scripsi

Snagged from all over. I won’t tag anyone- just do it! :)

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag 10 authors!

1. Beth played chess in the park for several hours until she was quite hungry and freezing cold. She walked back towards the hotel when a man standing by a large car approached her. Just by looking at him, she knew he must be some kind of official person, and wasn’t surprised when he insisted on giving her a ride back. The Number of Vices, The Queen’s Gambit (Beth Harmon/Vasily Borgov)

2. The kidnappers came when Evie was home alone. Rick had departed for the weekend for a fishing trip in Scotland, accompanied by Alex, who had moaned about it because he was thirteen, and Jonathan, who moaned because he was, well, Jonathan. The Might of His Strength, The Mummy/Evy/Eick, Evy/Imhotep, Evy/Imhotep/Ardeth)

3. Beth Harmon was uncharacteristically nervous. She had been standing in her hotel room staring at the telephone for a good fifteen minutes now, willing herself to lift the receiver. Ridiculous really, that a piece of putty-colored plastic could hold such fascination. When she finally could bring herself to use it, the rotary dial felt heavy under her fingers, and they slipped; she had to re-dial twice. The Black King, The Queen’s Gambit (Beth Harmon/Vasily Borgov)

4. The first time Vasily Borgov heard the name Elizabeth Harmon, it was just a piece of curiosa. An oddity because girls rarely played chess well, least of all if they were American, but not more than that. Make Her Yours, The Queen’s Gambit (Beth Harmon/Vasily Borgov)

5. Beth returned to the hotel after she had played with the old men in the park, beating them all to their utter delight. She was met with both American and Russian officials, all very upset with her. Taking the White Queen, The Queen’s Gambit (Beth Harmon/Vasily Borgov)

6. Today I found an old woman in the House. It was very unexpected. She was standing in front of the faun, very still, and for a moment I thought the House had given me a new statue. Susan, Once Queen of Narnia, Always Queen of Narnia, Piranesi (Piranesi & Susan Pevensie)

7. Most of the lies she told were out of necessity; to construct the narrative which would make her into Eve Harrington. Margo, All About Eve (Eve Harrington/Margo Channing)

8. Sophie de Clermont, left motherless and destitute, hates Fabien Marchal with everything her passionate heart can muster. The End of the Story, Versailles (Fabien Marchal/Sophie de Clermont)

9. July in New York was as hot and humid as usual. Karen had hoped to be in the country by now, but Lloyd had things to do in the city, and it seemed to take much longer than he had expected. Sable Coats and Razorblades, All About Eve (Addison DeWitt/Karen Richards)

10. Liz Shaw put away her notes, checked that her current project was safe and snug and would keep over the weekend, hung up her lab coat, picked up her jacket and left. She had her weekend off for the whole of five minutes before she realised she had forgotten her bag and had to return for it. I Always Wanted To Be A Pirate Queen, Doctor Who (Liz Shaw & Delgado!Master)

11. “So this is where you live” Midge chirps as she steps into his room. “This is where I stay”, Lenny corrects her. A Moment, The Marvelous Mrs. Masiel (Midge Maisel/Lenny Bruce)

12. The first time Garcia Flynn saw Lucy Preston he felt no premonition of what she would mean to him. Then his mind had been too muddled by grief and drink to notice anything more than a pale oval of a face with dark eyes which looked at him with a strange urgency and a sadness as bottomless as his own. To Lucy With Love, Timeless (Garcia Flynn/Lucy Preston)

13. Dear Arabella,I trust you will not be affronted if I don’t spend many words on asking how you are though I am of course wildly curious. I will expect a long missive from you describing everything in great detail. But such a peculiar incident happened to me today and I need to put pen to paper because I feel very confused. A Conversation in the Yellow Drawing-Room, And Other Letters To Mrs Strange
, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Emma Pole/John Childermass)

14. Sophie woke up to her husband's hands tearing her nightdress, his body pressing her down into the bed. She struggled against him, and he laughed, only growing more eager by her fear. Sophie twisted this way and that, one of her hands broke free, and she reached out for her mother. “Help me”, she pleaded, wondering why her mother was just standing there as if she couldn’t see the man violating her daughter. “Mother, make him stop. Please!” Remembrance, Versailles (Fabien Marchal/Sophie de Clermont)

15. Falling in love was never something Sirius intended to do. He didn’t have the time for it. Soaring High, Harry Potter (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin)

16. Sarah Jane Smith had never heard of a place called Perivale until her editor asked her to go there. It seemed a lot of peculiar events had taken place there, ranging from several disappearances to murder and a string of cat mutilations. Nothing Interesting Ever Happens in Perivale, Doctor Who (Sarah Jane Smith & Ainley!Master & Third Doctor)

17. Rebecca had given up her fine clothes and jewellry without regrets when she went to Spain. She turned to her new life with joy. The work was hard, but she found in it happiness, which laid almost all of her old life to rest. If there was a secret compartment of her heart where Ivanhoe still lived, Rebecca rarely allowed herself to look inside. And there was no one else there, or so she told herself with such alacrity she believed it. A Gift For Her Heart, Ivanhoe (Rebecca of York/Brian de Bois-Guilbert)

18. The wedding was a small affair, with only the few nearest and dearest attending. The wedding breakfast was, according to the guests, excellent. Arabella couldn’t say; she thought only of the man at her side, every time they touched sending sudden bolts of lightning though her body. She thought she had known him so well, but now she glanced at him, and wondered how she could ever have thought so. His face and voice as familiar as ever, but still, she felt, she had never seen and heard him before. Wedding Nerves, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (Jonathan Strange/Arabella Strange)

19. These days my thoughts are fragmented; swirling around in my head with ever changing memories. Perhaps writing them down will slow them and make them clearer. But the days have no dates here, and the seasons depend on the fickleness of the cursed boy. I wished to make this a proper diary, but instead it will only be sentences as shattered as my thoughts. The Devourer, Peter Pan (Captain Hook)

20. Micheletto met his destiny the day he was to murder the Pope and his son. Homeward, The Borgias (Micheletto/Cecare Borgia, Micheletto & Lucrezia Borgia)

+ Patterns:

* It’s a pretty even split between establishing a certain feeling or establishing a certain place.

* Most of my fics are pretty wordy in the beginning. By that I mean you need to read several sentences to “get” the beginning.

* Very few of my fics are written in First-person. If they are, it’s always because the format is letters or diaries.

* The majority mentions the protagonist’s name in the first sentence.

+ favorite one:

Number 11; “So this is where you live” Midge chirps as she steps into his room. “This is where I stay”, Lenny corrects her. A Moment, The Marvelous Mrs. Masiel (Midge Maisel/Lenny Bruce) because it sums up the both characters pretty well in very few words. Seconds are number 19 and 20.