I have a new game idea!

Someone will propose the title of a book. Then each person who wants to play will make up a plausible first line for the book. Then the proposer will post all of the first lines, including the corect one, and everyone votes!

The idea is from a board game a friend showed me. It seems like the kind of thing we'd all enjoy, though, don't you think?

It's like the bluffing game, except with books and first lines!

The first title is:

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

PM me with your suggested first lines!

Let's just check that I'm getting it. We choose a real, but hopefully obscure book for the title. (One where we have access to the book so that we know the real first line) and then play just like the bluffing game. Have I got it?

Yes, indeed. For example, if the book were A Tale of Two Forks, by Dick N. Charles, my first line would be, "It was the best of tines, it was the worst of tines."

Yes, that's right! The first title I need a first line for is listed above.

Join in!

did you get mine?

Yes I did! And I responded!

Gadzooks! Who remembers the first lines of the books they've read! AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!

Not me, that's for sure! I sent you one, CW.

Gadzooks! Who can forget them?

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.

Neveu . . . want to send me a proposed first line by PM for the game?

Oh gads... it has been so long.

Not to get off topic here, but my quilting group has a challenge going that is similar. We got to pick up any book of our choice, turn to page 125, go to the third sentence on the page. That sentence had to be the inspiration for our artwork.

ok, OK,

I'll post the first lines later today - any last minute entries???

ACK! Sorry this has taken so long!

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

(which is the real first line?)

1. Not every thirteen-year-old girl is accused of murder, brought to trial and found guilty.

2. Let me tell you how I didn't really mean to murder Arthur.

3. I was sixteen years old when I first realised that my father was not the man that I had always considered him to be.

4. Never schedule your shrink appointment on Thursday; Thursday is for shopping and shoes and lunches with girl friends.

5. I was born Charlotte Enterlein in Leipzig, Germany, but emigrated to the United States with my parents in 1896, when I was seven.

6. I don't think I'll every be able to tell the whole story accurately, because I was in a drugged haze for so much of it.

7. It was a blustery day as I struggled to walk home, holding my hat so it wouldn't blow into the river.

8. In 1873, Mr Henry Arthur Doyle died.


Post your votes!!!

I'll choose #3. No particularly lucid reason for it other than I like the number 3.

1. sounds the most interesting to me!

1 3 and 4 all look good to me. I think I'll take a shot at 1.

I'll choose 5.

Tinman

I choose #8.

Number 8, please.

We still need a vote from Cat, and then I'll post the answer! I'll PM her and nudge her along.

I'll choose 2, because it appeals to the macabre side of my sense of humour .

Now, wasn't this fun? hehehe

OK all, here is the first paragraph of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, published 1990. As taken from my autographed copy (this is one of my very favorite books!).

quote:

Not every thirteen-year-old girl is accused of murder, brought to trial, and found guilty. But I was just such a girl, and my story is worth relating even if it did happen years ago. Be warned, however, this is no Story of a Bad Boy, no What Katy Did. If strong ideas and action offend you, read no more. Find another companion to share your idle hours. For my part I intend to tell the truth as I lived it.

And here is who said what:
1. Not every thirteen-year-old girl is accused of murder, brought to trial and found guilty. from the real book by AVI

2. Let me tell you how I didn't really mean to murder Arthur. confessed by KHC

3. I was sixteen years old when I first realised that my father was not the man that I had always considered him to be. confessed by Bob

4. Never schedule your shrink appointment on Thursday; Thursday is for shopping and shoes and lunches with girl friends. confessed by Jo

5. I was born Charlotte Enterlein in Leipzig, Germany, but emigrated to the United States with my parents in 1896, when I was seven. confessed by Arnie

6. I don't think I'll every be able to tell the whole story accurately, because I was in a drugged haze for so much of it. confessed by me, CW

7. It was a blustery day as I struggled to walk home, holding my hat so it wouldn't blow into the river. blown in by Kalleh

8. In 1873, Mr Henry Arthur Doyle died. confessed by my brittwin, Cat


Thank you all for playing! Who is going to give the next title?

