Here’s how it works: using whatever source of inspiration you like, write 30 first sentences/scene-setting sentences for 30 different fics. Your followers/friends reply @ you with the sentences they want you to continue. For the first 15 sentences chosen, you write a full paragraph (or 100 words, whichever makes the most sense). Your followers/friends reply @ you with a paragraph they want you to continue. For the first 5 paragraphs chosen, you write a ficlet. 🙂
Here are my 30 sentences. All are in the BBC Sherlock universe.
1. It was not the condition of the body which startled him – Sherlock had seen worse and regularly – but the soft hitch of breath from John, who had walked in behind him and suddenly stopped.
2. Mrs. Hudson placed a tray of biscuits on the kitchen table, straightened all the newspapers on the desk, eyed the dissected fingers on the table with some distaste and then, like it was an afterthought, sat down in the clients’ chair and waited for them to notice.
3. “If you’re so bored, deduce the contents of my pockets,” said John, frustrated, and immediately regretted it.
4. “Hooper is the confidante, not Watson,” Mary types, “and I know exactly how to get to her.”
5. James sorted all incoming mail into four piles: death threats, military red tape, credit card offers, and letters from John Watson.
6. “Dad always said he’d tell me about my biological mother when I was older,” said Cassie Watson, “but I think given the circumstances I’m old enough, Uncle Mycroft.”
7. “I don’t see why I can’t just kill all three of them,” Sherlock complained.
8. John threw the empty bottle of wine in the bin with such force that it shattered.
9. “Oh!” gasped Mrs. Hudson. She certainly hadn’t expected to find a naked woman in Sherlock’s bed, but since she had, the polite thing to do was to offer her tea.
10. It was, of all things, the pair of contact lenses in Sherlock’s bedside table that finally set John to weeping.
11. “I see you’ve met my ex,” said Victoria, nodding to the skull on the mantelpiece.
12. "Oh darling,” said Mummy, in the voice that always made Sherlock feel like a small, scolded child, that voice which Mycroft had practiced and practiced but never perfected. “Oh Sherlock, that’s not how cryptography works at all.”
13. Sherlock had suggested the geek with the glasses, and he wasn’t a terrible dancer, but Janine thought the awkward pathologist a considerably better prospect.
14. The scarf was ruined, blood-soaked, unrecoverable, and so was Sherlock.
15. “’Sherlocked’?” asked Irene, dubiously, but Jim handed the phone back to her, saying, “Trust me, he wants everything to be clever.”
16. “Please, don’t tell John that I’ve come to you,” begged Harry.
17. It was only when Sherlock deduced Baker Street’s second set of bullet holes that he finally understood what he’d done to John.
18. “Well,” said John, peering down at the empty platter where the gratin had been, “I’m glad you liked my potatoes.”
19. “Dust is eloquent,” said Sherlock, raising slim fingers towards the corner of the door frame, “but spider webs are unimpeachable.”
20. “I’m not an actor like you,” Molly warned him, wringing her gloves in her hands nervously, “I won’t be able to fool Jim for very long.”
21. When they finally took the police tape down, Sherlock dismantled the Pirate Ship piece by piece, throwing the plastic and the rubber in bins he dragged to the edge of the estate and and burning the wood to ash.
22. “Let’s take a trip, you and I,” said Mycroft, “to Serbia.”
23. The next morning, alone in the flat with a blistering headache, Sherlock generates twenty-three better responses.
24. “Sherlock,” he said, eyeing the post with the same wariness he often gave the fridge, “why has Sally Donovan invited you to her wedding?”
25. “How could you possibly know that?” John demanded of the maid, but her only reply was a discourteous smirk.
26. “HE’S A MATE OF MINE,” yelled Stamford over the pounding bass, which shook the walls of the Criterion Club. “I’LL INTRODUCE YOU.”
27. “Little brothers are so ungrateful, aren’t they?” agreed Janine, with a knowing smile at Mycroft and a tilt of her gun at Sherlock.
28. “I will solve your murder,” said Sherlock, “but it takes John Watson to save your soul.”
29. “I’ve been reliably informed that I don’t have one,” said the Tin Man, but the words rattled in his throat, and though he refused to look he could smell where the candle was singing Scarecrow.
30. “Wait,” said Sherlock, eyes narrowing, “weren’t you wearing a different tie just five minutes ago?”
*
Tagging @may-shepard and @roseinmyhand to get me started but anyone can join in. 🙂
@therealtobyhooper I am so in awe! And what an amazing idea.
Ok, so how many should I pick? I’ll pick five, that way you can have some choices!
2. Mrs. Hudson placed a tray of biscuits on the kitchen table, straightened all the newspapers on the desk, eyed the dissected fingers on the table with some distaste and then, like it was an afterthought, sat down in the clients’ chair and waited for them to notice.
12. "Oh darling,” said Mummy, in the voice that always made Sherlock feel like a small, scolded child, that voice which Mycroft had practiced and practiced but never perfected. “Oh Sherlock, that’s not how cryptography works at all.”
19. “Dust is eloquent,” said Sherlock, raising slim fingers towards the corner of the door frame, “but spider webs are unimpeachable.”
24. “Sherlock,” he said, eyeing the post with the same wariness he often gave the fridge, “why has Sally Donovan invited you to her wedding?”
25. “How could you possibly know that?” John demanded of the maid, but her only reply was a discourteous smirk.
27. “Little brothers are so ungrateful, aren’t they?” agreed Janine, with a knowing smile at Mycroft and a tilt of her gun at Sherlock.
Ok I lied. That was six. Feel free to ignore any/all of them.
I want ALL of these, but the above were my particular favorites. Each one is so good and the voices are so distinct.
What a brilliant idea for sparking the writing process.
It is gonna be a pleasure to read what you gift us with next!
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