Opening Line Patterns
thanks for the tag @ladyofthenoodle!
Rules: List the first line of your last 10 posted fics and see if there's a pattern. I'm not going to link each individual fic, but here's my Ao3 if something catches your fancy! :)
From most to least recent:
Rena Rouge: Secret Keeper - Ch 4 Chat Noir was earlier than Ladybug. That was hardly unusual. What was unusual was that he was dreading her arrival.
The Untold Story of DJWiFi - Ch 9 Alya’s biggest complaint about being tied up in a giant spider’s web was that she couldn’t film the whole akuma encounter.
Bend the World Around It - Ch 3 They don’t talk about their names and identities. He doesn’t ask and she doesn’t want to talk about it anyway. It’ll just make them both sad.
Not Part of the Plan - Ch 12 She wakes up next to Adrien. He looks as gorgeous as ever and more than anything she wants to throw herself at him and have her way with him.
Celebrity Status - Ch 7 I can’t believe Ladybug dropped someone!
Miraculous Reveal #15 - Rings True I figured out who Monarch is. He’s Gabriel Agreste. Meet me at the Agreste Mansion.
Right Behind You - Ch 13 Nino adjusted the headphones over his ears, and hit play again, listening to the track he had so far.
Yin and Yang - Ch 5 Adrien’s room was something out of a child’s fantasy.
Spin the Bottle Nathaniel’s family home is not as large or ostentatious as the Agreste family manor, but that only means Adrien feels more at ease.
Aftermath - Ch 5 After their unplanned disaster sleepover, Marinette and Adrien fell strictly back into their routine.
Well, in 6/10 the first line seems to serve to establish where the character is more than anything else. Nothing too fancy about those.
And in 5/10 (with some definite overlap with the previous six) there's something in there to quickly establish the character's mood/mental space.
In 2/10 it's a line of text! I think this is interesting in that it's similar to starting with a line of dialogue, which is very easy for me, but I've mostly trained myself out of that. Mostly! Haha! But apparently I can still find ways to cheat. I'm actually shocked that none of these are an ACTUAL line of dialogue. I'm sure that it will happen again.
I don't usually put a lot of energy into the opening line. I more try to get into a character's head and that often takes more than one line and I usually find the rhythm later. The first line is helpful for getting in that mood though and getting words to flow!
No pressure tags to: @asukiess @bbutterflies @bittersweetresilience @jennagrinsoverml @blur0se













