This one is pretty simple:
Write an opening sentence.
Post it in the comments below.
Any genre will do, really, though versatility has value.
The sentence should be on the shorter side. Let’s say, mmm, no more than 25 words. Some things to avoid, since sometimes folks fall into these traps: avoid blood, death, dead people, kids being hurt, and so forth. Think original. Conceive of a sentence that, when crafted right, is a strong hook. The kind that makes people want to read further. It makes them want to know more. Compelling and maddening in equal measure.
By next Friday, I will pick between five and ten I really like, and I’ll pop them into next week’s challenge, and you guys can choose one of those I pick to serve as the opening sentence to a new piece of flash fiction.
Today, no story necessary, though.
Just an opening line.
Due by next Friday, 2/26, noon EST.
Richard Rebelo says:
He looked out the window at the slow morning traffic; he’d escaped having a proper job going on four years.
February 22, 2016 — 10:38 AM
pulplives says:
“As she reached across him to lock the driver side door, the reek of kerosene became overpowering.”
February 22, 2016 — 10:42 AM
C. B. Matson says:
Sentience, once released from its bottle clung to humans for a thousand millennia before jumping to machines, then dogs; now even the fungi argue Kierkegaard.
February 22, 2016 — 10:49 AM
C. B. Matson says:
All souls yearn for home,
Dove in her cote, mouse in hole,
Sword in beating heart.
February 22, 2016 — 11:00 AM
Owen Banner says:
Now, this is poetry.
February 22, 2016 — 12:25 PM
moteridgerider says:
Lots of possibilities here. I imagine Elric of Melnibone’s sword, Stormbringer – but maybe I’m being too literal.
February 22, 2016 — 4:09 PM
C. B. Matson says:
“Ah ha,” she cried as she waved her wooden leg. [oops, that one has been used before.]
February 22, 2016 — 11:03 AM
Knish says:
After 100 years of cryogenic sleep Tim woke up and discovered that he wasn’t Tim.
February 22, 2016 — 11:11 AM
Knish says:
He was an awkward lonely cyber security geek that was about to meet a stunningly beautiful Albanian model.
February 22, 2016 — 11:22 AM
caszbrewster says:
In her hands was an ancient .32 pistol, it wasn’t her prefered weapon, but it would get the job done.
February 22, 2016 — 12:21 PM
StarNinja says:
I like the ancient thrown in there. It makes the possibilities soar!
February 22, 2016 — 1:35 PM
HB McCarthy says:
The clock strikes 12:17 and all I can think is I should have called tails.
February 22, 2016 — 12:29 PM
LC says:
I love this one
February 22, 2016 — 4:33 PM
Sheila M. Good, Author says:
It’s hard growing up under the shadow of a perfect mother.
February 22, 2016 — 12:43 PM
Anna says:
Nice one! Consider me hooked.
February 22, 2016 — 1:08 PM
Oleander Plume says:
The last thing I remember was my wife swinging a cast-iron skillet at my head and screaming about toothpaste in the sink.
February 22, 2016 — 1:49 PM
Glen Donaldson says:
Leaving toothpaste in the sink time and again does tend to provoke rage.
February 22, 2016 — 3:16 PM
Oleander Plume says:
The toothpaste doesn’t bother me, but dirty socks on the floor make me stabby 😉
February 23, 2016 — 7:50 AM
Glen Donaldson says:
Adjective award goes to ‘stabby’.
February 24, 2016 — 12:51 AM
ChristopherBH says:
I’ll second that nomination.
‘Stabby’ belongs on a worn out t-shirt.
February 25, 2016 — 5:31 AM
Glen Donaldson says:
With stab holes in it..
February 25, 2016 — 2:47 PM
Modern Authors says:
There are some things that just can’t be changed, at least, I used to think so.
February 22, 2016 — 1:53 PM
Oh-no-leander (@OleanderPlume) says:
He was the kind of man you could sink your teeth into, and I’m not just saying that because I’m a vampire.
February 22, 2016 — 1:59 PM
the story hive says:
“I’m on the highway to hell,” I blared on performing CPR.
February 22, 2016 — 2:10 PM
the story hive says:
“What’s the matter sweetheart, never taken a shortcut before?”
February 22, 2016 — 2:26 PM
the story hive says:
My right formed a pretended gun and fired: BANG, BANG – was I surprised when I hit the target…
February 22, 2016 — 2:34 PM
the story hive says:
I feel like I should say something clever, or sassy, but I am cold and need my clothes back.
February 22, 2016 — 2:36 PM
Beth says:
I like this. Appeals to my sense of whimsy.
February 23, 2016 — 6:09 AM
ChristopherBH says:
Good hook!
February 25, 2016 — 6:03 AM
the story hive says:
“Now that’s afterlife,” the ferryman pointed out amused with his clicking teeth, “you really are a busy body.”
February 22, 2016 — 2:40 PM
rebekahspark says:
“Honey, Honey, No!
Sweety please don’t touch that.
Give it to mummy, that’s right.
Oh for the love of God… DO NOT PUT THAT IN YOUR POTTY!”
February 22, 2016 — 10:07 PM
Beth says:
Happened to my contacts. True story.
February 23, 2016 — 6:09 AM
rebekahspark says:
In the lightning flash I saw it….what ever it was.
This is a Hiaku and I didn’t write it but I’ve always loved it.
February 22, 2016 — 10:12 PM
nkharrold says:
I used to be better with people.
February 23, 2016 — 2:40 AM
Danielle K Girl says:
Keira lay on the back seat of the self-drive car, metal fist raised, singing her booze-soaked lungs out to the empty road.
