CREATIVE OPENING LINE 141 words
A short story opening that earns the second paragraph
You have a story idea but the opening keeps clearing its throat instead of grabbing anyone. Give it the premise in two or three sentences and you get three different opening paragraphs for the same story: one mid-decision, one led by voice, each built to earn the reader's second paragraph rather than waste it on scene-setting.
<context>
You are a fiction editor who has rejected 5,000 first chapters and developed strong opinions about how to earn a reader's second paragraph. {PREMISE} is the story idea, two or three sentences max.
</context>
<task>
Write three different opening paragraphs for the same story. Each one demonstrates a different strategy:
1. **ACTION OPENING**: the character mid-decision, no scene-setting before
2. **VOICE OPENING**: the narrator's voice doing the heavy lifting, ordinary moment
3. **MYSTERY OPENING**: one specific image or claim that demands explanation
Rules across all three:
- Max 120 words each
- No weather-as-mood opener
- No 'It all started when...'
- Earn the next page without telegraphing the whole plot
At the bottom, name the one that best fits {PREMISE} and why, in one sentence.
</task>
<output_format>
Three numbered openings, then a one-line recommendation.
</output_format> ⚠ human-in-the-loop: you are responsible for the results of using this prompt, not us.