Below are the top 50 entries in our Red Light/Green Light contest, where writers are vying for the prize of a phone call with fabulous agent Patricia Nelson at Marsal Lyon Literary.
Be sure to check back next Thursday, when we'll post our agent judge's top 25 selected entries!
CONGRATS to all who made it in, and good luck going forward!
And now, presenting:
THE TOP 50 ENTRIES |
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Terry Bell Young Adult Fantasy 1 Pa was taking too long to cut the boys’ throats. |
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Amber Duell Young Adult Fantasy 2 War is beautiful chaos. |
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D Lollis Middle Grade Contemporary 3 "Mom, Brandon is smelling his dirty underwear—again," my older sister Bethany yelled as I crawled on the cold marble tile of the third floor laundry room. |
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KD Proctor New Adult Romance 4 If it’s possible for a tray of pastries to blackmail me, I think I might need to file a restraining order against The Steamy Bean’s cinnamon chip scones. |
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Kara Reynolds Young Adult SciFi 5 The universe should have a rule that bad news can't arrive over breakfast, but it doesn't. |
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Mary Hallberg Young Adult Paranormal 6 As Penny walked inside the funeral home doors, the cold air stung her skin. |
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Traci Kenworth Young Adult Fantasy 7 Of all the things Karrie Hunter's mother missed about Earth, color remained the biggest. |
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Ellie Luken Young Adult Fantasy 8 Only fools or the desperate wandered beyond the city walls by themselves. |
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Jennifer Schafer Young Adult Contemporary 9 Dad says the empty spaces in our lives, like moments of silence in music, amplify or accentuate the importance of the people we hold closest. |
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Devyn B. Makin Young Adult Magical Realism 10 Routine is what predators look for in their prey. |
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Laura McFadden Young Adult Contemporary 11 I tug out two wipes and inhale the sharp bleach and lemon scent. |
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Sarah Vance-Tompkins Young Adult Magical Realism 12 Not every fairy's tale begins with once upon a time. |
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Gabby Gilliam Young Adult Other 13 My name is a bit of a joke, a cruel trick of nature to punish my parents. |
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VV Sinnott Young Adult Magical Realism 14 My parents were whispering in the living room, a sure sign they were talking about something they didn’t want me to hear. |
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Dill Werner Young Adult SciFi 15 I was born to a woman who never loved me. |
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Michele Blood Young Adult Contemporary 16 A bead of sweat nestled itself beneath the bandages pinching Alex's skin. |
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Anikó Rajci Young Adult Fantasy 17 The thick string of dark red fury slips out of my fingertips in quick waves. |
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Olivia Hinebaugh Young Adult Magical Realism 18 There wasn’t a funeral. |
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Angela Dahle Middle Grade Fantasy 19 There aren't any unlucky numbers, only unlucky people. |
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Mare Hagarty Young Adult Paranormal 20 The first time I saw her, she was a pink and black blur, all sharp edges and hollows. |
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Heather Lea Young Adult Dystopian 21 Though humanity watches with apprehension and bated breath, I find myself drawn to this mysterious matter blanketing our world in gray. |
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Laurine Bruder Young Adult Fantasy 22 Ivy Greenhill's mind ticked as the prison wagon trundled along the dirt road. |
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Gillian Libby Young Adult Romance 23 I didn’t know it was possible to screw over your entire family after you’ve been dead for two hundred years, but it turns out you’re never too dead to ruin a legacy. |
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Dana Nuenighoff Young Adult Fantasy 24 Purple mountains jutted into the sky before me as I choked back tears and instead a smile spread across my ocean-weathered face: the Pass. |
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Patricia Nesbitt Middle Grade Historical 25 Last year, when I was nine, things were a good sight better. |
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Tiffany Dawn Munn Young Adult Fantasy 26 Alorna Mirone studied her tiara, her nose crinkled in an expression of distaste. |
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Joan Albright Young Adult Steampunk 27 Silas clung to his tiny chainskiff, arms wrapped around the rail while it rocked and pitched and finally settled against the chain that held it in the sky. |
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PJN Young Adult Fantasy 28 Four years ago no one knew my name. |
