Beginning a Story With a 'Given' First Line

'Given' - Where were you last night.

Where were you last night, and how on earth did you manage to lose one of your favourite shoes?! This is what i ask myself as i survey the lone leopard print pump still stubbornly clinging to my right foot. My left foot however, is bereft, and on closer inspection appears to have been pulled through a thorn bush backwards.

I glance at the rest of my body, taking stock and looking for hints of my elusive whereabouts for the past twelve hours, but all i have to show for my adventures is several bruises to keep the scratches company, and severely smudged purple ink on the back of my left hand - Flynn's i think it reads...where the bloody hell is Flynn's?

Pairs of Beginning Sentences

A birth and a death:

It was an unusually silent beginning; no screams of pain from the mother, no screams of annoyance from the freshly born child, just a whimper and a sigh, and they knew each other for the first time.

They say you're supposed to feel sad, traumatised or even hollow, but i felt nothing; just an empty space where emotions should grow like weeds, only the seeds drifted past in the flurry of some incredulous storm.

Falling in love and filing for divorce:

He wiggled his toes around, trying to gain friction from the sodden leather soles, despite the snow surrounding his shoe; then she blew through the shop door, her hair rising like wings on either side of her face and settling gently on her shoulders, causing his heart to take off in his chest.

She had tried, this is what she would tell her unborn child, she had tried to forgive her daddy, but some things in this life were beyond impossible; they would be better off, he'd see.

Summer and Winter:

The cool water tinkled its way from the mouth of the fountain, down the worn marble sides, and finally to the petal strewn base, where her feet swam in small circles, genially practising avoidance of the noonday summer heat.

That winter the icicles formed a perfect circle around his grave, and the smattering of ivy that usually withstood only a small portion of the harsh weather, stood steady for the entire season.

First Sentences: Beginning in the Middle

The withered rose petals silently drifted to the crackled soil beneath, marking the end of another summer and the beginning of the tenth autumn since the memorial garden had been painstakingly planted.

Charlie struggled with the thick straps on his newest rucksack, careful not to nudge against any of the fresh bruises littering his torso.


The striped scarf had been warming the neck of the statue for as long as anyone could remember; it's colour, once a vibrant orange, was now faded to a burnished copper, turning brown in the dying sun.


Celia noticed him the first moment he entered her cafe three weeks ago, snow dusting his broad shoulders and a single curl dangling from his woollen cap.


I stood watching the flailing body in pure disbelief, before my instincts kicked in and I dove into the freezing abyss fully clothed.


(Extra Material supplied by L. J. Cummings) - Boris Bourgeois stood with semi-erect phallous in the doorway of Mr Tumnas's cabin.