An aspiring author confronts the literary demons of the world and sets off in search of an agent.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

An exercise in first lines

Apparently, the first line of a book is of great importance. It must be true: I read it in a book! Here are the results of my recent efforts at crafting first lines...

I once loved a woman who loved the Muppets.

He counted the bars as they went up, each like a giant meat hook mounted upside down, and wondered how many it would it take to do the job.

This is a story of three crows gathering in the moonlight, fireflies dancing by a stream, and dust, more beautiful than stars, floating in the sunlight.

If you had to write a story to save your life, what would you write?

It is Thursday and I am blind.

Once there was a rose and a sword.

I must have been born with a broken heart; that is the only possible explanation.

Time travelers are dicks, destiny is for douchebags and eternity ain't necessarily forever.


Deep in a cavern, far beneath the Black Mountain, the demon woke from his nightmare.

Above a mountain glade a procession of Black Butterflies followed the trail of blood, dark and shiny upon the grass, towards the stricken, snow-white deer: in their wake, the Golden Dragon followed.


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