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First Sentence Contest
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First Sentence Contest...
First Sentence Contest
This is an idea I came up with in an attempt to help revive BaB!
I will provide a summary of an invented book (it doesn't have to be actually written, just a book idea -- and it cannot be an already published book). Then you will post a sentence that you think would make a good first sentence for the book.
Remember, first sentences are very important. It's what pulls you in and keeps you reading. Books with good first sentences are usually very good.
Deadline is October 16. I will judge on the 17. Whoever wins first place will be the next judge. If you win first place and would rather not judge please tell me and the role of judge will go to the second place winner.
Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions! I look forward to reading your first sentences.
Story Summary:
Humans have finally landed on Mars. The human habitat is encased in domes of transparent material. Drones big enough to transport people fly around, hovering above the surface of Mars. Contact with Earth is strong and extremely important. Everything is going well, until contact with Earth ceases. No one knows why and things are tense. When one of the transparent domes start leaking the precious air into the Mars atmosphere the tenseness escalates at an alarming pace. There isn't enough oxygen and supplies to share with others for long. Groups of humans turn against other groups. Everyone is blaming another and nothing towards fixing the problems is being done. Sevianna -- a young girl born on Mars who has never seen or set foot on Earth -- realizes that something must be done. The adults aren't doing anything, so she gathers the other Martian children. Together they must save the human habitat and reconnect with Earth. It is a daunting task and many children give up. Soon only Sevianna and three other children are left trying to fix the problems. Can so few do it? Or are they doomed with the rest of the humans on Mars?
submitted by Peregrine, age Many moons, The Eyrie
(October 6, 2020 - 10:25 am)
(October 6, 2020 - 10:25 am)
I'll judge on January 26, by the way. :)
(January 14, 2021 - 8:00 pm)
Soda Pop, can I use your prompt as inspiration for a story of my own? It won't be exactly the same, but it would be similar enough that I thought I should ask. I can reveal myself if I have to, and it's fine if I can't.
(January 14, 2021 - 7:16 pm)
Yeah, sure! Thank you! I'm honored!
(January 19, 2021 - 1:03 pm)
Water is flowing, everchanging, dancing in an unpredictable harmony around the earth. Life is water. It had been flowing gently for Esa on her comfortable island, until without warning, a huge wave crashed over her head.
(January 15, 2021 - 10:24 am)
Oops! I realized a while ago I won first place and then never judged. Sorry! ':)
(January 15, 2021 - 10:26 am)
(January 23, 2021 - 11:14 am)
Esa wakes up suddenly to a cacophany of sobbing, pounding, and yelling. What in Ozumia is going on? she thinks frantically as she rolls out of bed, pulls on the nearest clothes, and runs out into the growing crowd at the center of the island.
(January 24, 2021 - 1:49 pm)
"For the last time, we're magicians, not illegal immigrants!" Esa exclaimed in frustration, glaring at the shell-shocked fisherman on the shore.
(January 25, 2021 - 12:22 pm)
Alright everyone, here's the judging!
Honorable Mention: MoonHalo! I really liked this one, MoonHalo! It was a good way to pull the reader in, and I would definitely want to keep reading if this were the start of a book. It makes you wonder why the main character is feeling that way (ugh, I hope that makes sense!).
Third Place: Kitten! Sentences like these are a great way to start a story. It really makes you want to read on when you start with such a dramatic scene. It also was a good way to introduce the setting!
Second Place: Aqua! This was such a beautiful sentence, and it told the reader a bit about the character and setting of the story. It made me wonder if there is a significance to the wave, and why the story was starting out this way.
First Place: Rainbow Riot! This sentence was short and sweet, and it made me laugh. It gives the reader a glimpse of Esa's personality, and sparks a lot of questions. Also, anything to do with magic usually gets the readers attention. Great job!
@Rainbow Riot: If you don't mind, I'd like let Aqua create the next prompt, as you've already made one before. :)
@Aqua: You get to create the next prompt! Have fun!
(January 26, 2021 - 11:20 pm)
When is the next prompt going to be posted?
(January 30, 2021 - 3:05 pm)
If aqua doesn't respond should we let Riot or Kitten do it...?
(February 3, 2021 - 3:45 pm)
Yeah, I think so.
(February 3, 2021 - 9:28 pm)
(January 31, 2021 - 5:10 pm)
(February 5, 2021 - 2:57 pm)
Aqua doesn't appear to be seeing this, so I'm just going to post a prompt, if that's okay with everyone?
Genevieve has always been an artist. When the world outside gets too scary, when her parents' yelling gets too loud, when everything seems hopeless, she retreats to her bedroom and draws. Her parents don't know, and she doesn't have any inclination to tell them. She fills old notebooks and scraps of paper with beautiful drawings in plain old Number 2 pencil. The drawings are realistic, only... not, somehow. If you stared at them too long, you'd get a chill on the back of your spine, and tears might even come to your eyes. But she's never shown them to anyone. One evening, she returns to her room in a hurry, pulls out her latest notebook, and is all set to start drawing when she notices a note written on the next page in a strange handwriting she's never seen before. "Thank you for your art," it says. "It has gotten us through our days. Please accept this gift as a small token of our affection." There, sitting on the page, is an ornate metal key, just like the one she drew several weeks ago in a particularly desperate drawing. More than a little unnerved, she leaves the key where it is and goes straight to bed. When she wakes up in the morning, she knows with an inexplicable certainty that she needs to find what this key opens.
Assuming this is okay with everyone, I'll set the deadline as February
22, two weeks from now. I'm looking forward to seeing your sentences!
Feel free to start at any point in this synopsis, even back at the
beginning before she sees the key, when she's just living her life. Make
any assumptions or implications you'd like. :)
(February 8, 2021 - 8:36 pm)