Writing Prompt: First Lines

Overview:

In our lecture, we talked about the way that an opening often signals the tone of a story or essay. Within the first few lines, we usually know what type of story we’re going to have.

Directions:

For this assignment, I will have five openings to different types of novels. For full credit, please read the opening, and then in 2-3 sentences, tell me the type of novel you think this would be, and why? There are no wrong answer. Full credit for completing!

Bonus: Four of these are made up by me, one is a real opening line. Which do you think is real?

Example:

Example Prompt: Dr. Capricorn looked across the hospital at Dr. Fisher, her surgical coat covered in blood!

Example: Answer: I think this story would be a medical drama, maybe with some romance. The story is set in a hospital, and I assume it’s dramatic if the doctor is covered in blood. There could also be some romance, like in Grey’s Anatomy.

Prompt:

1. Mr. Garvey looked at the class of 7th graders…it was going to be a long year!
2. From across the meadow, a howl sounded, and then, in a chorus, wolf after wolf joined the cacophony.
3. Laurie knew she was never going to find love.
4. When I was a young boy, my father gave me some powerful advice, “You never know where you’ll find your purpose.”
5. As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.