.
Your handle is making me chuckle. (I think you may be Mr. Jenkers’ evil alter ego.)
Excellent! Sometimes my cat stares at me that way. Worrisome.
Oh that is *good*. I like that a *lot*
(Just to be clear, my first reply to Pavowski, liking his story, was aimed at him. Why WP thinks I want *all* my replies to be replies to him I don’t know :-/ )
I like that one a lot. The descriptions of Ichabod’s emotions having physical appearances work very well.
(This is meant to be a reply to curleyqueue, but WP is saying “Leave a reply to Pavowski”, so if it shows up there, that’s why.)
Found it regardless- thank you so much Andrew!
Liked your take on this. And your writing, as always, is superb.
This is fun and really well-done! Especially enjoy the couple lines right before the end 🙂
The end upset me a little bit first, but when I accepted the absurdity of it all, it just made me laugh.
I think if it makes you a little ill, it must be a keeper! And in the spirit of the story- those two lines were just edgy enough- and a deeper insight
Thank you, Susan Adsett, for your contribution of: They said everything went right the day his mother died.
I added Vikings. Because Vikings.
http://sheltonkeysdunning.blogspot.com/2015/04/touched-by-gods.html
I really enjoyed your story, SKD. It was really vivid.
Thank you for stopping by and checking it out! I’m thrilled you enjoyed your visit.
That was awesome. The dialogue was outstanding, IMO.
Thank you! I’ll take a win for outstanding dialogue. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I also found the dialog very realistic. Nicely done.
Thanks! And thank you for leaving a comment on my blog!
more please…
that was awesome!!
Thanks for the awesome! I promise we’ll see Ricci and Vegard again.
Really enjoyed your story!
Thank you!
Shelton, this is a little off topic but I had picked up your opening sentence (which I loved) and started writing a piece. However, life intervene as it often does and I am left with just the first couple paragraphs. I am hoping to finish it even though I have no idea where it’s going (I often write like that). Would you like me to contact you if I ever do finish it?
Oh, sure! I’d love to see where the idea took you. And I’m thrilled you used it for inspiration! So many great sentences to choose from …I’m pretty stoked.
So yeah, drop me a line whenever it’s done. I’m looking forward to it.
I used Adam’s line “The earthquake and bat infestation shocked everyone at the wedding but Gwen, who had conjured them.” to write this http://tonij.net/2015/04/the-wedding-bats/
Well done, Toni J. When I saw “bat infestation” i didn’t expect it to be touching. Nicely done.
Nice.
I like it. Especially the final line. =)
I used Maricel Jimenez’s opening line:
https://article94.wordpress.com/2015/04/20/nalas-story-part-nine/
I used Pavowski’s opening line for this story, which may become a longer science fiction story once I get done with my latest novel. It was really fun to write. http://andreaspeed.com/2015/flash-fic-challenge-past-prologue/
i like it. plenty of action and i love how you describe the sci fi world.
Your protagonist has great attitude, and you did a good job of hinting at her backstory without giving too much. I really like this
David Koehn’s line provided the impetus for my story. Think this challenge is great- can’t wait until it comes ’round again!
https://agcurleyart.wordpress.com/
I chose Catkins’ “Let’s see, yes, I think this is where it starts.”
http://andrewhickey.info/2015/04/21/flash-fiction-the-fair-folk/
Enjoyed the atmosphere of this piece and the feeling of stream of consciousness, and great results for so little time too!
Thanks! I try to make these things *really* “flash” fiction — just sit down and write and see where it takes me. The first-person stream-of-consciousness style works well for doing that, I find (though I probably overuse it)
[…] weeks challenge over at Terribleminds was to take an opening sentence from the previous weeks challenge, and turn it into a […]
Phil Norris I used your first sentence.
http://kalenivey.com/?p=34
[…] for Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge: Pick An Opening Sentence And Go Many thanks to Matthew X. Gomez for […]
I chose Matthew X. Gomez’s “I have to admit, being dead isn’t nearly as boring as I feared it would be.”
https://nightshadeblues.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/pining-for-the-fjords/
Thank you to jay x wolf for the opening sentence—Happiness is a cold beer, an enormous burrito, and enough time to down them both before the werewolf catches up with you again
http://sarahwatches4u.blogspot.com/2015/04/flash-fiction-5.html?spref=tw
I think I could write a whole teen book series out of what I did for this challenge
[…] week, Chuck challenged us to write an opening sentence. You know where this is going, right? Yep, this week, we are instructed to choose one of the […]
I used John Freeter’s sentence, “I followed the nice man to his basement.” It is considerably less than 2,000 words and needs a big ol’ NSFW warning label across the top. 😎 http://wp.me/p1Tyuy-bd
Liked it. A clever take, and unexpected.
[…] Chuck Wendig’s challenge this week was to pick an opening sentence that someone else wrote and write a flash fiction up to 2,000 words. Mine finished around 1,350. The first sentence I chose was written by Kalen Ivey. I hope I did it justice, although I have to admit that this was a rough one for me. As with many of Chuck’s challenges, I almost gave up on it. I hope it wasn’t too much of a mess and that you don’t scream at me too much. I have to say, for someone who hates cliffhangers as much as I do, I sure do end a lot of my stories with them. […]
I used Kalen Ivey’s first sentence “Daddy, are you listening?” It’s coming in around 1,350 words.
https://helenespinosa.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/flash-fiction-daddy-are-you-listening/
http://simonbjones.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/flash-fiction-challenge.html Here’s mine it’s from Sam Hedenburg’s excellent first sentence “I grew up in the kingdom of the cul de sac”.
