I've been trying to coax my muse out of her box, and figured a few challenges might jostle her enough to get back to work on my WIPs. But rather than wait for just the right prompt to happen along, I figured I'd make a formal request:

Please post an opening line. Preferably not something ramblingly long, but other than that, it could be anything you like. Post as many as you like, too. Go nuts (please). And if someone posts a first line that strikes your fancy, I see no reason why we can't all share.

Well, Folcs? Can you help a muse out?

"OK. Just put down the rubber ducky, and let's talk."

Joy,
Lynn

I love this challenge!

"I killed him. I killed ...Superman."

"It was a dark and stormy night."

"So, if you didn't go away with Mayson for the weekend, where exactly were you?"


"Slap me, quick!"

"But...I thought we were friends?"

Great challenge idea
Laura

"Good Afternoon, Mister Kent. The photograph in the folder is Lois Lane, a reporter at the Metropolis Daily Planet. We believe that she will shortly be assigned to investigate gun runners in the Congo. Your mission, should you choose to accept it..."

"Lois, you're...pregnant," Clark stammered before he knew what he was saying. After all, there was no way on Earth that he could know that before she did.

Ooooh! Nice one!

Michael

"I'm sorry, Lois but I don't DO 'patient'."

"'Full Moon Over Metropolis!' by Leo Nunk" (Yes, this could describe the lunar phenomenon, but we all know it doesn't. )

"Lois, you're naked!" Superman exclaimed.

"Lois, why are you naked?" Clark exclaimed.

"Clark Kent, you're under arrest for the murder of Superman."

"Lois Lane, you're under arrest for the murder of Clark Kent."

"Superman, you're under arrest for the murder of Lois Lane."

Michael

"What's this?" Lucy asked her sister while holding up the red cape she had picked from Lois's bedroom floor.

"What's this?" Lois asked her husband as she dangled the sorry excuse for another woman's underwear in front of his face.

Michael

My sister actually got me a book of story prompts for Christmas. It's called "Complete The Story." I haven't totally explored the book, but as I find ones that would be good for L&C, I'll post.

"How did you know?" I asked, not sure I wanted the answer. I thought I had been careful. I thought she...

Reporters are trained to develop a sixth sense, a nose for when a story smells fishy. And something about this one wasn't right. First of all...

It flashed through the sky and then was gone. Lucy was sure she had seen a UFO and was equally sure that aliens were here to secretly make contact with a human being. Maybe they would choose her. Maybe she would get to visit their ship. Maybe...

She believed in me in a way no one else ever has and no one else ever will, and I betrayed her. The worst part is, she doesn't know. She still thinks...

It was different, writing on a typewriter: the clatter and noise, the resistance of the old keys forcing her to really put some effort into each letter. She imagined she was...

It was odd to be in a room full of people who all seemed to look up to my dad like he was some kind of hero. A part of me wanted to see him through their eyes just for a moment. I tried to picture him as...

I sat down next to her on the couch. It was time to start telling the truth. But I couldn't just dive into the heart of the matter, so I started with the little things. I told her...

All right, maybe it wasn't the best way to start off a conversation. In my own way, I was trying to take her side, and very few people do. She has two, maybe three real friends in the world. There's me, there's...

I wanted to believe him. I really did. But I had trusted him before, and it hadn't worked out that well. So now when he assured me that...


More to come as I get deeper into the prompts!

Vicky, those all sound like they're tailor made for Lois and Clark.

And to add a quote:
"Not again!" Lois sighed as she smelled the distinctive scent of eau de sweatsocks from the perfume sample she had received per mail.

Michael

Michael, I was shocked how many fit when I was thumbing through!

A few more from the second half of that book:

He dropped to one knee and began snapping photographs. He didn't want to miss anything. Most everyone was running away from the explosion but others were...

"How could you?" she asked, hands high in the air - and at first I had no answer. There was no excuse for what I had done, and I wasn't about to make one up. But the one thing she didn't understand, the one thing I needed her to understand,...

It could have been a disaster instead of a new beginning. In a way, it was a little bit of both. And with all the things that happened this past year, we were all in need of a new beginning. We deserved it after... (this one reminds me of the Season One finale with the exploded Daily Planet)

"It's just a phase, you'll grow out of it," my father said to me at the time. I've spent the rest of my life trying to prove him wrong, trying to show him I could...

Love comes in all shapes and sizes. And sometimes it's disguised as something else. It's natural for me to think about disguises because...

"Are you serious?" I asked her, somehow hoping against hope that she wasn't. She was quite serious. She was getting in the car and driving to California, with or without me. She had just gotten off the phone with...

I couldn't tell if she was truly confident - or just really good at faking it. And I know a thing or two about faking it. "Fake it till you make it," my old man used to say. Of course, he also said...

There was no way I was going to admit anything. I had to protect myself. But I also had to protect...

I knew the day I met her I would ask her to marry me. And I guess I knew that she would say no, but I couldn't help myself when...

People talk about the calm before a storm. And that's what it felt like: there was electricity in the air, and it was invisible, and that made it even more powerful. A crowd had gathered outside City Hall and also at...

It was an accident, I told myself. And I kept on telling myself that, as if saying it over and over would make it true. But no matter what I told myself, it wouldn't change the fact that...

People pretty much hear what they want to hear, see what they want to see, believe what they want to believe. And I guess I fell into that trap as well. I wanted to believe...

Thanks for all the first lines, guys! Please keep them coming.

If I may dash one off myself:

Lex studied his reflection in the mirror, admiring the fit of the tights and the way the red cape hung majestically from his shoulders. Yes...this would work.

After all his previous failures he finally savored the sweet taste of victory! The solution was delightful in its simplicity--after all, it had only taken one suggestion...

"I'm sorry, Ms. Lane, but we can't hire you. Insurance reasons. I'm sure you can understand," L. P. Letters, editor in chief of the Metropolis Star, told her.

(while reading Blooming Time by Millefeuilles)

Michael

"What is it with Clark picking Ultra Woman for his fantasy superhero league team every year?" asked Jimmy. "Does he think she's going to make a comeback?"

(I should mention that this was suggested by the 2nd episode of Powerless, which has various people obsessed with this fantasy game)

"Mr. White, are you certain that intern Lois Lane isn't right for a permanent job with the Daily Planet?"

Famous first line or L. P. Letters's last words? (Lois will kill him.)
Fortunately, Lois didn't think about that when she wondered about her next career move, while waiting for Superman !
If so, I wouldn't have had a story to write about...

Bumping this up. And while I'm here:

"Clark? Superman? What are you both doing here?!"

"That does it. I'll never listen to another Elvis song again," Perry vowed.

"Hi, I'm Cat Kent..."

Looking at the body, Lois said "Mrs. Cox, why a head shot?"
"Lex always wears a vest Miss Lane."