Brainstorming...

[Unique]

...for short story introductions.

As you know, the first sentence of a short story should be intriguing and provocative, instantly dragging the reader into the flow of the tale.

So post up some ideas. Just one sentence that could get things moving.

Consider it an assignment.

Unique.

[Back]

I know there are many great treats that come out this time of year... zuccini bread, pumpkin pie... but I like to bring out my balls.

[Soulpieced]

Somebody is watching E!....

[Back]

Originally posted by Soulpieced
Somebody is watching E!....

Ok you got me. Damn...

This one is ORIGINAL.

On my return to the lesbian bar I found myself encumbered with two pints in hand and a few inside.

[Marl]

It was a dark and stormy night, I turned on my flashlight and pulled out the rain slicker.:socool:

[Ebondale]

The first sentence doesn't necessarily have to draw the reader in.

Example:


The monitor lady smiled very nicely and tousled his hair and said, "Andrew, I suppose by now you're just absolutely sick of having that horrid monitor. Well, I have good news for you. That monitor is going to come out today. We're going to just take it right out, and it won't hurt a bit." Ender nodded.

This sentence begins Ender's Game which won a Hugo and Nebula award for being quite probably the best Science Fiction novel ever written... which went on and created a series of equally impressive sequels.

Start your story however you like. :)

[Augie]

Ender's Game = Awesomeness.

:heart: that series

[Vesi]

Luke had to admit, it was the best roadkill stew he'd ever had.

[Warriorbird]

I be on it all night I be on it all day. Straight up, pimp, if you wanna you can find me in the A.

(For a more realistic answer not cribbed from the Purple Ribbon All Stars, I found this (http://www.emmadavies.net/blog/seven-twenty-thirty-six-plots.aspx#breakdown) very useful for a recent short story project. Georges Polti's work seems far more relavent than the HSS system that's used to pick "hits" for music stations.)

[Edited on 12-9-2005 by Warriorbird]

[Czeska]

Best short story I wrote i college started with the line: "I remember Russell."


Then went on to describe a public defender who goes insane after the little neighbor boy gets killed in a hit and run.

[Unique]

Originally posted by Ebondale
The first sentence doesn't necessarily have to draw the reader in.

Example:


The monitor lady smiled very nicely and tousled his hair and said, "Andrew, I suppose by now you're just absolutely sick of having that horrid monitor. Well, I have good news for you. That monitor is going to come out today. We're going to just take it right out, and it won't hurt a bit." Ender nodded.

This sentence begins Ender's Game which won a Hugo and Nebula award for being quite probably the best Science Fiction novel ever written... which went on and created a series of equally impressive sequels.

Start your story however you like. :)

Novels are allowed more time to develop than short stories, but great ones tend to have captivating first lines. That particular introduction from Ender's game is provocative--what's a monitor, why does this person have one, what's it do, why are they taking it out, and so on. It provides a convenient entry point into the story as a defining moment of change in Andrew Wiggin's life.

Ender's Game is a great book... ;-)

Unique.

[Asha]

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold..

Perfection.

[Unique]

Originally posted by Nevermind
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold..

Perfection.

Absolutely.

One of my favorites:

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." -1984

Unique.

[Warriorbird]

Amerigo Bonasera sat in New York Criminal Court Number 3 and waited for justice; vengeance on the men who had so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her.

[Jorddyn]

The night was hot. Wait. No. The night, the night was humid. The night was humid, no wait, hot, hot. The night was hot. The night was hot and wet, wet and hot. The night was wet and hot, hot and wet, wet and hot; that's humid. The night was humid.

Jorddyn :saint:

[Jorddyn]

Unique's eyes snapped open at the annoying blare of the hotel alarm clock. 4:30 AM. Far too ungodly an hour to be forced awake in an unfamiliar place.

Jorddyn

Edited because I like the word "unfamiliar" too much.

[Edited on 12-9-2005 by Jorddyn]

[Jorddyn]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Jord "Charles Dickens" dyn

P.S. I'll stop now. I swear.

[Warriorbird]

"When a fresh-faced guy in a Chevy offered him a lift, Parker told him to go to hell."

[Hulkein]

Originally posted by Ebondale
The first sentence doesn't necessarily have to draw the reader in.

Example:


The monitor lady smiled very nicely and tousled his hair and said, "Andrew, I suppose by now you're just absolutely sick of having that horrid monitor. Well, I have good news for you. That monitor is going to come out today. We're going to just take it right out, and it won't hurt a bit." Ender nodded.

This sentence begins Ender's Game which won a Hugo and Nebula award for being quite probably the best Science Fiction novel ever written... which went on and created a series of equally impressive sequels.

Start your story however you like. :)

I didn't know short stories were the same as science fiction novels.

[Unique]

Originally posted by Jorddyn
Unique's eyes snapped open at the annoying blare of the hotel alarm clock. 4:30 AM. Far too ungodly an hour to be forced awake in an unfamiliar place.

Jorddyn

Edited because I like the word "unfamiliar" too much.

[Edited on 12-9-2005 by Jorddyn]

hmmm...

Unique's eyes snapped open. 4:30 AM. Cheap hotel room. Knock at the door. Not a good time for that kind of thing.


Unique.

[Skeeter]

I looked at Bone and bragged, "This chick will be dripping before I leave the bar."


I'm hooked already

[Ebondale]

Originally posted by Hulkein

Originally posted by Ebondale
The first sentence doesn't necessarily have to draw the reader in.

Example:


The monitor lady smiled very nicely and tousled his hair and said, "Andrew, I suppose by now you're just absolutely sick of having that horrid monitor. Well, I have good news for you. That monitor is going to come out today. We're going to just take it right out, and it won't hurt a bit." Ender nodded.

This sentence begins Ender's Game which won a Hugo and Nebula award for being quite probably the best Science Fiction novel ever written... which went on and created a series of equally impressive sequels.

Start your story however you like. :)

I didn't know short stories were the same as science fiction novels.

Ender's Game was a short story that won a Hugo and Nebula award before it became a novel, smart guy.

[Jazuela]

We came, we saw, we ate too much fettuccini.

[TheEschaton]

Here's an idea:

Fuck you. That's about all there was to it.


That catches my attention.

-TheE-

[Back]

Get any ideas yet Unique?

Here is another...

The Mercury Cougar’s growl was voracious as she felt the stick slip into fifth while her passenger’s bright pearl grin took her eyes away from the flashing lights in the side and rearview mirrors.

[longshot]

Jenny sobbed uncontrollably as her electronic entity checked into the inn to train for the last time. Her accomplishment brought on a great sense of loss and despair, as she now realized how much of her life she wasted in a world that doesn't exist.