First Lines Meme
Jun. 16th, 2019 10:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisbluespiritGanked from loads of people on my flist:
Rules: list the first lines of your last 10 published stories. See if there are any patterns yourself, or have other people say what they notice.
If the first line is really short, I've added second lines as well. (I defy the Meme Police on a regular basis. ;-p)
1. The pain explodes within him as he’s standing in the TARDIS, and his hand on the controls trembles. (Dodging a Bullet, DW)
2. She’s born on St Anne’s day, a miracle child, so her mother says, though others wonder that Lady Margaret should bear it – so much suffering in one so young only to produce a girl, and a sickly babe at that, not like to live. (his wonders to perform, 15th C RPF)
3. Ace leaned forward, pressing a hand against the glass of the train carriage as it made its way through the Yorkshire moors. (the little things, DW/Dracula 1968)
4. “Having trouble?” (Lease for Lives, S&S)
5. “Whoops,” said the Doctor. (May Contain Multitudes, DW)
6. “Goodness,” she says, turning around to find a stranger on the other side of the counter. “I didn’t see you come in.” (Cameo, S&S)
7. There are days when being a woman in a man’s world grows to be more than Bel wants to deal with. (Immoral Support, The Hour)
8. Alice is cursed three times. Thrice Cursed, OUaT)
9. It was not the gateau that was ticking, which meant that the bomb must be concealed in one of the many other items in the cake shop. (Confectionary Crimes, Adam Adamant Lives!)
10. She walked in, the long train of her clinging back dress trailing behind her. (AU Meme: Servalan, B7)
I'm mainly just really, really wishing I had printed out his wonders to perform because the prose in the entire first half is painful. I was bad at the time; you can tell exactly when I improved, because so does the prose. I should know by now, even if it's short to damn well print it out. I had hoped at least the first line would be too short for that to be laid bare here, but there we are. I was also ill when I wrote the little things, but that was long, so I printed it out to edit it, and at least that has readable prose as a result. /o\
Otherwise, most popular beginning here is, "Whoops," said the Doctor. Which, fair enough, I suppose. :lol: And the rest seems to at least have a bit of variety! Also, cake.
Rules: list the first lines of your last 10 published stories. See if there are any patterns yourself, or have other people say what they notice.
If the first line is really short, I've added second lines as well. (I defy the Meme Police on a regular basis. ;-p)
1. The pain explodes within him as he’s standing in the TARDIS, and his hand on the controls trembles. (Dodging a Bullet, DW)
2. She’s born on St Anne’s day, a miracle child, so her mother says, though others wonder that Lady Margaret should bear it – so much suffering in one so young only to produce a girl, and a sickly babe at that, not like to live. (his wonders to perform, 15th C RPF)
3. Ace leaned forward, pressing a hand against the glass of the train carriage as it made its way through the Yorkshire moors. (the little things, DW/Dracula 1968)
4. “Having trouble?” (Lease for Lives, S&S)
5. “Whoops,” said the Doctor. (May Contain Multitudes, DW)
6. “Goodness,” she says, turning around to find a stranger on the other side of the counter. “I didn’t see you come in.” (Cameo, S&S)
7. There are days when being a woman in a man’s world grows to be more than Bel wants to deal with. (Immoral Support, The Hour)
8. Alice is cursed three times. Thrice Cursed, OUaT)
9. It was not the gateau that was ticking, which meant that the bomb must be concealed in one of the many other items in the cake shop. (Confectionary Crimes, Adam Adamant Lives!)
10. She walked in, the long train of her clinging back dress trailing behind her. (AU Meme: Servalan, B7)
I'm mainly just really, really wishing I had printed out his wonders to perform because the prose in the entire first half is painful. I was bad at the time; you can tell exactly when I improved, because so does the prose. I should know by now, even if it's short to damn well print it out. I had hoped at least the first line would be too short for that to be laid bare here, but there we are. I was also ill when I wrote the little things, but that was long, so I printed it out to edit it, and at least that has readable prose as a result. /o\
Otherwise, most popular beginning here is, "Whoops," said the Doctor. Which, fair enough, I suppose. :lol: And the rest seems to at least have a bit of variety! Also, cake.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 10:58 am (UTC)I'm sure the issues with the prose with that other story are more visible to you than they are to anyone else. I also have stories that I remember because of how unwell I was when I wrote them. I hear you about how the words don't come together quite the way that you want them to, but the fact that you got it done is still worth celebrating. :)
no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 07:28 pm (UTC)Yes, with the Doctor you know that it's not going to be dull after that... Heh.
I'm sure the issues with the prose with that other story are more visible to you than they are to anyone else. I also have stories that I remember because of how unwell I was when I wrote them. I hear you about how the words don't come together quite the way that you want them to, but the fact that you got it done is still worth celebrating.
Thank you! That is reassuring to hear, because my muddle-headedness in bits like that scream out at me. Although, honestly, I am also to blame, because if I had just paused to print it out and go through it, I could definitely have minimised that problem. But I was feeling bad and I wanted to have done a thing! Ah well. *hugs back*
no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 01:21 pm (UTC)Aw, the stories came out well *hugs*
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Date: 2019-06-16 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 04:32 pm (UTC)And the first line of "his wonders to perform" reads fine to me. Or at least, it feels like it's doing a deliberate stylistic thing that's interesting, not that it's bad.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 07:30 pm (UTC)And the first line of "his wonders to perform" reads fine to me. Or at least, it feels like it's doing a deliberate stylistic thing that's interesting, not that it's bad.
That is reassuring to hear, because all I can see is exactly how unco-ordinated my brain was right then. I still should have printed it out. *makes note to self that will probably get ignored*
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Date: 2019-06-16 08:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 04:39 pm (UTC)I realize to do my last 10 published stories, takes me back to 2014. :(
no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 07:32 pm (UTC)I realize to do my last 10 published stories, takes me back to 2014. :(
Aww. *pets*
I have not being writing a WIP o'Doom, though. Or having a life, really. I hope you can manage to get it done some day - hopefully by that time, I'll have all the brain I need to enjoy it. Your fic is much missed & I'm sure not only by me!
no subject
Date: 2019-06-17 12:22 am (UTC)