In a recent assignment I created for my writer’s group, I asked members to identify their favorite beginnings and endings. Readymade blogpost, what-what?! 

The Assignment
Select/identify three to five of your favorite beginning and/or ending sentences from books, articles, poems, what have you. What moves you about each?

Phoebe’s Favs

BEGS
“I can’t believe you’ve come back
Like the train I missed so badly, barely
Which stopped and returned for me. It scared me
Humming backwards along the track.” – sonnet by Brenda Shaughnessy, “Rise” –love the imagery & sensuality, the “meet-cute” of the mundane & the shocking

“Tyger, Tyger burning bright” –sonnet by William Blake “The Tyger” – intrigue, danger, fire, tigers, wow!

This cover alone brought me careening into the world of comics, of which I’m now a lifetime Reader (cap intended)

ENDS
“She was not someone’s sister, she was not someone’s child. She was Dolores, and Dolores was the good guys.” – Bruce Brooks – Dolores: Seven Stories About Her –I think this is the best summarization of a character; the tone of these two lines has inspired several characters in my own novels

“Peace, tremulous, unexpected, sent a taproot out of nowhere into Morgan’s heart.” –Patricia McKillip – Riddle-Master: The Complete Trilogy –This quote appears, unbidden, in my thoughts on a regular basis and has deeply influenced what I think an ending should be

“It was only then that Burl noticed that someone found him a real pair of shoes. They seemed quite new, and they fit him well.” –Tim Wynne-Jones – The Maestro – says so little, says so much, I ♥ the practical

YOU
So how about you, my friend? Begs & Ends?