Once there was a little girl called Sophie.
She was having tea with her mummy in the kitchen.
Suddenly there was a ring at the door.
Sophie’s mummy said, “I wonder who that could be?”
The Tiger Who Came To Tea by Judith Kerr
I love opening lines in books, especially children’s books. There can be so much anticipation in the opening sentence or paragraph. Here we have a little girl having tea with her mum and the door rings. Who can that be, indeed? Why nothing but a tiger in this story.
But who will it be in your story?
At this moment in time, we don’t know whether it will be a fun and happy story or a sad and scary story. Anticipation.
Is it the mailman? Is a package being delivered? What about her dad coming home? Or her other mum? Can it be the neighbor asking for sugar? Or something more horrible? What if this is the moment in time when Sophie finds out her dad has died? Or that they are being sent to a concentration camp?
The opening of a story is also the opening into your imagination. What’s next in this story for you?
Such an interesting writing prompt! I prefer to think its Ryan Gosling asking me to be in his next movie.
And I won’t fault you for that choice!
I love this prompt. For me, the scary thing is the late night phone call or the doorbell. Nothing good ever happens at 3:00am LOL
You are right about that.
I’d like to think it is Sophie’s friend from school come to play (Mum secretly invited) because the child has been ill (from something non-contagious of course!) recently and isolated from her friends at school. Nice prompt!
Oh, that’s a nice one.
It is Paul Newman. Just to bring me coffee?
Not a bad choice. Clearly, yours is a story that’s not aimed at children! 😉
No!! Ha Ha!!
That is a good prompt. You have me thinking now.
Thinking is good!
I always have this moment of forgetfulness when someone rings my doorbell. Last night same thing happened, “who dis?” but then I remembered I ordered something from Amazon.
It’s not the door bell, its the ice cream van arriving in the neighbourhood on a warm summer’s night. Or was it wishful thinking on Sophie’s part?
Great. Now I want an ice cream! Possibly an Almond Crunch!
LOL! I’d hope for Tom Hanks myself…telling me I’ve got mail! 😉
Not a bad choice either. But I’m looking for The Rock myself. 😉 😉
had to look it up, but it was John Gardner who said that there are only 2 plot lines, and the first is “a stranger rides into town.”
Endless possibilities from here, but your right. Creates a delicious sense of anticipation.
And the first thing that popped into my head when I read that there were only two plot lines was ‘Shane’! I love your line, “delicious sense of anticipation.” That’s exactly what it is. The next sentence changes everything.