First Lines Memes
Sep. 1st, 2008 01:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
out_thereFirst lines of the last 25 stories:
1. Most stories -- about himself, at least -- Jack likes.
2. Alex takes his time.
3. The trouble with having a bright, precocious teenaged daughter was that sometimes ridiculous things came out of her mouth.
4. Jack pauses at the end of his tale, allows a dramatic moment for the punch line to sink in.
5. Ianto tries not to think about who Jack's slept with before him.
6. When Ianto suggests they go camping, Jack's not sure how to take it.
7. It's an icy winter morning, and Ianto's breath steams in the air as he rubs his hands together, pledging to remember his gloves tomorrow.
8. Jack watches Ianto as often as he can.
9. Jack talks his way in, flashes ID and charms the guard, then sneaks down the corridor.
10. Ianto doesn't call in sick; he sends a text message to Jack's phone.
11. When Ianto decided to go to the local Tescos, he wanted the following things:
1. Milk
2. Cif
3. More soap for the employee bathrooms
4. More shampoo and conditioner for the employee bathrooms (the last brush with chartreuse alien goo left all five of them compulsively showering for days), and
5. Salt (they never run out of pepper but they always run out of salt).
12. Jack walked through the Tourist Office and gave a double-take when he noticed Ianto standing beside the doorway, shoulders flat against the wall, eyes closed and lips moving soundlessly.
13. Jack's in the middle of saying, "At least it's only a temporary thing. Last time I was suddenly female it lasted for a month of corsets and heeled boots. These days the dresses are much less terrifying. And the heels do make me look good," when Ianto shoots him an annoyed look over his shoulder.
14. "As far as zombie's go," Ianto said calmly, helping Jack lift the long wooden seat and use it to barricade the pub's door, "I'll accept Owen but that's where I draw the line."
15. Ianto picks up his ringing mobile and flicks it open. "Hello?"
16. The Weevil snarls, twisting away from Jack's hold, bounding down the alley, but Ianto has the spray in his hand.
Mind you, that's a 5 things fic, so technically, there's another four opening lines:
- They wait until the fourth hour to call Martha.
- "You know what you need?" Jack asks and it's a rhetorical question but Ianto's had five hours sleep over the last two days and he's spent the last four hours on his feet, retconning witnesses.
- They bury an empty casket.
- "And you doubted my piloting skills!"
17. After Tosh's message plays, it closes itself and disappears from the screen.
18. Jack brushes a hand along Ianto's temple and Ianto can't help flinching a little.
19. People, like illnesses, have warning signs.
20. "You," Dean paused, leaning a hip against the dusty black car, and his tone was a mocking drawl, "hunt aliens."
21. The importance of good food couldn't be ignored.
22. Ten minutes later, Ianto steps into Jack's office, stopwatch in hand.
23. Ianto's full of surprises.
24. There are times when Mohinder feels like your Mohinder.
25. The first thing to go missing was his measuring tape.
Firstly, I counted all those drabbles, snippets and Friday random-Jack bits and pieces and had to go back to the 1st of April to hit 25. I feel like I don't write much these days, and this kind of proves it. I still post lots of drabbles, but the amount of beta-read full-length stories is decreasing.
Secondly, for someone who has an ongoing love-affair with the run-on sentence (anyone who's read my LJ entries can see that), I'm surprised by how many short sentences are here. I also like setting the POV character early (I noticed that within three sentences, each POV character is named). I prefer present tense these days (only 6 of those 25 are past-tense) and have spent most of my time thinking of Jack and Ianto (only three stories on this list aren't TW).
Thirdly, I don't start with dialogue anywhere near as often as I think I do. I always hear the dialogue first in a story1, so I worry about jumping right into the banter and leaving readers floundering. While script-style might be artistically fun for some, after reading in Sorkin fandoms (WW, SN), I know the horror of trying to read a story and not being able to tell who's saying what to who. So annoying.
But, huh, I think I've broken that bad habit.
1 Current example: I have a Prison Break story I want to write just because I can hear the Michael and Alex lines. And yet, by the time I write the scene-setting stuff, I have a fear I'll forget the banter.
And now, I'm going to lunch.
