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» Hatrack River Writers Workshop » Forums » Writing Challenges » First Line Challenge (Page 1)

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Author Topic: First Line Challenge
InarticulateBabbler
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We do this for each genre on another site I frequent, so I thought a sci-fi/horror/fantasy would do nicely here. Here's the rules:

1) Each post must include an entry.

2) You must be able to hook your reader and have them identify the genre from the first sentence.

3) No unnecessary run-on sentences.

4) You can use vulgarity, as long it's self-censored: @$$hole, f***, sh!t, etc.

Entry: I shouldn't have eaten the chili from that wheelworld freightliner-stop, it always gives me the anti-matter squirts, but this trip it gave me a parasite.

or

Gazing out across an invasion force of venomous monster rabbits, Chuck said, "Rabbits...why'd it have to be rabbits?"

[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited April 20, 2009).]


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Kitti
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"I do so love a challenge," Master Sciomancer Albert Higgens said, thumping a large and rather dusty folio volume down on top of his desk.
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InarticulateBabbler
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It was difficult to change my face on the run.

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InarticulateBabbler
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I learned, the hard way, that fresh manticore droppings will take out your entire car.
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InarticulateBabbler
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The point is to have fun and get in a writing mood.

My entry:

Throatcleaver, my father's blade began to grow on me--actually planted cold-steel tendrils under my skin and wove its way deep into my muscles!


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InarticulateBabbler
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I only teleport out of necessity, because everytime I do my skin always feels like it's on fire.

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InarticulateBabbler
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I never got used to Juan pulling his ear forward to retrieve his vid-disc reports.

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InarticulateBabbler
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The child looked like he was just drawing pictures in the dust on my truck, until I saw the tires through a smiley face in the quarter panel.

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InarticulateBabbler
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Humans always assumed anyone not of earth must be a genius; it never occured to them that Vorg crash-landed because she was too busy gerping with the frazping map and hit a solpuffing satellite.
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InarticulateBabbler
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I looked up in awe at the ruined Temple of Golden Arches, and knew my dream spoke true when the God of Potatoes demanded another sacrifice.
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InarticulateBabbler
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I felt like a turd being squeezed out of the space-time continuum and decided, right then and there, that I would build a transport and ride inside the turd.
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InarticulateBabbler
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She wanted to kiss me, but zombies have such stale breath.
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InarticulateBabbler
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As Reiger passed through the sector field, the billboard he feared most floated in front of him: No rest stops for 4,000 par-secs.

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shimiqua
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never mind.

[This message has been edited by shimiqua (edited May 05, 2009).]


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InarticulateBabbler
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You mean to tell me that only three Hatrackers can come up with snazzy 1st sentences?

Entry:

I found the tunnels the first time I was was thrown into this prison, when I was twelve.


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Jeff M
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Reginald suspected his evening had taken a turn for the worse when he arrived home from work to find Vincent Van Gogh sitting on his couch, wearing a bright orange life vest and eating a falafel.

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InarticulateBabbler
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"Come on," Winter yelled to me, "the Crimson Dragoons have a shadowthief cornered."
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Natej11
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"That," Walks With a Limp said calmly, slipping his Claws down into a ready grip, "is a kalthan."
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aspirit
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I just noticed this thread. My first attempt at an entry grew into two pages, so I won't post it here. My second attempt:

Chata chose the wrong time to look over her shoulder at the elves giving chase; she didn't notice the half-buried sword until she tripped on it.


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Devnal
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My last thought as a living, breathing, person had been an increduluous reasoning that the cold steel of the knife against my throat felt eerily like Hans, my barber, starting his first swipe with the razor-- except this went strides beyond what could be considered "a close shave."
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Kitti
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Malificent’s favorite part of being an evil sorceress was the wardrobe.
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Owasm
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Binkie knew the minute he cut through his tether and started to drift from the ship, that he made a rookie EVA mistake.
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Ben Trovato
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I was ten years old before I accepted the fact that my mother was not a vampire.
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Owasm
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Lord Graffilio, heartbroken by the death of Jovella, jumped from the precipice before realizing it was Jovella's voice yelling at him to stop.
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Owasm
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Punkwhistle took the arm he had ripped out of his victim and squeezed the extra blood out... he liked his body parts slightly dry.
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Nick T
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Fun contest. I'll include an actual first line from a planned story.