[…] for Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge: Pick An Opening Sentence And Go Thanks to Paige S. for my opening […]
I used the sentence written by Paige S.
“Wild Night” comes in at around 1800 words and started as just a stand alone story but kinda merged with another idea I’m working on. This one is set from the view point of a side character.
https://jakashadows.wordpress.com/
That was great!
Thank you CrankyAshley for this inspired sentence which also had to help me with my A to Z Challenge themed word for U 🙂
Life in about 2.5 hours (Friday in UK). http://jemimapett.com/blog/2015/04/24/flash-fiction-friday-upwelling/
I used divanyl66’s line: The war has been over for months, they tell me, though nobody bothered to pass us that memo.
https://mxgomez.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/wars-end-a-chuck-wendig-challenge/
As ever, really entertaining, and with an excellent twist.
Here’s my contribution, started from:
“As Willow wiped the blood from her face, she regretted her decision not to wear a hat.” Submitted by MsShonnerz.
http://www.jmbeal.com/blog/well-that-escalated-quickly
[…] week’s dose of flash fiction comes inspired by Chuck Wendig, as per usual. This time around, I was supposed to start a story with one of the sentences […]
I used The Story Hive’s (edited) opening line, and came up with frantic murder in the desert.
http://fistfulofwits.com/2015/04/23/flash-fiction-blood-in-the-desert/
That was fun, Henry!
Thanks! I’m glad you liked it 😀
I used poorerdick’s line: “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.”
https://whatrealityisthis.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/flash-fiction-challenge-harolds-sneeze/
[…] This week’s challenge was to take an opening line from last week’s challenge and write a story with it. http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2015/04/17/flash-fiction-challenge-pick-an-opening-sentence-and-go/ […]
[…] couldn’t get the idea out of my head, so here it is: a micro-fill for FFChallenge. The first sentence belongs to John […]
A micro-fill “Candy Man,” 285 words. Many thanks to John Freeter for the sentence, “I followed the nice man to his basement.”
https://nightshadeblues.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/candy-man/
Really fun and with a great twist. Immensely enjoyed, thanks.
I used mannixk’s line, “On the morning of her thirteenth birthday, the whites of her eyes turned inky black.”
(As I read over it, I questioned whether or not it was realistic for a 13-year-old to do the things she and her friends do, but some kids really do grow up that fast.)
The Things They Forgot to Mention in Puberty Class
http://mireles-musings.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-things-they-forgot-to-mention-in.html
Thanks for using my sentence. Jessica is one insatiable girl! 🙂
[…] was written in response to yet another challenge over at Terribleminds. Opening sentence written by […]
I opted to use the opening line provided by lisacle
http://wp.me/p41CL6-zh
I am intrigued! This is a great set-up for a much longer piece. 😎
I used the opening sentence from Lina. Thank you.
He never thought his love for the extraordinary would take his life.
1295 word count
http://aliceekeyes.blogspot.com/p/captain-hank-myer-iii.html
[…] BE CONTINUED —— This was a flash fiction intended to be 2000 words. I chose an opening sentence that someone else wrote (the story hive, I’m looking at you!) […]
I also used the story hive’s opening line and have this incomplete little tidbit.
https://pznb.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/flash-fiction-2000-words/
Awesome! I can’t wait to know what happens next. Thanks 🙂
[…] blog post was created for Chuck Wendig’s FLASH FICTION CHALLENGE: PICK AN OPENING SENTENCE AND GO. The idea is to write a story starting with an opening sentence someone else provided the week […]
I used the line, “Lucifer was right, you are a monumental douche.” by Phil Norris for a ~1800 word story this week:
https://poordicks.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/flash-fiction-challenge-lucifer-was-right-you-are-a-monumental-douche/
I hope anyone who reads it, enjoys it.
[…] decided to start trying the writing challenges at Chuck Wendig’s blog. This week’s Flash Fiction Challenge was to pick an opening sentence from the ones submitted the prior week and write up to 2000 words. […]
Bit late, but here it is. I used a line from the story hive.
https://toomanyjens.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/flash-fiction-challenge-pick-an-opening-sentence-and-go/
I used “The Dark God rose behind her, quietly building the fury it would unleash,” by Periodically Demented.
http://unashamedwriting.com/the-dark-god-flash-fiction/
Turning mine in a little late — had some difficulties wrangling it, but it was still really fun. Thanks to “Addy” for the first line — “Never shout “You found my diary!” when they discover the Necronomicon, no matter how true that statement may be.” It’s around 1,940 words, Urban Fantasy.
https://katethesape.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/the-time-my-diary-almost-killed-me-new-flash-fiction/
thanks for taking up my line. loved the story and thought it was good fun. loved the protagonists name having both h.p. lovecrafts name and the wife of hades.
thanks 😀
Forgot to come link back. “Ubehebe,” using an opener from Ada Ireland.
http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2015/04/u-ubehebe-crater-flash-fiction.html
[…] This is a Chuck Wending writing challenge prompt thingy. See here X. […]