1. Most stories -- about himself, at least -- Jack likes.
2. Alex takes his time.
3. The trouble with having a bright, precocious teenaged daughter was that sometimes ridiculous things came out of her mouth.
4. Jack pauses at the end of his tale, allows a dramatic moment for the punch line to sink in.
5. Ianto tries not to think about who Jack's slept with before him.
6. When Ianto suggests they go camping, Jack's not sure how to take it.
7. It's an icy winter morning, and Ianto's breath steams in the air as he rubs his hands together, pledging to remember his gloves tomorrow.
8. Jack watches Ianto as often as he can.
9. Jack talks his way in, flashes ID and charms the guard, then sneaks down the corridor.
10. Ianto doesn't call in sick; he sends a text message to Jack's phone.
11. When Ianto decided to go to the local Tescos, he wanted the following things:
1. Milk
2. Cif
3. More soap for the employee bathrooms
4. More shampoo and conditioner for the employee bathrooms (the last brush with chartreuse alien goo left all five of them compulsively showering for days), and
5. Salt (they never run out of pepper but they always run out of salt).
12. Jack walked through the Tourist Office and gave a double-take when he noticed Ianto standing beside the doorway, shoulders flat against the wall, eyes closed and lips moving soundlessly.
13. Jack's in the middle of saying, "At least it's only a temporary thing. Last time I was suddenly female it lasted for a month of corsets and heeled boots. These days the dresses are much less terrifying. And the heels do make me look good," when Ianto shoots him an annoyed look over his shoulder.
14. "As far as zombie's go," Ianto said calmly, helping Jack lift the long wooden seat and use it to barricade the pub's door, "I'll accept Owen but that's where I draw the line."
15. Ianto picks up his ringing mobile and flicks it open. "Hello?"
16. The Weevil snarls, twisting away from Jack's hold, bounding down the alley, but Ianto has the spray in his hand.
Mind you, that's a 5 things fic, so technically, there's another four opening lines:
- They wait until the fourth hour to call Martha.
- "You know what you need?" Jack asks and it's a rhetorical question but Ianto's had five hours sleep over the last two days and he's spent the last four hours on his feet, retconning witnesses.
- They bury an empty casket.
- "And you doubted my piloting skills!"
17. After Tosh's message plays, it closes itself and disappears from the screen.
18. Jack brushes a hand along Ianto's temple and Ianto can't help flinching a little.
19. People, like illnesses, have warning signs.
20. "You," Dean paused, leaning a hip against the dusty black car, and his tone was a mocking drawl, "hunt aliens."
21. The importance of good food couldn't be ignored.
22. Ten minutes later, Ianto steps into Jack's office, stopwatch in hand.
23. Ianto's full of surprises.
24. There are times when Mohinder feels like your Mohinder.
25. The first thing to go missing was his measuring tape.
Firstly, I counted all those drabbles, snippets and Friday random-Jack bits and pieces and had to go back to the 1st of April to hit 25. I feel like I don't write much these days, and this kind of proves it. I still post lots of drabbles, but the amount of beta-read full-length stories is decreasing.
Secondly, for someone who has an ongoing love-affair with the run-on sentence (anyone who's read my LJ entries can see that), I'm surprised by how many short sentences are here. I also like setting the POV character early (I noticed that within three sentences, each POV character is named). I prefer present tense these days (only 6 of those 25 are past-tense) and have spent most of my time thinking of Jack and Ianto (only three stories on this list aren't TW).
Thirdly, I don't start with dialogue anywhere near as often as I think I do. I always hear the dialogue first in a story1, so I worry about jumping right into the banter and leaving readers floundering. While script-style might be artistically fun for some, after reading in Sorkin fandoms (WW, SN), I know the horror of trying to read a story and not being able to tell who's saying what to who. So annoying.
But, huh, I think I've broken that bad habit.
1 Current example: I have a Prison Break story I want to write just because I can hear the Michael and Alex lines. And yet, by the time I write the scene-setting stuff, I have a fear I'll forget the banter.
And now, I'm going to lunch.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 07:26 am (UTC)*waits impatiently for Dean and Ianto to start making out*
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 08:12 pm (UTC)