20 first lines thingie
Snagged from pandarus:
List the first lines of your last twenty stories. See if you find any patterns.
1. The air smells of damp earth, old stone, and something bright-hot that sears Dean's lungs, reminding him of how the Impala smells after it's been in the August sun for hours.
2. They'd been in Pensacola, Florida since January, the balance of the school year.
3. They hung back by the long tables covered with food, Dean scooping up as many mini-quiches and cold cuts as he could juggle on a small paper plate, while Sam kept tugging at his tie.
4. A few yards from the fence at the eastern edge of Bobby's property, Dean dipped the brush into the can of white paint.
5. It had taken an awful lot of rock salt just to take out one ghost.
6. Dean's pretty sure his first mistake was going after the ice spirit without Sam.
7. They're about halfway between Boise City and Kerrick, not in any particular hurry with a hunt finished behind them.
8. Beneath Dean's fingers Sam's jacket feels rough and also soft from fraying.
9. After Alastair falls, there's a moment suspended while Castiel listens to Sam's breathing and watches the relentless mask of his face waver, soften to uncertainty.
10. He doesn't need rest, but the human body he occupies does.
11. The stars are sharp overhead, and the steady, restrained voice on the radio informs him that the temperature outside is eighteen degrees.
12. Alec began with running a trace on all of her aliases.
13. Dean woke at dawn with a prickly feeling on the back of his neck.
14. Dean thought it felt weird putting in the security codes, unlocking the door with the keys Mr. Gibbons had given them, walking in as if they belonged there, as if they'd been invited.
15. The van was a bargain, and with the money he'd saved Paul was able to get the used Commodore-60.
16. It was too hot in the van, and there were only so many times Alec could reboot the laptop in the hopes that the net connection would stick.
17. Merlin was thirsty, his stomach was empty, and his arm ached from the blows against his sword.
18. It's an hour after last call, and Dean stays while Ellen wipes down the tables.
19. Merlin knelt and added another log to the fire on Arthur's hearth.
20. It was really freakin' cold.
I write a lot of Supernatural fic. But I also dip into other fandoms. I use past tense mostly, but write in present tense quite a bit.
It amuses me that two stories in a row in two different fandoms started in a van. Oddly, while most of my stories are Supernatural, I don't start by mentioning the Impala (ETA: except that first one), and when I did specifically mention a vehicle it wasn't in SPN fic.
Heat and cold seems to figure a lot in my first lines. That looks like the most obvious pattern to me. Otherwise, I start with locating the characters, or giving their emotional/physical state (but I don't find that unusual).
What did surprise me is none of my recent fics have started with a line of dialogue. Because my perception was that I was the type to start fics with lines of dialogue but...I haven't been lately.
Huh. That was interesting.
I have another disk of Without a Trace to watch and--oh it's WEDNESDAY. Which means new Leverage. ♥
Any time it wants to stop raining, that would be nice.
List the first lines of your last twenty stories. See if you find any patterns.
1. The air smells of damp earth, old stone, and something bright-hot that sears Dean's lungs, reminding him of how the Impala smells after it's been in the August sun for hours.
2. They'd been in Pensacola, Florida since January, the balance of the school year.
3. They hung back by the long tables covered with food, Dean scooping up as many mini-quiches and cold cuts as he could juggle on a small paper plate, while Sam kept tugging at his tie.
4. A few yards from the fence at the eastern edge of Bobby's property, Dean dipped the brush into the can of white paint.
5. It had taken an awful lot of rock salt just to take out one ghost.
6. Dean's pretty sure his first mistake was going after the ice spirit without Sam.
7. They're about halfway between Boise City and Kerrick, not in any particular hurry with a hunt finished behind them.
8. Beneath Dean's fingers Sam's jacket feels rough and also soft from fraying.
9. After Alastair falls, there's a moment suspended while Castiel listens to Sam's breathing and watches the relentless mask of his face waver, soften to uncertainty.
10. He doesn't need rest, but the human body he occupies does.
11. The stars are sharp overhead, and the steady, restrained voice on the radio informs him that the temperature outside is eighteen degrees.
12. Alec began with running a trace on all of her aliases.
13. Dean woke at dawn with a prickly feeling on the back of his neck.
14. Dean thought it felt weird putting in the security codes, unlocking the door with the keys Mr. Gibbons had given them, walking in as if they belonged there, as if they'd been invited.
15. The van was a bargain, and with the money he'd saved Paul was able to get the used Commodore-60.
16. It was too hot in the van, and there were only so many times Alec could reboot the laptop in the hopes that the net connection would stick.
17. Merlin was thirsty, his stomach was empty, and his arm ached from the blows against his sword.
18. It's an hour after last call, and Dean stays while Ellen wipes down the tables.
19. Merlin knelt and added another log to the fire on Arthur's hearth.
20. It was really freakin' cold.
I write a lot of Supernatural fic. But I also dip into other fandoms. I use past tense mostly, but write in present tense quite a bit.
It amuses me that two stories in a row in two different fandoms started in a van. Oddly, while most of my stories are Supernatural, I don't start by mentioning the Impala (ETA: except that first one), and when I did specifically mention a vehicle it wasn't in SPN fic.
Heat and cold seems to figure a lot in my first lines. That looks like the most obvious pattern to me. Otherwise, I start with locating the characters, or giving their emotional/physical state (but I don't find that unusual).
What did surprise me is none of my recent fics have started with a line of dialogue. Because my perception was that I was the type to start fics with lines of dialogue but...I haven't been lately.
Huh. That was interesting.
I have another disk of Without a Trace to watch and--oh it's WEDNESDAY. Which means new Leverage. ♥
Any time it wants to stop raining, that would be nice.