First Lines

I'm skipping the fantasy one, but I did see a lot of potential in the spooky one. To each his own... And you should read my "First Lines" piece!

Yeah I hear this. Feels weird to have two going on at the same time too...I get the idea of the prompt, but 100% with you that it removes most of my interest when I see the feed. A better idea would be that if you HAVE to have a line they've suggested, that you can put it anywhere in the story you want. Or even like, your story needs to revolve around (haha) a door, or start with a door, but leave it open. That's where the fun is- when you see different takes on the specs. But this is rinse and repeat to start, and it's immediately off-putting.

Real thing, I don't really like these first line challenges either, and don't get me wrong, there are plenty of unique pieces under these prompts, but I feel like it puts limits around our creativity at some point...

I laughed pretty hard three scrolls in... but I agree whole heartedly. An opening line is everything for me. I don't even read descriptions of book anymore, I simply go row by row opening books to find the best first sentence... a challenge where crafting the magic first line is taken from you always feels like a theft and makes the work feel shallow.

I agree wholeheartedly, LC. I have maybe entered one fiction challenge that gave me a first line prompt. I don't mind having to use something in a story (like a little black book, bottle of Merlot, or something like that), but I don't like being fed a first - or final line - either for whatever reason. Another site often gives this same type of prompt and I seldom enter a story on it either.

Wow LC.... If I didn't know any better I'd say you didn't care for the newest set of prompts!! 😂

I have ADHD, so my attention span is veryyyyy low and I get bored super easily. So I get what you mean. But what I dislike more than being given an opening line is being given the ending line. Because although the beginning is the same, there's just so many possibilities on how the writer is gonna expand and end the story. But with the same ending, that makes me even bored because no matter how good the opening or plot of the story is, I already know how it's gonna end. I hope that makes sense, lol

But I think we can vary the opening line a little to suit the story. Just keep its essence?

I don't think you'll find anyone to disagree with your first line rant. I'm tired of 1 fiction challenge v/s multiple poem challenges.

Couldn’t agree with you more, L.C. I’m going to enter the horror one for sure but I wish they would have said to just include that line somewhere instead of forcing an opening line

I completely misread Jane Austen's line - I thought it said: 'Must be in want of wine' and I thought - yep, preach! Ha! Enjoyed your article - I think I stop reading the first line and skip straight to the second after a while! Must be worse for the judges. Oh and congrats on placing in the Unreliable challenge - THAT'S AWESOME!!!!!!

Preach it, LC. I already promised myself after the last one of these I entered that I would never do it again and I plan to keep my promise. Let me decide how I will tackle the challenge, please, please, please!

A great point. It is definitely limiting to have a "first line" prompt. I think it'd be better if the challenge was write something inspired by this line: ____! Then you can still write on the rule, and you can still write on the backwards flowing river, but without subjecting all writers to the same hook! I think it makes us feel compelled to write greater hooks in the second and third lines, isolating the first. I love how you raised this issue! I totally thought it was a poem!! I was gonna count the lines to see if maybe you were trying to morse code us! Good thing I read further!!

Ha! I had to read through the entire story to finally understand what you are venting about, LC. Haven't seen the new challenges yet and it's highly unlikely I will submit anything, so you won't have to worry about my stuff in your feed with the prescribed opening lines.

You began with an interesting poem! But there's no pleasing some people, lol

Hold on. They both have prescribed opening lines? oh ffs

So.... is this a bad time to tell you that I'm planning on entering 100 entries for both of these challenges? 😂 But seriously, you won't have to worry about me doing this, so that's something 😂😂😂

Definitely a dark and stormy story.

I can definitely see your point here. It can get boring to read the same opening line again and again, and the opening line is the key to hooking readers, so that could definitely be bad for readership. However, I have also enjoyed the creativity that I've seen people put into the Spooky Micro so far and the variety of stories that have come as a result of different people's takes on the same opening line, so there's something to be said for giving people a springboard to work with. Still, I do wish that they hadn't made both of the fiction challenges ones that require you to use a provided first line. It seems like a waste of creativity and will probably get boring by the time both challenges close.