Saturday, July 3, 2010

writing tragedies abound!

Over at AuthorCulture, the most recent post is about bad opening lines. The kind of stuff that makes one cringe when read aloud - or is fun to read when hanging out with friends who enjoy that kind of absurdity. My favorite from the list:


Mike Hardware was the kind of private eye who didn't know the meaning of the word "fear," a man who could laugh in the face of danger and spit in the eye of death -- in short, a moron with suicidal tendencies.

It sounds like something I've written. Hm. Gotta watch for that kind of stuff. I'm not sure what my worst first line is (I have too many stories to look through to compare them all), but I'm not in love with this one:

Bootylicious,” Tami whispered, smiling.

Yes, I wrote that in 2001 and NO, I will never publish that unfinished short the way it is. I can't even get into explaining what that story was about or why my main character was referencing a song I was sick of by the time I wrote the story. There is no explanation for some kinds of tragedy.

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