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is predictability a bad thing?
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inksplotched: post the first line from your fifteen most recent fics and look for a trend.
It seems I am terribly predictable when it comes to first lines. They tend to be descriptive, contain at least one name and rarely, if at all, contain dialogue. I was sure that I used dialogue as an opening line more often, but apparently not. The length, at least, doesn't seem to be predictable, but the rest does.
So I was wondering, is predictability a bad thing when it comes to first lines? And can anyone see anymore trends that I'm missing?
1) Mal whistled as he grabbed the rails at each side of the short staircase with both hands and swung himself up into the bridge, the soles of his boots just missing the steps, then froze, all happy thoughts of an upcoming deal fleeing his mind at the sight in front of him.
2) They call it The Shed, although really it's a stone outhouse.
3) It happened during the war.
4) Andromeda sits by the lake with a straight back and her legs stretched out in front of her, neatly crossed at the ankle.
5) This is how Rita celebrates her birthday: elated knowing her work will decorate the front page of tomorrow's Prophet, leaning back against soft pillows on a queen-sized bed in a luxurious hotel, an entertaining young man with a wicked tongue and green ink drying on his chest lying next to her, champagne sparkling in crystal glasses on a nearby table, and smirking to herself as the clock hands stroke midnight.
6) Her name was Margarita, which was apparently a posh version of 'Margaret', but she thought it sounded like a smelly, foreign food.
7) She feels the blanket and then the lighter sheet pulled back, feels cool air cover her body instead, but she doesn't open her eyes.
8) Ron gets a new Chuddley Canons’ poster for his ninth birthday; a shiny new one all to himself that’s bright like his hair and the players swooshing around on their brooms are what he wants to be.
9) Dennis and Colin Creevey did not attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the academic year of 1997-1998, yet somehow Colin ended up living in the Room of Requirement for at least five months before becoming a hero.
10) Jayne walks onto the bridge and there’s a pair of legs in a pilot’s jumpsuit trousers sticking out from under the main flight console.
11) Kaylee is girl who likes engines and a girl who likes sex and she’s not ashamed of either.
12) The first thing he learns as a Trainee Dragon Keeper is how to shovel shit.
13) “Warrington, Charles” was Sorted into Slytherin and then Professor McGonagall’s lips quirked upwards into a small smile as she called for “Weasley, Fred.”
14) Ginny Weasley was not a fan of Valentine’s Day.
15) His mother is cold, a sculpture carved in ice with pale perfection.
inksplotched: post the first line from your fifteen most recent fics and look for a trend. It seems I am terribly predictable when it comes to first lines. They tend to be descriptive, contain at least one name and rarely, if at all, contain dialogue. I was sure that I used dialogue as an opening line more often, but apparently not. The length, at least, doesn't seem to be predictable, but the rest does.
So I was wondering, is predictability a bad thing when it comes to first lines? And can anyone see anymore trends that I'm missing?
1) Mal whistled as he grabbed the rails at each side of the short staircase with both hands and swung himself up into the bridge, the soles of his boots just missing the steps, then froze, all happy thoughts of an upcoming deal fleeing his mind at the sight in front of him.
2) They call it The Shed, although really it's a stone outhouse.
3) It happened during the war.
4) Andromeda sits by the lake with a straight back and her legs stretched out in front of her, neatly crossed at the ankle.
5) This is how Rita celebrates her birthday: elated knowing her work will decorate the front page of tomorrow's Prophet, leaning back against soft pillows on a queen-sized bed in a luxurious hotel, an entertaining young man with a wicked tongue and green ink drying on his chest lying next to her, champagne sparkling in crystal glasses on a nearby table, and smirking to herself as the clock hands stroke midnight.
6) Her name was Margarita, which was apparently a posh version of 'Margaret', but she thought it sounded like a smelly, foreign food.
7) She feels the blanket and then the lighter sheet pulled back, feels cool air cover her body instead, but she doesn't open her eyes.
8) Ron gets a new Chuddley Canons’ poster for his ninth birthday; a shiny new one all to himself that’s bright like his hair and the players swooshing around on their brooms are what he wants to be.
9) Dennis and Colin Creevey did not attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the academic year of 1997-1998, yet somehow Colin ended up living in the Room of Requirement for at least five months before becoming a hero.
10) Jayne walks onto the bridge and there’s a pair of legs in a pilot’s jumpsuit trousers sticking out from under the main flight console.
11) Kaylee is girl who likes engines and a girl who likes sex and she’s not ashamed of either.
12) The first thing he learns as a Trainee Dragon Keeper is how to shovel shit.
13) “Warrington, Charles” was Sorted into Slytherin and then Professor McGonagall’s lips quirked upwards into a small smile as she called for “Weasley, Fred.”
14) Ginny Weasley was not a fan of Valentine’s Day.
15) His mother is cold, a sculpture carved in ice with pale perfection.
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Ahh, someone else who likes using names and descriptions to start stories off. *hugs*
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great opening lines! They hook you. - Thank you!