Meme just for the sake of posting
Because I'm not writing at the moment (I keep making up mushy scenes in my head, and while I enjoy the mental roleplay, they don't compel me to commit them to written words), I shall meme, stolen from Calibrata. It's supposed to be the first line from my 25 most recent fanfics, but I only have 19 fanfics, so that's what it'll have to be. I've put comments after each one to try and help me see any supposed pattern.
1. OK, Hot Rod, Prowl’s voice came over the radio. Arcee’s group have ripped the plans from the Decepticons’ computer system. What’s the status up there with you? Soldiers in Waiting [Starting with identified dialogue; misleading sceneset.]
2. Blurr had used to be somebody.
Petty Dealings [Narrative exposition. Setting up a contrast.]
3. "I can't believe you let them follow you here!" Onslaught was fuming over Blast Off's radio as they watched the stricken Autobot shuttle plummet towards the planet Ted from two very different standpoints.
A Life of My Own Choosing [Dialogue, trying to get across exposition and sceneset without bogging down the start of the story. I had a lot of difficulty figuring out the starting point of this fic, and it changed a few times.]
4. "I think the answer may be in the Matrix-in the memories of the ancient Autobot leaders."
Soldiers First [A sort of cheat as this is dialogue from an episode. I started with that line, since it seemed to be the latest I could enter the cartoon scene and provide the context for the between-scene fic I was writing.]
5. The Short Fuse was one of the more peaceful bars in the mixed bag of societies and planets that made up the Orgenon Cluster.
He Who Dares [A location-set, and a bit of a conceit since I'm returning to a place of my own creation.]
6. Within a week of Moonracer coming online, five different Autobots had prophesied that she would die young.
Moment in the Sun [A slightly cryptic hook-line. Inappropriate too, since it stemmed from when the fic had a very different layout (Moonracer barely featured in the finished fic). I liked the line though, so I kept it anyway, but I probably should have been disciplined enough to lose it.]
7. They found her in a sylvan glade, plucking a single blossom from a tree.
Path to Enlightenment [Character intro; misleading sceneset. I wanted to start a fic with a passage that seemed very un-Transformers.]
8. "Blaster, no!" came the chorus from Bumblebee's front seats.
Bonds of Circumstance [Unidentified dialogue. Set up for an opening jokey-scene, moodset. Not an opening that I was ever inspired by.]
9. Contrary to popular story-telling tradition, the sight of a small spaceship shooting through space closely pursued by a vast armada / battleship is not a common one.
Personality Conflict [Narrative sceneset; satire]
10. An asteroid field had to be the last straw, Springer thought.
What I Can Do [Identified direct thought]
11. Pygmalion was as close to an artist as a Quintesson could be.
Pygmalion [Concept-opener; character intro]
12. Carly had had a bad day.
Transformers the Movie: What Really Happened [Short line, that would be repeated for POV shifts]
13. It was unimaginably vast, the sort of vessel that looked as if it could never land, because surely only the immensity of space could hold it.
Into the Labyrinth [Narrative sceneset. Grandiose opening sentence for a contrast with the anticlimactic end of the paragraph.]
14. Lithone, although a thriving and sophisticated civilisation, was hardly on the beaten track for any spacefarer.
The Farthest One Can Go is Full Circle [Very TF-specific hook here, as Lithone is famously the planet eaten at the start of TF:TM]
15. The vacuum of space provides the ultimate peace.
A Woman's Touch [Narrative sceneset]
16. "Giving up? Maybe... Call it what you like, but the fact is I'm not fighting anymore for a dead planet."
Mine is Not to Reason Why [Unattached dialogue. Theme introduction: fighting for a dead planet is the why of the title]
17. It's a fire lizard...
Cuckoo Dreams [Direct unattached thought; getting straight into the point of the story--this was also the title upon initial publication]
18. My name's Conspiracy. Not heard of me?
Conspiracy's Theory [Character introduction; 1st person narrator directly addressing the reader. I was going for an old fashioned noir detective story style-wise]
19. in rure. Bob et Dave adsunt.
Bob et Dave contra Hostes Alienigeni [This was written as a mock play for my Latin class. So it's a literal sceneset: stage directions]
And this reveals? Well, I already know that with first lines, I like to have a 'good' line (or paragraph). Something that I consider well-written, usually a slightly cryptic hook, in order to encourage the reader to pay attention to the words as well as the events of the story. This of course is purely according to my taste, and others may beg to differ.
