First Line Meme
I haven't done a meme for ages, and this one is all around right now, so I'm going to have a go. Plus it's cold out there, and I'm building myself up to go for a walk, and this is a nice delaying building-up strategy. *g*
Rules: 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. Then tag 10 authors.
No tags, because there's barely that many of us on lj any more anyway, and lots of people have already done it... *g*
1. They came together that night because neither of them had any other place to go.
2. “My Will, the watchman,” Merriman had called him, and for years Will had watched in the imperfect world, growing up in it, been Old One and boy in the calm after the storm.
3. They watched Cowley stride away, ignoring the milling police, gesturing to Kate Ross, who nodded back, clearly began finishing her conversation with one of the ambulance drivers.
4. Doyle extracted himself with difficulty from Marge’s tender ministrations, catching the amused eye of Herb - or was it Alf? - in the wing mirror as he clambered out.
5. Doyle stalked straight past Bodie, standing waiting for him in the early evening light.
6. Bodie'd said it a hundred times - more, over the years, and so many more in his head.
7. London was shrouded in mist as Doyle tooled slowly through the traffic up the Fulham Road, heading for Bodie’s, riding on automatic, even as he weaved in and out between the cars to get ahead.
8. By the time Sunday came around, still raining heavily, Doyle’s flat was shining, he’d written to his mother, uncle and two of his sisters, had a go at baking bread, and was so bored he was contemplating a run even if he’d have to wear a swimsuit to do it.
9. “Northumberland.”
10. It was one of those May mornings where the sun shone, the birds sang, and because it was 6.30am on a Sunday, Doyle thought, swinging out the door to his flat, and pausing to take a breath of fresh air, you could actually hear them.
11. Doyle woke to an incessant ringing from the bedside table, dragged from deep sleep and dreams before his alarm went off.
12. Underhill had found them.
13. "Look at that." Doyle gestured out the window at their view of the snow-covered street with his cup of coffee.
14. The sun had unexpectedly come out, and the summer felt almost like summer, which wasn't what Bodie'd expected when he'd dressed for the grey sky that had lowered sullenly outside his window that morning.
15. It’s never Valentine’s day for them.
16. “I’m gonna put it in my letter, you know.
17. Something was wrong with Bodie.
18. As most right-thinking people should know, it has never been hard to tell the difference between a Scotsman with a grievance and a Ray(mond Doyle) of sunshine, but on this particular day, in this particular office on one of the more discreet streets in Whitehall, William Andrew Philip Bodie found himself having trouble.
19. Two o’clock, Bodie thought as chimes rang out in the downstairs flat, and all is well.
20. The world rushed past outside the train in blurs of green and yellow and sky blue, cut by darker lines of trees and bushes, dotted white now and then with sheep, or brown with cows.
Huh - interesting... I can't see any patterns myself! Can anyone else? I was going to say that if it's Pros I usually start with Doyle, but that's not true. All but two of them, both written for the Yuletide challenge, are Pros. *g* Quite a few are scene-setting, but definitely not all... nope, no patterns that I can see!
And pick my favourite opening line... not sure I can do that either, cos they're quite different... I like #1 because it feels melancholy to me, and #7 because I quite like imagining it, #10 because it makes me feel warm and blue-skyed (did I mention it's cold today?!) and #18 because it was fun to write...
Does anyone who's read this far have a favourite line from those above? Or maybe one you don't like?!
Rules: 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. Then tag 10 authors.
No tags, because there's barely that many of us on lj any more anyway, and lots of people have already done it... *g*
1. They came together that night because neither of them had any other place to go.
2. “My Will, the watchman,” Merriman had called him, and for years Will had watched in the imperfect world, growing up in it, been Old One and boy in the calm after the storm.
3. They watched Cowley stride away, ignoring the milling police, gesturing to Kate Ross, who nodded back, clearly began finishing her conversation with one of the ambulance drivers.
4. Doyle extracted himself with difficulty from Marge’s tender ministrations, catching the amused eye of Herb - or was it Alf? - in the wing mirror as he clambered out.
5. Doyle stalked straight past Bodie, standing waiting for him in the early evening light.
6. Bodie'd said it a hundred times - more, over the years, and so many more in his head.
7. London was shrouded in mist as Doyle tooled slowly through the traffic up the Fulham Road, heading for Bodie’s, riding on automatic, even as he weaved in and out between the cars to get ahead.
8. By the time Sunday came around, still raining heavily, Doyle’s flat was shining, he’d written to his mother, uncle and two of his sisters, had a go at baking bread, and was so bored he was contemplating a run even if he’d have to wear a swimsuit to do it.
9. “Northumberland.”
10. It was one of those May mornings where the sun shone, the birds sang, and because it was 6.30am on a Sunday, Doyle thought, swinging out the door to his flat, and pausing to take a breath of fresh air, you could actually hear them.
11. Doyle woke to an incessant ringing from the bedside table, dragged from deep sleep and dreams before his alarm went off.
12. Underhill had found them.
13. "Look at that." Doyle gestured out the window at their view of the snow-covered street with his cup of coffee.
14. The sun had unexpectedly come out, and the summer felt almost like summer, which wasn't what Bodie'd expected when he'd dressed for the grey sky that had lowered sullenly outside his window that morning.
15. It’s never Valentine’s day for them.
16. “I’m gonna put it in my letter, you know.
17. Something was wrong with Bodie.
18. As most right-thinking people should know, it has never been hard to tell the difference between a Scotsman with a grievance and a Ray(mond Doyle) of sunshine, but on this particular day, in this particular office on one of the more discreet streets in Whitehall, William Andrew Philip Bodie found himself having trouble.
19. Two o’clock, Bodie thought as chimes rang out in the downstairs flat, and all is well.
20. The world rushed past outside the train in blurs of green and yellow and sky blue, cut by darker lines of trees and bushes, dotted white now and then with sheep, or brown with cows.
Huh - interesting... I can't see any patterns myself! Can anyone else? I was going to say that if it's Pros I usually start with Doyle, but that's not true. All but two of them, both written for the Yuletide challenge, are Pros. *g* Quite a few are scene-setting, but definitely not all... nope, no patterns that I can see!
And pick my favourite opening line... not sure I can do that either, cos they're quite different... I like #1 because it feels melancholy to me, and #7 because I quite like imagining it, #10 because it makes me feel warm and blue-skyed (did I mention it's cold today?!) and #18 because it was fun to write...
Does anyone who's read this far have a favourite line from those above? Or maybe one you don't like?!