First Lines Meme

[thisbluespirit]

Meme from half the flist at this point: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line.


Last 20 works, not really counting the AU Meme entries, because some of the individual bits are so slight:

1. The TARDIS was full of surprises. (memories you bury or live by, DW)

2. It has been over fifty years since Anghara Kaligsdaughter departed from Carn Caille the first time leaving an unbearable number of deaths in her wake. (Elegy for the Living, Indigo Saga).

3. A galaxy is a big place. (the tattered, the torn, B7)

4. “Are you an angel?” (Random Factors, Good Omens/DW)

5. John Iveson studied his bookshelves, raising a hand to run along the edges of the spines, lost in the pleasurable indecision of which volume to read next. (Austerity Gamble, OW)

6. It was unusually quiet downstairs. (All the Way Home, Upstairs Downstairs)

7. Bill from the Grand Hotel (for two months' accommodation + 6 bottles of schnapps + 2 bottles of brandy + 4 bottles of our best house wine + charges for summoning the priest to perform rituals three times in 1 month.) (Hell Bats are Not Just for the Night of the Conjunction of Capricorn With Saturn, Hammer Horror)

8. Jonathan could feel Lucy’s presence in the house so strongly that it was a wonder to him that Mina could not. (Broken Vessels, Dracula 1968)

9. The three of them were halfway along the coastal path to Staithes when the storm blew up. (Red Skies, Dracula 1968)

10. This wing of the house had been disused for some time. (Brief Candles, Daisy Dalrymple)

11. He opened his eyes in the pale light of a Messeine morning. (tear your world to shreds, DW)

12. The Doctor opened his eyes wide, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling. (in the still of the night, DW)

13. It wasn’t all that bad, being dead. (Remnants of an Unlife (The Magellan and Creek (Deceased) Remix), Jonathan Creek)

14. The Doctor’s undercover mission was going reasonably well so far. (Undercover Operation, DW/Red Dwarf)

15. Charley realised too late that she should have asked Lucy a few more questions, such as exactly how did a young lady she’d once run into in the early 1890s come to be hanging around in the 1920s looking barely any older? (Night Birds, DW/Dracula 1968)

16. “You killed it!” (Nature Is Red, DW)

17. Silver sat down on the bar stool and glanced up at the clock on the wall. (Locks and Keys, S&S/OUaT)

18. Walking into the trap had seemed like a good idea at the time, but it seemed there had been one vital error in his calculations. (Anomalies, SW)

19. Mina strode towards the door that led into the asylum from Dr Seward’s quarters. (Though the Light Fails, Dracula 1968)

20. Here in the Lake Country, the fighting feels deceptively far away, but Padmé knows it’s not. (Fire and Feathers, SW)

I was saying to lirazel that I tend to do short opening sentence + elaboration and, yep, indeed. Look at all these short sentences! Longer ones follow, honest. But, I mean, that is a solid opening strategy generally, even if it doesn't look impressive in strictly one sentence memes. Other than that, I need to fix Anomalies because two uses of "seemed" is definitely at least one too many. And I actually wrote 11 and 12 some time apart, so, um, yeah, having two virtually identical beginnings in a row was accidental due to length of time it took me to type up 11.

It wasn’t all that bad, being dead. is still best, though. I think I picked that in some AO3 yearly meme as well.

Comments

[theseatheseatheopensea]

7 remains a masterpiece, right from the first line! XD

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! It isn't the actual first line, I added it in later, and I am thinking maybe it should go after the proper start?? idk.

[corvidology]

You have a real ability to shape a first line that pulls you in and makes you want to know more.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, thank you! ♥

[shannonsequitur]

I was recently remembering how several years ago (probably around the time the episode aired), I saw a Tumblr gifset of the scene from “The Power of Three” mentioning Amy’s accidental marriage to Henry VIII. Except that it was typo’d in the captions as Henry VII, and I figure that if anyone could take this typo as a challenge, it’s you.

[thisbluespirit]

Ha, although, really Henry VII is much more careful and less inclined to accidental marriage!

[thedarlingone]

Yay, meme! I shall snurch, probably, although this one does want a lot of tabs and formatting which is not super easy on mobile.

[thisbluespirit]

Yes, steal all the memes!! XD (I mean, I know at this point that you already did, but I wanted to say it anyway.)

[liadt]

Short and snappy is a good way to draw readers in:)

[thisbluespirit]

Clearly it must be. *nods*

[ermingarden]

#7 has me so intrigued - wish I knew something about the fandom! lol

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, thank you! And it's just some crack for some old Hammer vampire films, really.

[dimity_blue]

=I tend to do short opening sentence + elaboration and, yep, indeed. Look at all these short sentences! Longer ones follow, honest. But, I mean, that is a solid opening strategy generally=

It really is. I'd never thought of it like that.

It's also interesting seeing your opening lines laid out like this! *steals meme*

[thisbluespirit]

He, thank you!

[a_phoenixdragon]

I love these! You always have such epic opening lines!

*HUGS*

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, thanks!