Loren had waited most of his life for his first homo futuris to pass through the gate, so it was a shock when two arrived in one day.


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satate
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Kala materialized in the dubious shade of a mesquite tree and tried to calm her breathing.
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satate
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Senance laughed as her one year old jumped, fluttered her wings, and half fell, half floated onto the grass.
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Owasm
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I looked out of the window of the school bus and saw a castle floating in the air where my house should be.
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satate
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I used to wish I could use magic, not anymore.
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Owasm
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I could recognize my own body, bleeding on the wet concrete as I was being drawn up, away from the scene of the accident.
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InarticulateBabbler
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The first time I realized I could glean information from a corpse was in 6th grade, when Rudy Price beat me beat me up and stuffed my face into a dead woodchuck.

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InarticulateBabbler
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After hours in my father's occult library, the book he died reading open on the table before me, I found the common thread to all religions was demons.

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Gaudrhin
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For the first time, Diego noticed that everyone was starting at him, and he wondered if it was because no one else had wings.
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satate
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Once upon a time there a was a little girl who's every wish came true; that girl is not me.
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Ben Trovato
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The pyramid of skulls was more like a heap, but the thought was there.
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Owasm
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It was a beautiful day in the forest until the bluebird on the branch began to talk.
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Owasm
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I felt refreshed and energized that fateful morning until the neighbor's dog decided to lift his leg and dampen my trousers.

In response to IB's criticism below: You got me!

I felt refreshed and energized that fateful morning until the strange dog with antennae raised his leg as if to pee.

[This message has been edited by Owasm (edited April 21, 2009).]


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InarticulateBabbler
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quote:

I felt refreshed and energized that fateful morning until the neighbor's dog decided to lift his leg and dampen my trousers.

What speculative genre is this? Where's the hook? Maybe the dog's urine burned?

My entry:

When Chupa reached the top of the mountain, he saw walls of paned glass emerging from the next mountain and knew he'd found the home of the gods.


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InarticulateBabbler
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Only enough blood will quiet the voices, and my knife is wicked sharp and squeaky-clean.
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shimiqua
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Feet first, Darren rammed his legs against the airlocke, and tried to hold in his breath. He had thirty, or so, seconds before the darkness surrounded him, and Darren well knew what would happen then.

The Volure's would come to feast. Go, he thought, pressing again at the airlock bar. The lungs ached in his chest and he could hear scratching on the holo door. They were coming. His vision felt grainy, and he expelled his breath and floated on his back to face the monsters.

There was no way was he going to survive this.
Again.

Sorry, I know this is more than one line. I just wrote the first line, and then had to continue. That's all I got.
~Sheena


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Owasm
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Thundering hoofs of the devil horse pounded the forest floor, stopping where my friends and I had taken refuge.
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Owasm
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He chased me to the cliff's edge and pushed: stupid ogre didn't know I could fly.
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Owasm
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My first thought: dream, then I realized I was truly brought spelled and naked to the Wizard's Council not knowing what in hell I had done.
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Unwritten
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Weighing in at close to 400 pounds, Maria was not on the list of people you would expect to save the world.
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satate
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Lane picked the largest rock she could see and threw it at the head of the blind woman; the witch deserved it.
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Owasm
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Now remind me, just exactly how do I shake hands with an alien that looks like a beachball and floats five feet above my head?
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Jeff M
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After standing placidly in the Henderson's front yard for the past 200 years, the mighty oak tree decided this morning the right time had finally come.

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Jeff M
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Marcia flipped on the kitchen radio, but instead of the seven o'clock news, she heard a voice repeating "attention all planets of the solar federation -- we have assumed control."


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LucyintheSky
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I used to think magic was just for snobs.
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