I saw several other writers do this, and it looked like fun.
First Lines Meme
Below are the first lines from each story on which I am currently working. Not included on this list are stories I have submitted for publication. The stories are in alphabetical order by title. And, yes, I do always have a lot of stories in process, especially incomplete first drafts.
Here goes:
The Age of Three Stars (4,300 words, currently undergoing third draft):
This was Black Hill, just as it had been in the old days.
Bucks Without Buck (Short story, first draft incomplete):
Seriously, I don’t like to talk about Pilgrim Four.
The Carpenter’s Sons (950 words, currently undergoing second draft):
This text, in both Aramaic and Greek, appears on a papyrus scroll found in an abandoned well during an excavation in western Turkey.
Climbing Back to Heaven (Short story, first draft incomplete):
It may be pointless for me to write this.
Counterintuitive Behavior (9,500 words currently undergoing third draft):
The trick was to avoid looking at their breasts.
Cursed By the Gods (Flash story, first draft incomplete):
When Mena was three years old, her friends began to die.
The Dean’s Avatar (Short story, first draft incomplete):
Nanami looks down at Kouhei’s sleeping figure on the bed.
Edward Patonsville, Explorer (3,100 words, currently undergoing second draft):
Emma stared at the ceiling and tried to understand what it was she had felt.
Empathy on Demand (Short story, first draft incomplete):
He should have seen it coming.
Exceptionalism (Short story, first draft incomplete):
Filed May 1, 2126 / State of Michigan / Supreme Court
Failure to Speak (Short story, first draft incomplete):
Sing, if you will, of the ugliness of Martin Land and the obstinacy of his fellows.
Fashion Sense (Short story, first draft incomplete):
People ask me why I don’t stop living with my sister Becky.
Five Handshakes at Four-Thirty (Short story, first draft incomplete):
Tennessee, 1850. When the hammer hits the chisel hits the rock, Cassius thinks, the sound is like a snapping and a hissing and a pop.
Generator Genii (Short story, first draft incomplete):
Eula sat by herself and listened to the big machine hum.
Hare and Hunter (7,700 words, currently undergoing fifth draft):
I was very small when we killed my uncle.
How Daris Saved the Tower (6.600 words, currently undergoing second draft):
One day, many years ago, a well-fed, yearling babe was left on the second step of the Mayor’s house of the town of Hassah, wrapped in clean, white wool with a tattoo of a wheel on her left shoulder.
Immigration (Short story, first draft incomplete):
I don’t see why I should have to put up with it.
The Kitchen Window (3,000 words, currently undergoing third draft):
Haylie was the first to notice.
Misdirection (3,700 words, currently undergoing second draft):
It started as a joke, or maybe a political statement; Ben and Trixie weren’t always clear on the difference.
Ombudsman (Short story, first draft incomplete):
[Epigraph] It is improper to expect organizational conduct to conform to the ordinary principles of morality.
A Partial Inventory of Delta’s General Store (4,200 words, currently undergoing third draft):
Reuben didn’t want to do another inventory.
Song of the Knight’s Grove (5,100 words, currently undergoing second draft):
In those days, there were men whose business was justice.
The Time Traveler’s Emporium (Short story, first draft incomplete):
If Jimmy hadn’t missed his bus, he would not have found the Time Traveler’s Emporium.
The Tortoise Parliament (7,100 words, currently undergoing fourth draft):
By mutual consent but for different reasons, I left my mistress before daybreak and returned home to my wife.
Trip No Further, Pretty Sweeting (Short story, first draft incomplete):
When Penny returned to her apartment, she found a message from her husband saying that he’d be twenty years late getting home from work.
Twenty Forbidden Things (Short story, first draft incomplete):
Captain Nathaniel Cleric, commander and Chief Economist of the S.D.S. Comme Tu Le Sais Robert, nearly tripped over the threshold of his cabin after ensuring that the ship had initiated superduperdrive safely.
Waiting (1,000 words, currently undergoing second draft):
Apple had loved the air and sunshine, but now they tortured her.
You in the United States! (2,900 words, currently undergoing third draft):
You live in the United States of America.
I’m not sure what this proves. But it was fun to do.
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Kenneth Schneyer 
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