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Carol Baldwin Young Adult Historical 29 Dead bodies don't bother me none. |
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Mae Parker Young Adult Fantasy 30 Henbane Tower pierced the night like a dagger thrust into the heart of my kingdom. |
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Holly Pettit Young Adult Historical 31 In the dark part of the city – the Soviet sector – a garden party was just breaking up. |
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Cindy Williams Schrauben Young Adult Paranormal 32 It's a challenge to breath in a vacuum. |
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Cass Newbould Young Adult Fantasy 33 Heat, intense but not unpleasant, hits my face as flames flicker along the wooden floor of my bedroom. |
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Lana Pattinson Young Adult Historical 34 Ominous clouds hovered over the loch, and Rowan Sinclair was about to lose his chance at freedom. |
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KPKnupp Young Adult Suspense 35 For the first time since the accident, she felt comfortable in her own skin. |
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TL Sumner Young Adult Contemporary 36 I could do anything for fifteen seconds. |
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Gabi Snyder Middle Grade Contemporary 37 After the funeral, I fall asleep and dream of snow. |
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Leslie Hauser Young Adult Contemporary 38 They say music is the key to the soul or maybe it’s the heart. |
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Jennifer Pickrell Young Adult Contemporary 39 I couldn’t stop staring at Chase Lewis. |
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Holly M. Campbell Young Adult Paranormal 40 The man standing in the kitchen had not been dead long. |
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ML VIllax New Adult Fantasy 41 I hated Mother’s day, always had, always would. |
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Jodi Cardillo Young Adult Contemporary 42 I hate it when bad music gets stuck in my head. |
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Marcy S. Hatch Young Adult SciFi 43 I paddle out, breathing evenly in the early dawn, mist rising from the water. |
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Hess Oster Middle Grade Other 44 Once there was a man who loved children. |
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Marva Dasef Middle Grade Fantasy 45 A dark figure dropped silently from the window ledge to the alley below. |
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Cassidy Taylor Young Adult Fantasy 46 Sounds of revelry drift up to Ruby's sitting room, but she wants no part of it. |
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Jenny Middle Grade Fantasy 47 Deep in the forest, where the trees grew crooked and the wind whispered tales of woe, there was a tower, and in the tower there lived a girl. |
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Mary Bartek Middle Grade Contemporary 48 Applause for the previous speaker was still dying down when the headmaster returned to the podium on the auditorium stage. |
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Lizz Huerta Young Adult Fantasy 49 The stink of the Fire Warrior reached Indir before he spoke. |
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Amanda Perry Young Adult Fantasy 50 The ship screams in protest as it skips over treacherous waves. |
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Good luck, everyone! This line is gorgeous: "Dad says the empty spaces in our lives, like moments of silence in music, amplify or accentuate the importance of the people we hold closest."
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteI hope I get to read your second line. ;-)
I like 3 and 12.
ReplyDeleteI like entry #5, but suggest cutting your last 3 words.
ReplyDeleteI like three entries. 7, 21, and 23
ReplyDeleteI like 23, 25, 36 and 40
ReplyDeleteI like #7.
ReplyDeleteA lot of great opening sentences that make me want to keep reading. I'm glad I'm not judging. Good luck everyone!
ReplyDeleteSO many great ones! Eep! Great job everyone! I think 4, 7, 23, and 29 were my favorites :)
ReplyDeleteMy faves: 19, 20, 23, 25, 40, and of course, my own...(woohoo! I made it!!!)
ReplyDeleteThere are too many good ones to count here. Thanks Rebekah Purdy for picking mine. and Yeah to mshatch...we made the cut@
ReplyDeleteGood luck everyone, and thank you for sharing!
ReplyDelete#10 and #23 make me want to read more!
ReplyDeleteP.S. #32, add an "e" to "breath"! :)
I'm #18, and I'm realizing short choppy sentences don't lend themselves to this contest. Do we think that's contest-specific, or is it better to start off with a complex thought? And thanks for hosting this! It's got me thinking a lot more about this!
ReplyDeleteOlivia, your opening sentence is one of my faves. Don't change it. :)
DeleteWell, thank you!
DeleteMine is short and choppy too, Olivia. I think it's important to use what works best to set the right tone for your story. While it might not give an advantage in this contest, it can still be a powerful opening in the actual manuscript. :) Good luck!
ReplyDeleteLots of fun first lines here! I love these the most: #18, #34, #36, #43, #47, #46.
ReplyDelete