Friday Five First Sentences — Back By Popular Demand
So, I used to try to do “this thing” every Friday way back when (before I knew what memes were) as a writing exercise.
What’s “this thing“, you ask?
Is it some weird cult thing? (That’s a fair question from the few people who know I grew up in New Orleans and went to a few Voodoo rituals.)
Naw, it’s fairly safe, though mentally challenging. It’s good for the writer’s soul.
A long time ago, in a city far far away, I had a writing circle where I encouraged the group to write five sentences that could be the first sentences of a story or novel. The intent is to draw readers in, to make them want to know more. The first sentence of short stories and novels and articles should grab the reader and make him or her unable to close the book and toss it away.
So, the object of this exercise or meme is to write five sentences that could be the first sentences of different stories each Friday and share them by posting them either here in the comments or on your own blog and post a link in the comments that you did so.
Tamara asked me to restart this exercise as way to get mentally ready for National Novel Writing Month. If there’s enough peer pressure interest, I’ll try to keep it going this time. 
O.K. So I guess that means, I need to start with my five 1rst Sentences…It’s been a while and I’m rusty…
- You wouldn’t know it to look at Delia now, but she’d been voted most likely to be abducted by aliens in high school.
- Joshua Crane was about to discover what it felt like to be the first man to fire the first bullet at the beginning of a war.
- Kayla watched as the winged man walked barefoot across the snow as if the cold didn’t bother him.
- Well, of course, no one wanted a Space Shuttle in their living room; that was just a given.
- “Well, no, I don’t recall any recent head injuries, why?” Samantha asked.
All right, now it’s your turn! 
tags: Friday Five 1rst Sentences, meme, bloghopping, writing, fiction, NaNoWriMo
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on October 13, 2006 at 12:46 pm
Tamara said:
Yay, thank you for indulging me! I think yours are good. I’m feeling rusty though, too, ugh!
Here are mine:
The rain fell harder now, soaking through their T-shirts and jeans and causing them both to shiver; Josie’s hair clung to her face in loose waves that reminded Shane of a statue of a Greek goddess he once saw in one of his mother’s heavy, colorful books.
After Teresa’s graduation party, when the last of the loud, over-confident teenagers had driven away in their hand-me-down cars, all that remained were half-empty cups, plates full of cake crumbs, and the echoes of their noisy voices, which sounded suspiciously like Selma’s own lost youth, mocking her.
When Betsy saw live mouse embryos in the kitchen refrigerator, she decided she’d finally had enough of her husband’s newfound interest in science.
Cara looked up the recipe for Mark’s favorite meal, pasta puttanesca, and was a little taken aback to learn that “puttanesca” meant “the way a whore would make it.”
After I broke Jimmy’s favorite CD, carelessly closing the carousel while it was only halfway in the tray, I sat on the floor and sobbed for two hours.
on October 13, 2006 at 12:48 pm
Tamara said:
Man, mine are so frakking long!
on October 13, 2006 at 12:53 pm
n. mallory said:
OK I really liked the third one and the fourth one just maked me LOL. Wonder why.
on October 13, 2006 at 12:55 pm
Tamara said:
LOL, I thought you might get a kick out of that one.
Hmm, #3? Thanks. I guess it has potential!
I was most intrigued by your head injuries one. Thanks again, and I’ll look forward to next Friday!
on October 13, 2006 at 2:42 pm
Jane said:
1.The buttons popped off his shirt like corn kernels.
2. The whir of the fan seemed to pause briefly as the gunman’s bullets pellted the room like cake batter.
3. Pugly was soon to discover what would happen if he just stretched up a bit more and….
4. He removed the first section slowly. How had he come to this point?
5. The dappled hand cast shadows across the sunlit room like reflections across the water.
on October 13, 2006 at 5:46 pm
n. mallory said:
Jane — What great descriptive prose! I can hear and feel the first one.
O.K. I’m going to get serious and start working on next week’s. I have such problems with description.