Friday 5 September 2008

First Lines

I stole this one from Camille Alexa as it looked like fun. Plus I needed an excuse not to work on my current story.

Here are the rules:

List the first lines of the last 20 stories you have written:

1. Have you ever kissed a decomposing corpse? - untitled WIP.
2. “After the attempted robot revolution of 2017 we buried our robots in the oceans. - Cyclone of Painted Shells.
3. The carpetbagger climbed onto the back of the wagon taking with him Thomas Eagan’s bones. - Lazarus Jones' Creepy Carnival of Corpses.
4. Gold teeth shone as a pirate climbed out of a black cab, saluted a garden gnome and then clambered up the hill to Between House. - Trench Foot.
5. It was one of those accidental resurrections. - The Restoration of Purple Curtains & Other Things.
6. Vern Gobel won by a margin. - Nobody Smiling.
7. There’s a curious robot poking around my thoughts. - Curious Robot.
8. Rule one in the Doggett Household - don’t throw spitballs at Uncle Eric. - Uncle Eric's Leather Bound Tale.
9. When Daniel Borgfeldt told Marie Pickens, he wanted to see her dance he didn’t mean from the end of a rope. - Hand Scratched Note.
10. Not everybody wants to be famous. - Ugly Duckling.
11. The plastic lizard floated on its back in the stagnant pool of rainwater. - A Strange Artificial Light.
12. A crowd of humans gathered about Cappuccia. - The Coffee Fairy.
13. Dead Man Irwin Scherzer was in fact fifty-eight years living. - Chasing Alice out of Wonderland.
14. Artie wanted to look his best for the meeting with the Golf Club Secretary. - The Flat-Packed Golfer.
15. Alice peeled the Band-Aid off her forehead. - Cold Coffee Cups & Curious Things.
16. A flyer drifted a hundred feet down into the pit where Mack Johnson leant against a dribbling rain pipe, and where the giant Tarasov Baranowski folded paper. - Manipulating Paper Birds.
17. I want to say it was a face. - Beneath a Hungry Sky.
18. If the cracked eggshell in the centre of Fog Street was an indication of the size of the monster then it was tiny. - Sneakers on Asphalt.
19. The sombre giant bowed his head as the procession of funeral cars arrived at St. Bartholomew’s. - Through the Warped Eye of Death.
20. The field of red berries floated on the surface of the flooded bog. - The Dreadful Guise of Red Berries.

11 comments:

Jamie Eyberg said...

you're on. You will see my list before the end of the weekend.

Fox Lee said...

Tempting. My Dead Science story is roughly 1/3 finished and I'm running out of steam. Why do I mess with zombies?

Jamie Eyberg said...

I ran into the same thing with my dead science story. I just couldn't get it to go anywhere. List away!

Ed Wyrd said...

What makes you think I even HAVE 20 stories?

Cate Gardner said...

YAY, other players.

Ed - make them up. :)

Rich said...

Hi Cate,

Good to see that your writing is cracking along nicely. I can't believe you just have 20 stories like that - how damn prolofic are you?

Take it easy.

Rich (aka Rocket)

Carrie Harris said...

I think number 6 is my favorite! And no way I could do this one...

Angela said...

Loved reading your list #5, 8, & 18 were favorites.
I'd read 'hand scratched note' because i LOVE the title!

Fun list!

Aaron Polson said...

All are sooo good. You've got great voice, Cate. I really enjoyed 5,7,9.

Cate Gardner said...

Rich - How's it going? Hope you're racking up the acceptances.

Thanks for reading guys. :)

Anonymous said...

Number 19 was my favorite, and number fifteen gave me goosebumps because I know that's the one for Malpractice - and whatever's beneath that band-aid is NOT GOOD. Cheers, Cate!