Waiting for an opening

First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey.
-Tim O'Brien, "The Things They Carried"

So I'm supposed to be writing an opening line. A Six Sentence exercise with another writer, Quin Brown. We'll alternate sentences. I'll start, I said. We'll sent it to Robert, for Six Sentences.
I've not written my opening line. Q has reminded me of this.

None of them knew the color of the sky.
- Stephen Crane, "Open Boat"

It's not like I'm slacking. I just want the first line to be good. It sets the tone, I think, for all that comes next.
Besides, I know Q will do a fine job with the next sentence.

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.
-Franz Kafka, "Metamorphosis"

I did pen a few things down. On paper, yes. As the twilight crept toward dark.
I'm mulling them over.
Figuring which opening sentence to sent Q's way.
When the 6S is complete and Robert puts it up, I'll post it here, too.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Thanks for the Metamorphosis flashback. I haven't thought about the Metamorphosis in years! I read a lot of Kafka in my AP English class in highschool, and he's one of my favorites.

Here's another one of my all time favorites, T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland:
http://www.bartleby.com/201/1.html

And of course, my favorite muse and distant relative,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.D.
quin browne said…
so, he sends me the opening line.

it's amazing.

i read it, cut and paste it, look at it.. curse him.

this exercise is akin to driving a car with two people, and no map...

he's backed the car out of the driveway... and i have to decide which way to turn first.

the first sentence he sent me described my night last night.

this is going to be great fun...eventually.
The cool thing is, Q is the direction. No map. Just drive.

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