To answer your questions: yes, I still prefer bourbon, and no, Captain Morgan are not corporate sponsors (more like corporate enablers). Hooray for the LIFPC!
And now’s the part of the Largely Indisipensible First Paragraph Challenge where I puff out my chest and act like I’m totally ready for the task of selecting a winner from the 260… er, 261… er, 262… entries and that I am totally content and serene and not at all scared. Mostly. Ok, not really.
Announcement time!! We have our first rule I mean guideline change: you now have until Thursday night to get your entries in. Why am I giving you an extra full day? I feel no pain!! (also I have plans on Wednesday). So remember: you have until Thursday night. Spread the word. Nominees will be announced on Friday and the winner will still be announced on Monday.
Please continue to enter if you haven’t already, I actually am having a great time with this. Let’s see who is the most largely indispensible of them all!
OMG! Are you insane?
Is there like springs and sparks emitting from your computer? Can your blog even support this many comments? I stayed up late last night gasping as the numbers went up. I shake my head in disbelief.
Kimberly Lynn
I blame the Captain…he makes you think you can do anything.
OMG! I stayed up all night reading Miss Snark’s crapometer.
This is great! I can’t believe you’re doing this, but thanks!
🙂
Awesome. You’ll get that billion entries yet!
(I have used what word-spreading capabilities I have.)
Hang the rules!!!
They’re really more like guidelines!
Indisipensidible conteshts are awshome!
(Why is the rum always gone?)
Oh, c’mon folks, we know the outcome of at least one contest.
It will be ruled a suicide.
And this was a good idea BECAUSE????
Until Thursday now?
Wow, just wow.
You’re definitely going to need some more food and drink. How about heading over to O’Reilly’s on Green Street? (I’ve used part of the mural inside as my profile picture.)
Just stay away from the fried calamari there. 😉
Nathan – You brave, brave man you.
Thanks for this. I’m having a ball reading all of them.
I also like Reid’s and Christopher M. Park’s best so far, though each are missing something and I don’t know what it is. Does that ever happen to agents?
This is fun reading snippets from Bloggers I’ve encountered in cyberspace!
HAH–you’re drunk now while typing this, aren’t you?
Teasing.
Seriously, though, this should be a lot of fun! I’m amazed at the number of entries you’ve received.
On a side note, you seem like a very personable agent. Kudos to you for being so accessible and fun!
I do believe the men in the white coats will be visiting you on Tuesday with a specially made jacket just for you. Tuesday. 🙂
I’m taking pity on you and your liver and am not adding an entry to the pile…
That’s crazy talk! I am just laughing at you.
Yes. Definitely insane, and probably pickled, too.
Crikey.
Nathan, you’re going to need a few more bottles of rum.
Great contest! I’m enjoying reading the openings.
You’ve been plugged into my blog…
I really hope you get your billion entries. I’ll even post for T13. That might help. 😀
Hmm, that just gave me a good idea.
Everytime I check it’s doubled in size! You are brave. Oh, so brave. Has Miss Snark chimed in?
The First Line Challenge got up into the 500s, didn’t it? Should we start laying bets on the total number of FP entries?
These are so much fun to read. Thanks!
I’m completely indispensable. My Kronenburg told me so.
I’ve been reading the entries, too, and find it really fascinating how diverse they are. Lots of different genres, voices, styles, techniques… Isn’t it refreshing to see so much enthusiasm for the written word? I think so. And I’m hoping many of these go on to become published works.
I’ve been surprised at the number of first paragraphs that begin with description of setting.
Mention of bourbon and a contest, all in one post. What’s not to love?
The squeaky wheels rolling along the cement floor alerted Carl it was mid-day and time for mail. He pictured Hal hunched over, pushing a metal cart, knowing he wouldn’t stop. He never had. Staring at the yellowed ceiling inches above, Carl laced his fingers behind his head as he stretched out on the bunk. He looked at the dried remains of a fly. Only a trace of blood remained of the once bothersome insect. “Hey, Carl. You got mail.”
I am getting nothing done because of this contest!
Fascinating! I can’t wait to see how it ends!
Geez, Nathan, I love my job, too, but I’d NEVER offer to let kids write extra essays for me to grade “for fun.” shudder.
Wow, I am having a much harder time reading the first paragraphs than I did reading the first lines. I find myself skimming alot of them just because of the sheer scope of paragraphs so far, only stopping on an interestng word or sentence structure. Is that what it feels like to be an agent?
What a great contest! So transparent…For once, no one can use the ‘postman lost my entry’ excuse *laughs*. It’s also a scary look inside the agent’s world…
Wednesday morning. Just think! If you hadn’t banged out those ill-fated words, “you now have until Thursday night,” you could have seen the light at the end of the tunnel today. But, alas, you will continue to wander in the dark, lost in the entries that will continue to mount. By nightfall, you will wonder, “Were those plans really worth it?”
Maybe it’s not so bad for Nathan after all…it’s rather like a cyber-slush pile, except it’s all in one convenient list for easy skimming, with everyone sending in their best stuff. And with more entries, it increases the odds that the winning paragraph will yield a decent partial which could yield a decent book. Win-win for him and author. And we are all having fun in the meantime. Perhaps Nathan you ARE crazy…like a fox! 🙂
I read through them all in one cup of steaming hot java. You can tell pretty quickly when you are hooked.
thanks for the fun contest. I would love to use some of these for writing prompts in our writing club.
When going through such a massive amount of entries at one time, it’s easy to determine what will hook you and what won’t.
I’m kinda glad Nathan is recruiting the services of a different reader to help him choose his finalists, although his first Good Girl was wise with her choices. Perhaps some entries extracted from the first line contest will attract the attention of Second Good Girl.