#also totally outing myself over the fact there's another campervan au beside anterograde

[picnokinesis]

Tagged by @internetkatze whoop!!

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 of your favourite authors!

I’m trying to decide whether I should include wips or unposted fics - a few of my current wips don’t actually start at the beginning, and the first line on the document is actually halfway through a scene rather than an ‘opening line’ hahahaha, so let’s see how this goes. 

(not included: campervan part 3, which is my current wip, but I want to save the first line for when I actually post the fic!)

1. Sherbourne [original, 2021] It’s a secret, you think sometimes.

2. untitled wip (ziptie au) [doctor who, wip, 2021] They must put something in the water.

3. untitled wip [doctor who, among us, wip, 2021] Finally, for the first time since Ryan decided it was time to leave the TARDIS and stay on Earth instead, he’s going to have the house to himself properly.

4. notes to self (anterograde au) [doctor who, wip, 2021] Her head ache spikes, and she places her hand out on the seat next to her for balance –  5. your whole life is here (no eleventh hour reprieve) [doctor who, 2021] Darkness.

6. and they did live by watchfires [doctor who, 2020] Light pours in through the bars of the window, blue beams cutting across the floor.

7. the whole world’s a graveyard [doctor who, wip, 2020] “Alright,” Jack sighs, accepting his fate. “Show me the last one again.”

8. The Grandfather Paradox [doctor who, wip, 2020] There’s a gravestone in the middle of the forest.

9. i need a place to hide (before the storm begins) [doctor who, 2020] It’s raining hard.

10. the ghosts that linger in every word they say [mcu, 2020] There’s grass outside the Avengers facility.

11. Liminality [doctor who, 2020] Liminal space.

12. Tropospheric Disturbance [doctor who, 2020] One more time –

13. In the Wind [doctor who, 2020] The first thing that comes back to her is the sound of wind blowing outside.

14. As the Ancients Buried Their Kings [doctor who, wip, 2020] She could still feel him at the back of her mind.

15. Trouble With Entropy [venom, wip, 2019] These days, they dream as one.

16. Atrophy [mcu, 2019] In the moment that stretches on between her broken body seared into his retinas and his eyes opening to the raging sky, he dreams. 17. Take the Fall [the greatest showman, wip, 2018] As he washes the blood off his hands, he glances at himself in the mirror.

18. Renegades in the Ring [the greatest showman, 2018] Phineas knew it was something he’d always been able to do.

19. thirteen [doctor who, wip, 2017 - YEAH I KNOW, THIS WAS JUST AFTER JODIE WAS REVEALED] If he thought about it – and he was (while he was driving, which probably wasn’t the best idea) – Rory could probably pin point the moment when his life went from ‘dull but normal’ to ‘constant threat of death from space aliens, but interesting’.

20. Retrograde [stargate universe, 2016] He lurches into consciousness, choking on a lungful of air and leaf litter.

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Ok so my main take away from this is that I love starting off which short one-liners, which I found incredibly amusing (especially Liminality? I really did just start that one off by stating the main recurring theme of the fic hahahah). And also a lot of my first lines are...kind of basic, in a way? I think I know why - I used to get a bit hung up on first lines, because I felt like they needed to be really good or mindblowing or something. But then that just makes it so hard to get started, so I often just start with something really basic - just an establishing statement to tell the reader ‘this is where we are’. And actually making it short makes it quite snappy, which I think is good for pacing because it just gets you going straight into it. 

I guess some of them also have a bit of the character in them as well - like 1, 3 and 19. I suppose the reason these two are different are because I’m getting straight into a character’s ‘thinking’ prose, and then establishing the context of the scene later. I think the only one that’s particularly jarring as a first line is the anterograde au one, but that’s half intentional because it’s meant to be jarring for the doctor too, who feels like she’s just woken up in the middle of a scene. But it’s also because that’s just where I randomly started on the document hahahaha

As for a favourite....I’m not sure, actually? I do really like 13, 15 and 16 - but then I feel nostalgic about those three fics in general hahaha. I guess the ones that make me laugh the most though are 19, 11 and 5 - especially 5 HAHAH like I really did just start a 90k fic with a one word sentence ahahahaha

TAGGING: @southernlynxx @novantinuum @chaoticacecryptid @theplatinthehat @sunshinedaysforever @hetzi-art @braddersbangerz @wykart @fictionpenned @taardisblue @walker-lister but of course feel free to ignore if you like! And anyone else who wants to do this, feel free!