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If I had known that asking a simple favor was going to cause so much havoc, I never would have rubbed that damn lamp.
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Just as English has no word for the back of the knee, Centauran lacks the basic concept of "get the hell out of my face or I'll break both your antennae."
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Mike spent the first half hour of history class surreptitiously slashing his wrists, just to see how fast his new skin healed.
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The pack members welcomed me with a cordial sniff and grazing of pelts, all but the b*st*rd who bit me.
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Finally our captivity was over when our host died and thieves removed the gold tooth containing our spaceship.
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I have to wonder if some of you have really thought about your first lines and what they would lead to in a story.
I say this because some of them seem to be more like last lines in some ways--there's a sort of summing up in them that doesn't look like it will lead to anything further.
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I had always loved mowing my lawn, riding my mower and smelling the freshly cut grass, until the day when the circle of teeth first appeared.
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Little Rabbit Foo-Foo groaned and whacked the snooze button again, reluctant to haul his cottontail out of bed and face yet another soul-crushing day of hopping through the forest, picking up field mice and bashing them on the head.
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Squire Gilbert dodged a kick, snatched his hand away from the mare's fangs, and made another grab for her trailing reins.
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Gerda hugged the lance under her arm and peered through her visor at the scrawniest troll she had ever seen.
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Nathan wondered if the silver-gray tail hanging from his shirt drawer was just another dragon, or if he had finally caught an ice lizard.
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Axot put the final edge on the battle ax he'd shaped from scrap metal and glanced at the mutant horde beyond the corrugated gates.
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Hannah hesitated to heal the pastor, afraid that it would seem prideful and her gift would be taken away.
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Ray looked at the android who'd delivered his divorce settlement, and said, "Robot or not, I'm going to kick the S#!t out of you."
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The blinding green light vanished; Horton felt different as he looked down at the muscles now adorning his formerly emaciated body.
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When Fiskill had moved his family into the abandoned mousehole at Chocolate Chip's Bakery, he was certain he'd never have to worry about food again--until he found Skullfang the Rat had moved his gang into another hole in the store.
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As Rymann looked down on the charred remains of the friar, he tightened his belt again and resolved that today the chase would begin in earnest.
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Just as his final words would have sealed King Hrulka's coronation, an arrow found its way into the High Mage's throat, then another soon followed into the prospective King's as well.
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Satomi knew his luck was bad, but waking up with a splitting headache and being held at gun point was a little much.
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The morning after his foray into the Egyptian museum was fraught with terror as he looked in the mirror and found the eyes of Anubis looking back at him from a black snouted face.
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It wasn't the first time Jared had been wrong about someone's gender, but earthling's don't imprison you in your own gravitational field.
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He didn't realize she'd gone through his flesh, until he got out of the shower and saw the reflection of a blackened bite mark on his shoulder, spreading dark tendrils toward his neck.
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Lt. Morgan DeVries of the Terran Space Service (Diplomatic Corps), forced herself to focus on the man in front of her, not the duck-billed headdress he wore.
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My mind inverted upon itself, I was falling, falling, falling, deeper and deeper into the infinite velvet blackness only to be plunged into my doom by the words: "Do you take Armina the Strongarm as your lawfully wedded wife?"
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MrsBrown, you need to edit your (astute) comment, so that you can have a first line to enter--dem's da rulez.
Entry:
Neither rotting coffin nor the feasting of wriggling maggots could stop me from clawing my way back to the world of men, back to those who'd buried me.
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Riffen peered down at the advancing detachment of guards, wondering if they would notice the bloody footprints on the steps leading up to his chambers and the tingle of magic fire that would soon help them join their compatriots in Jingo's Hell.
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Ninety-three million miles is a long way to jump, especially barefoot, but I was so much better than all the other morons in my class.
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quote:Has anyone else found it simple to keep genre, a hook and a taste of character in the first line?
Have I done that? My entries were pretty easy to toss out, but some seem more effective than others, and I don't know if other people would say I've met those objectives. I find myself assuming that the speculative element is a hook, which of course is not necessarily true.
How about a contest along these lines? (Allowing entries we already tried.) I'd like to list my favorites that the rest of you have submitted
ENTRY: Gertrude landed in the crowded courtyard, snapped her wings shut, and gazed around at the astonished faces before turning back into an old woman.
[This message has been edited by MrsBrown (edited May 21, 2009).]
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Burn fell in love with the Lokarian princess the moment she stepped into the Garden of Stones.
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Derrick hated technical documents, but he jumped at the chance to write the requirements spec for the [insert cool scientific device here].
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Aran had enough time to think, rather sullenly, that reversing a gravitational field was NOT as easy as flipping his feet down and landing on the ceiling before he blacked out.
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Waking up to a foot-long wooden stake jutting from my ribcage told me that Mom was really serious about me getting a job and moving out of her basement.
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And why do your rules rule?
