jedibuttercup (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jedibuttercup) wrote2014-09-15 12:18 am
jedibuttercup) wrote2014-09-15 12:18 am
First Lines Meme, Fourth Edition
*cracking knuckles* Ten left from last year's Wishlist. I had a rough start to the year, but I think I'm mostly back on my stride now. Time to get 'er done. But while more plotlines percolate ...
First Lines! Previously meme'd in 2008, 2012, and back in April:
Post the first line from your 25 most recent fanfics and try to find a pattern.
Okay, then; with 1 being the oldest of the group and 25 the most recent...
1. Buffy pushed open the door of the Exotic Spice and Tea shop, smiling as she caught sight of Monroe bent over a partially disassembled watch at the counter, poking at its innards with a tiny screwdriver.
2. When the Volm first dropped out of the sky over Charleston, with their bipedal bodies and big liquid eyes and most importantly their offer of advanced technology to help fight off the Espheni, Tom Mason remembered humanity's first offer of alliance from an alien and felt a rock form in his gut.
3. When the Accountant asked John Milton, on the long ride back to Hell, when exactly he decided he could trust Piper Sparks with his granddaughter's life, he said it was when she burst out of Jonah King's RV, eyes flashing and hands all cut up from a fight.
4. The Hong Kong Shatterdome had been the first one built, back in the early days when the Pan Pacific Defense Corps had all the funding it could ask for and more.
5. At first, Tom Mason didn't know what had woken him.
6. Buffy Summers staggered as the paneled flooring of the manor house's entry hall shook beneath her feet, thinking irritable thoughts at the Powers That Be regarding their timing.
7. Parker had been their mastermind for barely a year when the first Kaiju made landfall... and suddenly made their business even more relevant.
8. "Our mountains," Dawn sang softly from the passenger seat of the car, staring out at the endless gold and green fields passing by, interrupted only by the occasional cow or marshy pond.
9. Buffy lifted her head from her crossed forearms with a tired sigh as she heard Giles' footsteps approaching.
10. "WesleyPryce," Teal'c said quietly, eyeing him as they stood on the bridge of the small cargo ship.
11. Jo Lupo slowly lowered her borrowed weapon, breathing hard as the adrenaline of the unexpected fight seemed to dump into her system all at once.
12. The woman with the honey-blonde hair gestured dramatically across the counter.
13. The thing was, while the death of the last Ba'al clone was the effective end of both the rule of the Goa'uld System Lords and the vast global conspiracy known as the Trust, it was not the end of the Goa'uld as a species.
14. "I know you've been researching the Master," Angel said, looming in the doorway of Rupert Giles' office.
15. As far as Spike as concerned, space travel was a godsend for vampires.
16. "So. Ms. Summers," Eliot's boss said, linking his fingers together atop the table between them.
17. There was no mistake about it: Inara Serra was an elegant woman.
18. Letty was only a little surprised when she woke up in the hospital, considering the last thing she remembered was looking down the barrel of Fenix's gun.
19. Buffy frowned as she cross-checked the list of Potentials the Council had released – aka, ditched – back in the 70s with the library of Watchers' journals that had, luckily, been scanned and saved to a secure website before the big boom.
20. Jack Carter shook his head as he stepped out of the behavioral scientists' lab at GD, leaving the visiting psychologist-- a woman named Buffy Summers-- inside, packing up her belongings.
21. Buffy looked up from her desk at the sound of a knock against her open office door, and broke into an appreciative smile at the sight of her visitor.
22. For the first few seconds after they cross the Rainbow Bridge, Tara simply basks in the awareness of being back on Earth again, the gentle brush of its magical currents against her spirit.
23. The day Mr. Dresden appeared on the front steps of the Library, it had been more than a decade since my last overt involvement in the supernatural world.
24. AUDIO INTERCEPT: 917-XXX-XXXX
25. Identity is a slippery thing.
Of the 25 lines of fic:
That's ... pretty close to the last time I did this, actually. A few lines were wordier and/or more detached than my usual, but other than that, my style hasn't changed much in awhile: I have a clear preference for beginning a story in medias res when I can, tightening on the chosen character POV right at the start, and using lots of scene-setting words.
