mabfan | No Winner Yet, But the Top Five and an Extra

Folks:

Since it would be unfair to leave everyone hanging, I'll tell you now that it will take me some time to determine a winning entry. I want to try to come up with a plot first before I name a winner. However, I have managed to whittle the list down to the five that I find most adaptable for me.

You see, all of the entries were great opening lines; I'm delighted to see how many creative people I have reading here. The problem, of course, is that not every opening line is one I can do something with; I know my weaknesses. So if your entry isn't a finalist, it's not because I didn't like it or that it wasn't a good opening; it's simply because I couldn't think of what I could personally do with it.

And now, at the risk of losing most of my readers, here are the ones I'm contemplating, along with my thoughts:

1.

nrivkis:
It wasn't so very long ago. But it's been forgotten anyway.

If you re-read the page with all the entries on it, you know that I already commented favorably on this one. I like the idea behind it; but to make it work, I'd have to figure out just what this event was that was forgotten.

2.

zmook:
It was the frog that first caught my attention.

What can I say? I like frogs. :-) Actually, I once tried writing a story with odd frogs in it a while ago; maybe this is a hint to tell me to try again.

3.

scarlettina:
One shot to the head was all it took, all that was usually required.

And again, I commented before that this might make a good opening to the novel I'm contemplating. But perhaps I could find a use for it elsewhere.

4.

agracru:
"Delay your death," he said, "I want to tell you a story."

What fascinated me about this one was the idea of delaying one's death. Do these people die on a schedule? What's the story that he needs to tell? I want to know.

5.

cellio:
A hand-written journal was the thing I least expected to find in my father's personal effects.

Given my own personal history, I'd find this one interesting to work with.

6.

hakamadare:
"Your lucky number is 37185937629586738," declared the fat little man. "Look for it everywhere."

This is the extra one. I think this would make an excellent opening to a Frederic Brown or William Tenn story. But I'm not sure if I'm up to the task. (And,

hakamadare, this isn't the number you showed me on Monday night...)

People should feel free to comment.