What I've learned from this meme is that when I can't think of a nice line to open on, I tend to opt for in medias res dialogue. So there we go. It's also just interesting to look at all my first lines and decide if I still like them or not.
For the record, the first line of my probable 20th fic will be: In so many ways, they were such children.
1. OK, Hot Rod, Prowl’s voice came over the radio. Arcee’s group have ripped the plans from the Decepticons’ computer system. What’s the status up there with you? Soldiers in Waiting [Starting with identified dialogue; misleading sceneset.]
2. Blurr had used to be somebody.
Petty Dealings [Narrative exposition. Setting up a contrast.]
3. "I can't believe you let them follow you here!" Onslaught was fuming over Blast Off's radio as they watched the stricken Autobot shuttle plummet towards the planet Ted from two very different standpoints.
A Life of My Own Choosing [Dialogue, trying to get across exposition and sceneset without bogging down the start of the story. I had a lot of difficulty figuring out the starting point of this fic, and it changed a few times.]
4. "I think the answer may be in the Matrix-in the memories of the ancient Autobot leaders."
Soldiers First [A sort of cheat as this is dialogue from an episode. I started with that line, since it seemed to be the latest I could enter the cartoon scene and provide the context for the between-scene fic I was writing.]
5. The Short Fuse was one of the more peaceful bars in the mixed bag of societies and planets that made up the Orgenon Cluster.
He Who Dares [A location-set, and a bit of a conceit since I'm returning to a place of my own creation.]
6. Within a week of Moonracer coming online, five different Autobots had prophesied that she would die young.
Moment in the Sun [A slightly cryptic hook-line. Inappropriate too, since it stemmed from when the fic had a very different layout (Moonracer barely featured in the finished fic). I liked the line though, so I kept it anyway, but I probably should have been disciplined enough to lose it.]
7. They found her in a sylvan glade, plucking a single blossom from a tree.
Path to Enlightenment [Character intro; misleading sceneset. I wanted to start a fic with a passage that seemed very un-Transformers.]
8. "Blaster, no!" came the chorus from Bumblebee's front seats.
Bonds of Circumstance [Unidentified dialogue. Set up for an opening jokey-scene, moodset. Not an opening that I was ever inspired by.]
9. Contrary to popular story-telling tradition, the sight of a small spaceship shooting through space closely pursued by a vast armada / battleship is not a common one.
Personality Conflict [Narrative sceneset; satire]
10. An asteroid field had to be the last straw, Springer thought.
What I Can Do [Identified direct thought]
11. Pygmalion was as close to an artist as a Quintesson could be.
Pygmalion [Concept-opener; character intro]
12. Carly had had a bad day.
Transformers the Movie: What Really Happened [Short line, that would be repeated for POV shifts]
13. It was unimaginably vast, the sort of vessel that looked as if it could never land, because surely only the immensity of space could hold it.
Into the Labyrinth [Narrative sceneset. Grandiose opening sentence for a contrast with the anticlimactic end of the paragraph.]
14. Lithone, although a thriving and sophisticated civilisation, was hardly on the beaten track for any spacefarer.
The Farthest One Can Go is Full Circle [Very TF-specific hook here, as Lithone is famously the planet eaten at the start of TF:TM]
15. The vacuum of space provides the ultimate peace.
A Woman's Touch [Narrative sceneset]
16. "Giving up? Maybe... Call it what you like, but the fact is I'm not fighting anymore for a dead planet."
Mine is Not to Reason Why [Unattached dialogue. Theme introduction: fighting for a dead planet is the why of the title]
17. It's a fire lizard...
Cuckoo Dreams [Direct unattached thought; getting straight into the point of the story--this was also the title upon initial publication]
18. My name's Conspiracy. Not heard of me?
Conspiracy's Theory [Character introduction; 1st person narrator directly addressing the reader. I was going for an old fashioned noir detective story style-wise]
19. in rure. Bob et Dave adsunt.
Bob et Dave contra Hostes Alienigeni [This was written as a mock play for my Latin class. So it's a literal sceneset: stage directions]
And this reveals? Well, I already know that with first lines, I like to have a 'good' line (or paragraph). Something that I consider well-written, usually a slightly cryptic hook, in order to encourage the reader to pay attention to the words as well as the events of the story. This of course is purely according to my taste, and others may beg to differ.
What I've learned from this meme is that when I can't think of a nice line to open on, I tend to opt for in medias res dialogue. So there we go. It's also just interesting to look at all my first lines and decide if I still like them or not.
For the record, the first line of my probable 20th fic will be: In so many ways, they were such children.