I would like to do it please.

Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks

Have you been getting suggested first lines?

(a shamelessly useless post used for putting this at the top of the page again)

I have gotten two so far; I am patient.

Isn't anyone else going to play this game?

<Bump>

Any more entrants? I hope you've got my entry, jo.

I only received three entries. And I'm too tired these days to make up a bunch on my own. If people want to play this game, I will happily accept more first lines. But I don't think that four entries and one real one will make for much of a game.

Jo, sometimes it's just the nature of the beast. I've never understood how the 6-letters game (and those games devised from it) and the anagram game have gone on for so long.

Oh well - seemed like a fun idea at the time. Guess folks aren't in to it much.

Once I can figure out how to do it, I'll join in!

Feeble-minded Asa

Don't give up on it. I think it has great potential. A slow start doesn't mean people won't get into it.

I agree that it's a great potential. People just have to feel comfortable with it. Jo, let's start out with only a few first liners and go from there.

Okay. Here you go...

The book is Nights In Rodanthe. Your first lines are:

1. I watched with mixed emotions as the SS Capricorn eased away from the dock.

2. Charles Porter stood on the dock, staring out at the unforgiving sea, his eyes opaque and unsmiling as he remembered his last view of the ship, his beautiful bride laughing and waving as the small ship bounced and bobbed on the gentle waves.

3. My name is Wilma Porter.

4. Three years earlier, on a warm November morning in 1999, Adrienne Willis had returned to the Inn and at first glance had thought it unchanged, as if the small Inn were impervious to sun and sand and salted mist.

5. The man on the corner pulled his hat down further and tugged his collar up tighter trying to keep the elements from sneaking their long, cold fingers into his warmth.

6. I had never met his family before that day; I now wish I had never been introduced to any of them.

I'll go for 4.

Interesting that 2 and 3 have the same name in them, that 1 and 2 both have people watching ships depart. Not sure why that's interesting but it is.

I'll try 2.

Did we invent this game just so that there might be a chance of finding something arnie doesn't know? He can't have read and memorised every book in the world too, can he?

I actually swiped this game from a board game . . . but I like the "stump arnie" reason better, so I'll use that from now on. As for a first line, I'll go with #3,

Number 1, please.

I don't understand this game, but since you instructed me via PM to pick one, I'll go for six. How about PMing me again and telling me what I'm doing!

Asa the abysmally ignorant.

We are guessing the first line of a book; in this case the book is Nights in Rodanthe, by Nicholas Sparks. The choices are above.

Unfortunately, I made a mistake with my guess. Oh well, maybe it's a correct guess since I am usually wrong anyway!

The correct answer is #4, which leads me to conclude that not even this game can stump Arnie. I think we need a new thread called Stump Arnie.

Yay!

A pure guess, I assure everyone.

Arnie, would you please pick the lottery numbers for me this week?

I'll take Arnie's lottery guesses every week.

I hadn't meant to guess #1, though I probably wouldn't have guessed #4 either. It was too long. I think it is hilarious that there were 2 Porters in the list. One of them was mine; I had number 3.

At work I've been a member of a syndicate playing the lottery with the same numbers since 2002. The most I've ever won is £10. If you feel they might be useful, they are:
2, 18, 30, 36, 47, 48

Thanks, Arnie! I generally don't play the lottery. My father always referred to it as the tax on stupid (referring, no doubt, to the unlikelihood of winning and how people will play their last $50 on tickets when they have bills to pay). I don't take quite as harsh a view of it, but still, somehow, haven't ever bought a ticket. If I did, though, I'd ask you for numbers.

I'd split winnings with you too, prolly.

As I said, I've been a member of our syndicate at work for four years now, paying a whole £1 a week. I've never actually bought a ticket myself, only through the syndicate. I agree with your father. It's just really a bit of fun. I await receipt of half your winnings with unbated (or unbaited) breath.