February 23, 2016 — 4:58 AM
Glen Donaldson says:
Demands inclusion in the Best of the Best category.
February 23, 2016 — 2:22 PM
Danielle K Girl says:
Why thank-you, kind sir!
February 23, 2016 — 4:48 PM
glenavailable says:
Kind I may be, but trust me I’m no sir.
February 27, 2016 — 5:36 PM
The Penultimate Universe says:
From the highest window of the highest tower, he looked down on his kingdom. He truly was the master of all he surveyed, and he hated it.
February 23, 2016 — 5:02 AM
The Penultimate Universe says:
Oops, accidentally put it in two opening sentences from my short story. Please disregard the second one!
February 23, 2016 — 5:04 AM
Oleander Plume says:
He was the kind of man you could sink your teeth into, and I’m not just saying that because I’m a vampire.
February 23, 2016 — 7:21 AM
Oleander Plume says:
My grandmother kept a hip flask in a hollowed-out bible, a switchblade under her pillow, and her loved ones at arms length.
February 23, 2016 — 7:48 AM
Rebecca Douglass says:
That’s an intriguing character sketch!
February 23, 2016 — 11:22 AM
Oleander Plume says:
Thank you! 🙂
February 23, 2016 — 2:36 PM
Owen Banner says:
Yes!
February 25, 2016 — 5:27 AM
Michael Kaput says:
Rule number one, thought Wendy as she popped the shell into the chamber, don’t give it a chance to speak.
February 23, 2016 — 8:39 AM
Ann Parker says:
The café served a plate lunch every day. It might be meatloaf, fried chicken, roast beef, or ham but there was always catfish fresh from the river.
February 23, 2016 — 9:04 AM
Antares.Null says:
Lucy gagged, the stench of blood so powerful she could taste it in the back of her throat.
February 23, 2016 — 11:13 AM
Antares.Null says:
I can do better, gimme time.
February 23, 2016 — 11:15 AM
Q. Kelly says:
It is done; Husband has taken his fifth wife.
February 23, 2016 — 2:05 PM
dangerdean says:
He figured the pain fell somewhere between a fineline tattoo and a kidney stone, so in the context of life thus far it wasn’t really that bad.
February 23, 2016 — 2:49 PM
viego says:
One match, one smoke and a dry throat with no bar in sight.
February 23, 2016 — 4:03 PM
Don't Want To Write says:
Snatched from her body, dumped light years from home, she found herself wondering whether she’d remembered to feed the cat—she hoped not.
February 23, 2016 — 4:09 PM
rebekahspark says:
I dunked the plate into the scolding soapy water. This fear, this worry, this hateful anxiety all of was pointless. I grabbed the bush and scrubbed. Hard.
February 23, 2016 — 6:22 PM
Eli Hardwig says:
Q clearance could get you everywhere but the fourth floor.
February 23, 2016 — 6:43 PM
utecarbone says:
It wasn’t kidnap, really. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.
February 23, 2016 — 7:11 PM
Rebecca McCurdy says:
The marks running between her breasts looked like seabird tracks on wet sand
February 23, 2016 — 7:16 PM
Owen Banner says:
Oh, I like it.
February 25, 2016 — 5:38 AM
Eric Pederson says:
“She thought nothing of it then, but as her car inched past the twisted metal and steam of the accident, no victims visible, she smelled lemons.”
February 23, 2016 — 7:28 PM
Owen Banner says:
That’s a moment that will study with me. Way to draw up the sense of smell
February 25, 2016 — 5:41 AM
Shay says:
She froze as eyes appeared from the darkness.
February 23, 2016 — 10:37 PM
James R Cheary says:
Her braided guts promise to return today’s lunch as Annie kicks open the embellished double-doors.
February 24, 2016 — 4:38 AM
kaylimckenzie says:
“Well,” Olivia says, glancing around the room, gun hanging loose from her fingertips, “you know the drill – on your knees, everybody!”
February 24, 2016 — 6:25 AM
Antares.Null says:
A Satanist, a Jew, and an Atheist all walked into the bar, that’s when I knew something was wrong.
February 24, 2016 — 8:24 AM
samldanach says:
So then I wondered, what was a girl like her doing in a place like me?
February 24, 2016 — 9:03 AM
samldanach says:
I peered through the closet door, watching as I entered the room.
February 24, 2016 — 9:05 AM
Ridley Kemp says:
Sam kept two eyes on the man holding the revolver while his third eye kept tabs on the man with the blackjack trying to sneak up behind him.
February 24, 2016 — 11:59 AM
Kate Pavelle says:
Nobody in their right mind would sit in an aluminum tree-stand while the snow kept coming down in heavy, diaphanous sheets that were rippled by the icy mountain wind.
February 24, 2016 — 2:22 PM
Owen Banner says:
Vocabulary award winner here!
February 25, 2016 — 5:42 AM
Random says:
It’s tempting to try several, wonder if that’s allowed. How about:
His greatest talent was sleeping with the lights on; he awoke abruptly when they went dark.
February 24, 2016 — 2:33 PM
Krishnaa says:
Knowing well that I was playing with fate, I closed my eyes and stepped off the terrace, feeling the wind whip past my falling body.
February 24, 2016 — 10:42 PM
Owen Banner says:
It must be kismet. I’ve got a novel that begins with a man plummeting to his death as he begins to narrate the last three weeks of his life.
February 25, 2016 — 5:45 AM
Belva Pummer says:
On his death day, Ina Mae chops wood.
February 24, 2016 — 11:16 PM
ChristopherBH says:
It was a sound that first caught his attention, similar to a bubble, but somehow crisp, and heavy.
February 25, 2016 — 5:29 AM