I love opening lines. There are famous ones, of course, but did they become famous because of their inherent worth or because of the novel that followed? That question got me thinking that maybe an opening line (a sentence or two or three), if it’s good enough, can stand on its own without anything else to follow. If it’s strong enough, maybe it can even generate, through its own merit, the words to come. I’ve worked on some suggestions here. Try to imagine taking up a new book and opening the first pages. You feel that low key excitement and apprehension of beginning a new adventure. You start to read …
I’m not one to look for hidden meanings behind everything people say, but when she screamed « Go fuck yourself, asshole » and threw the full contents of her untouched Bloody Mary in my face, I thought there might be a message there…
His left hand hard wrapped over the fence’s top rail, he flung himself into the tub, splashing beet juice over the sides and onto the wall of the abandoned warehouse. Why, he thought, am I always getting myself into trouble like this…
Between crunching and crouching, there’s a world of difference. One’s a sound, the other a shift of perspective. Waddling through the 4 foot sewer pipe, I seemed to be doing both simultaneously. The sound was what you’d expect from stepping over half frozen shit, but my shift of perspective didn’t seem terribly bright. And speaking of bright, it was pitch black…
Pudding in a paper cup. Heavens, what was I thinking! Stains on my jeans, now what would she think…
The apartment stank of urine. That was a good sign, my plan was working…
Light and airy, like angelfood, but tasting like bacon. If we never met again, that’s how I’d remember her…
She said put on the mask and act like a squirrel. That was a cinch, I’d done it so many times before…
The ad on the bulletin board said it all : wanted, fully trained guard dog for security mission. This was a job for me…
She was wacky. Always full of dumb recipes like putting a lettuce leaf on your bicycle seat to avoid hemorrhoids. Believe me, it doesn’t work…
The weather was in tune with my mood : depressing. Still, I thought, why not try and make things worse just to see how bad I could feel…
Maybe you have an idea…
