There's a literary journal called The First Line. The way it works is they give you the first line of a story and you take it from there. Sort of like a prompt. In each issue they publish all of the stories start with the same first line. I think it's kind of cool, but I've never really tried before. The next to first lines are: As soon as Harriet entered the building, she headed to the seventh floor. (The deadline to submit is Aug. 1.) t was the farthest north they had ever been. (The deadline to submit is Nov. 1) And here is the website for anyone who wants to check them out. http://www.thefirstline.com I had given a brief mention about this in the rejection thread, but I thought I would give it it's own, and let you all know about it. Also, if anyone wants to give either of these a try, I'm up for swapping stories for some feedback before the submission deadlines. I think it could be fun to see the different places we can take these first lines. So, who's up for the challenge?
I'll try the same one. I'm actually having fun with it. I agree the first one felt easier to just jump off. I'm not very far in, but I feel like I've got a solid start. I really like the concept of all the stories starting with the first line. There are just so many ways you can take a story from there. How's you piece coming today?
Not exactly sure what you mean. I would be happy to trade stories and give each other feedback or some last minute pointers before the submission deadline. @Set2Stun are you going to do this, too? You should, and do the first one so we can all see where we went with this line.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can come up with something over the next six weeks. Would love to exchange submissions with you all if that's what we're doing. Always open to feedback.
I haven't come up with a solid idea yet (just a "maybe" idea), but I plan on doing some writing soon. Got a 4-day weekend coming up starting on Friday.
All right. I've got a first draft of 1675 words. I read it over a couple of times, and I think I like it !
No, that just isn't my bag, man. I got my own story going, plus I'm studying poetry now. But I do appreciate the offer.
Okay, I let my story sit for a week and just reread it. There were only a handful of minor things that needed editing imo, and I don't have too many concerns about it. Anyone ready to swap stories?
@Set2Stun -- Are we the only two taking this on at the moment? I mean, there's still time and everything. Either way, I'm glad you're doing this too.
I think we may be, however like you said, there's still time. Perhaps a bit too often I will write stories on the last day a contest is open for submissions, but this time I wanted to finish up early for critiquing purposes. Do let me know when you (or anyone else who might want to partake!) are all set to swap. I hope mine doesn't suck !
I've been working on mine this weekend. I sort of like where it's going, but it's not there yet. It will be interesting to see how each and us interpreted this given first line as the jumping off point for a story. I'm definitely up for trading and exchanging feedback before the deadline.
@Set2Stun -- I'll be ready to trade by Friday and give you feedback over the weekend if that works for you. I'm quite curious to see what direction you went with your story. And it would be awesome if we ended up in the same issue!
Can't wait! From the first line, it could go anywhere, really. I just hope mine isn't too too amateurish
I know. It really could go anywhere. I'm kind of surprised that I've never tried The First Line before. I think I'll keep up with this publication moving forward, trying their other first line prompts. And I noticed on Duotrope they have a last line one, too. But I kind of feel like being given the first line is probably easier than the last line, at least for me. This kind of reminds me of a book by Joan Wickersham called The News from Spain. It's a collection of short stories where every title of every story is "The News from Spain." It's really amazing how she was able to make the title so fitting for each story and all of the stories so different from each other. I'm almost done with my story, but I need to take a few days for editing. Right now my story is more dialog heavy than I want it to be. But I don't hate it which is good. Actually, I probably think it's better than it is right now. I kind of go through this cycle of loving and hating my work. I do worry a little about how unique my story is. Like if they get a lot of stories that are pretty similar, they might pass on those. Also, I'm not quite sure about my title. Maybe you can help me out with that after you read it. Thanks in advance.
Story finished (at least the first draft). So, I'm right on schedule for the story swap, @Set2Stun. My story is right around 3k words, but that might fluctuate a bit during the editing. It's still on the shorter side for stories. I hope it's okay with you that mine is a bit longer. I think I already have your email, but maybe you could message me again with it. This has been fun. I think I'll try again with some more of these first lines, and maybe we can get some others to join in. Even though I haven't read your story yet, I do have a good feeling about both of us. We've got this!!!
I'm going over my story and doing some edits. One thing I wish I could change and can't is the character's name Harriet. I feel like it's just not an easy name to work with, and I'm sort of wondering how much of a "Harriet" character I've created. @Set2Stun -- I know we're the only two who have written stories to submit so far, but others still have time and might have some thoughts on this. Anyway, was the name at all an issue for you? Maybe it really doesn't matter what a character is named if it's a believable character presented in a good story. What do you think?
