Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Opening Sentences That Make Like A Big Bum And Fan Out--

I remember having a conversation a few years back with a woman about writing stories. She said she had lots of great ideas , but that she could never come up with the perfect opening sentence.

If she could just write an opening line, she could write a great novel and sell millions of copies and move to Beverly Hills and throw swimming pool parties where all the women who ever appeared on Seinfeld as his girlfriend would show up and tell her how fabulous her taste in patio furniture was.

But because of that opening line, here she was stuck in Podunk, trying to sell real estate to poor people with goats.

Now her plight concerned me just a little bit, so I tossed out some opening sentences that would have made great stories, only they were not quite what she was looking for. (I think she was looking for a free ride to Beverly Hills’ pool parties- I suggested she take one of them bus tours.)

I had such a good time opening up stories without actually having to write them, that it gave me some ideas.

If I wrote some opening lines, would some blogger take that line and add a line to it? Would they then pass it on? Would others follow suit? After fifty lines, would it be a story and would it ever come back here? Would people get a kick out of contributing to a mass-written story?

Who knows?

Every time I try and start some kind of blogger thingy it falls flat on the skillet and fries into crispy little bits of nothing.

So I am not very optimistic.

But if you are brilliant and want to display your brilliance, here are three opening sentences to three different possible stories. Notice the number (1) at the end of these sentences. Take one of these sentences, write your following sentence, and then number it (2). See? Then ask your readers to add a sentence, on their web page, and they write (3) after it. The story is done after (50) is reached. Hopefully, somebody will send it back here for shits and giggles.




A- The late day sun struck the Mercedes at the most inopportune of angles, spreading a sheet of intense light across the dirty windshield.(1) http://aeleope.blogspot.com/

B-When I was still living at home, a Southern gentleman stepped onto our front porch, knocked, asked for my mother and then ran off with her.(1) http://aeleope.blogspot.com/

C-Some of the ugliest humanoids you ever want to see, come from the planet Xeroid, where everyone’s basically an ass, and they all look like copies of each other. (1) http://aeleope.blogspot.com/

ADDENDUM- My blogger pal CHEESY just sent me these two flattering pictures of me and my dog when we met for a chat on the beach.

All I can say is, thank God I'm a big old fella, or I sure would look just like one.

Singleton decided that the party was to be in my comment box, and so, there is a story started in there. Meno decided to join in. What are the rest of y'all waiting for, Christmas in Israel? There is a story started and it needs you. BYO BTW...

14 comments:

singleton said...

"A- The late day sun struck the Mercedes at the most inopportune of angles, spreading a sheet of intense light across the dirty windshield.(1)

I braked, hard, but not hard enough....
The coconut colored coffee tattooed my uniformed legs...(2)

meno said...

A- The late day sun struck the Mercedes at the most inopportune of angles, spreading a sheet of intense light across the dirty windshield.(1)

I braked, hard, but not hard enough....
The coconut colored coffee tattooed my uniformed legs...(2)

"Perfect, just fucking perfect," i thought, looking down at the stains. both the old and the new. (3)

Scott from Oregon said...

"Perfect, just fucking perfect," i thought, looking down at the stains. both the old and the new. (3)

"There was no way I was going to meet his parents, LOOKING LIKE THIS!" (4)

Jeannie said...

5. I wondered if that offbeat little store on the way might have something that could pass as clothing.

singleton said...

6. I banged the Merecedes into reverse, and prayed....for bandanas, flags, souvenier towels....anything I could pretend was retro or noveau...or that I could simply squeeze my skinny little fanny into.

Scott from Oregon said...

Steam rose from the front grill and shrouded the Mercedes emblem in a surreal fog. (7)

LadyBronco said...

The sounds of the engine hissing and ticking made me realize I was gonna have to hoof it to that fucking offbeat store.(8)

Unknown said...

"What the fuck am I doing?" I thought, "this is Seattle, where EVERYONE has coffee stains on them somewhere, right?" (9)

little things said...

(10) But I wasn't right. I was wrong. There indeed was one person in Seattle minus coffee stains. And it wasn't me. It was that shining being directly ahead of me, ducking and covering in a futile attempt to avoid the rainsplatter. I caught a whiff of patchouli, and then the shop door shut quickly behind the running effort of my predecessor.

Unknown said...

I'm not contributing due to a major creativity deficit, but I do want to commend you on an awesome idea. ;)

Liv said...

The shining and stainless fellow looked like a hot prospect but for his stench of patchouli which, I quickly surmised, was more related to being an aging pothead than a young metrosexual wearing Prada eau de parfum.

Liv said...

(11)

singleton said...

I took a deep breath, ducked under the rusty rainspout, cluncking my head on the windchimes, and followed him in.....hell, maybe I'd follow him anywhere.... (12)

Jean said...

Patchouli Man was making a desperate attempt to dry himself while standing behind the counter of this sad excuse for a clothing store. Apparently, he worked here. (13)