... oh! That is one difference: the female POVs outnumber the male ones this time, if you check the referenced stories.
First Lines! Previously meme'd in 2008, 2012, and back in April:
Post the first line from your 25 most recent fanfics and try to find a pattern.
Okay, then; with 1 being the oldest of the group and 25 the most recent...
1. Buffy pushed open the door of the Exotic Spice and Tea shop, smiling as she caught sight of Monroe bent over a partially disassembled watch at the counter, poking at its innards with a tiny screwdriver.
2. When the Volm first dropped out of the sky over Charleston, with their bipedal bodies and big liquid eyes and most importantly their offer of advanced technology to help fight off the Espheni, Tom Mason remembered humanity's first offer of alliance from an alien and felt a rock form in his gut.
3. When the Accountant asked John Milton, on the long ride back to Hell, when exactly he decided he could trust Piper Sparks with his granddaughter's life, he said it was when she burst out of Jonah King's RV, eyes flashing and hands all cut up from a fight.
4. The Hong Kong Shatterdome had been the first one built, back in the early days when the Pan Pacific Defense Corps had all the funding it could ask for and more.
5. At first, Tom Mason didn't know what had woken him.
6. Buffy Summers staggered as the paneled flooring of the manor house's entry hall shook beneath her feet, thinking irritable thoughts at the Powers That Be regarding their timing.
7. Parker had been their mastermind for barely a year when the first Kaiju made landfall... and suddenly made their business even more relevant.
8. "Our mountains," Dawn sang softly from the passenger seat of the car, staring out at the endless gold and green fields passing by, interrupted only by the occasional cow or marshy pond.
9. Buffy lifted her head from her crossed forearms with a tired sigh as she heard Giles' footsteps approaching.
10. "WesleyPryce," Teal'c said quietly, eyeing him as they stood on the bridge of the small cargo ship.
11. Jo Lupo slowly lowered her borrowed weapon, breathing hard as the adrenaline of the unexpected fight seemed to dump into her system all at once.
12. The woman with the honey-blonde hair gestured dramatically across the counter.
13. The thing was, while the death of the last Ba'al clone was the effective end of both the rule of the Goa'uld System Lords and the vast global conspiracy known as the Trust, it was not the end of the Goa'uld as a species.
14. "I know you've been researching the Master," Angel said, looming in the doorway of Rupert Giles' office.
15. As far as Spike as concerned, space travel was a godsend for vampires.
16. "So. Ms. Summers," Eliot's boss said, linking his fingers together atop the table between them.
17. There was no mistake about it: Inara Serra was an elegant woman.
18. Letty was only a little surprised when she woke up in the hospital, considering the last thing she remembered was looking down the barrel of Fenix's gun.
19. Buffy frowned as she cross-checked the list of Potentials the Council had released – aka, ditched – back in the 70s with the library of Watchers' journals that had, luckily, been scanned and saved to a secure website before the big boom.
20. Jack Carter shook his head as he stepped out of the behavioral scientists' lab at GD, leaving the visiting psychologist-- a woman named Buffy Summers-- inside, packing up her belongings.
21. Buffy looked up from her desk at the sound of a knock against her open office door, and broke into an appreciative smile at the sight of her visitor.
22. For the first few seconds after they cross the Rainbow Bridge, Tara simply basks in the awareness of being back on Earth again, the gentle brush of its magical currents against her spirit.
23. The day Mr. Dresden appeared on the front steps of the Library, it had been more than a decade since my last overt involvement in the supernatural world.
24. AUDIO INTERCEPT: 917-XXX-XXXX
25. Identity is a slippery thing.
Of the 25 lines of fic:
- Include dialogue: 4
- Present vs Past Tense: 2 vs 22 vs one indeterminate (computer output only)
- Include at least one comma, colon, semicolon, ellipsis, or parenthetical: 22
- Include name of POV character: 16
- First Person POV: 1
That's ... pretty close to the last time I did this, actually. A few lines were wordier and/or more detached than my usual, but other than that, my style hasn't changed much in awhile: I have a clear preference for beginning a story in medias res when I can, tightening on the chosen character POV right at the start, and using lots of scene-setting words.
... oh! That is one difference: the female POVs outnumber the male ones this time, if you check the referenced stories.