I caught the first lines meme from Elizabeth Bear, and thought it would be a good impetus to locate and organize all of my works-in-progress. It took me a remarkably long time to find the 12,000 word novel fragment that I like but haven’t touched in three years. Obviously I need a better organizational system for my computer files, but that’s no surprise. I finally have a hard drive big enough to hold everything but right now it comprises stacks of folders from different computers, flash drives, and other storage media, many of which are partial duplicates, or contain files of the same name but different ages. Anyone know of a clever solution to finding and removing duplicated files and folders?
I also found a story fragment: opening scene for something that I’d entirely forgotten. I’ve also forgotten what happens next, or ever. Not just file organization, idea organization!
Anyway, first lines. When I listed mine all out, I discovered that I have a lot of fiction in progress. I also discovered that I like most of Bear’s more than mine. No surprise there, but it does give me something to work towards.
Long
When the Crows Leave: “Not _that_ tree, silly. The gnomes live in this one.”
After the Dawn: The world exploded.
Railroad: Everyone thinks vampires are a big-city problem, at least everyone who bothers to think about them at all.
Paper Magic: “Lucas, do you know that there’s a young man lurking in your street?”
Short
Crossing Water: The gooey strip that used to be Interstate 75 stopped at the water’s edge
The Future of Cosmetic Surgery: The old pulps portrayed women ravished by tentacled green monsters, or virile spacemen putting the moves on mammalian alien babes. They got it wrong.
The Bone Flute: Fog lay in the valley, softening the outlines of the trees in the hedgerows and the cows in the farther field.
Lucky Egg: Reet strummed across the warps on the upright loom, loosening and separating the shed.
I also have a couple of non-fiction non-work projects in progress, but those opening lines aren’t nearly as much fun. And the work writing, also not fun.
