Fanfare! One Perfect Sentence… January Winners!

[AgentPete]

The prompt this month was to complete “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” in a novel way. In this, you manifestly succeeded In fact, this was arguably the best OPS contest we've run so far.

The results are as follows (remember, you voted for the winners, and each entry was anonymised):

In first place…​

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the first day of my School Summer holidays, and the day Jasper Herriot arrived on my street."​

For this masterfully foreboding YA opening, @Hannah F wins 100 LitCoins!​

In second place…​

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, as the keynote speaker approached the podium in readiness to address the annual conference of the Chronically Undecided Society.”​

Sly humour there! Congratulations to @Jonny for this – he wins 50 LitCoins!​

And closely following in third place…​

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of change, it was the age of fixture, it was the epoch of hubris, it was the epoch of shame, it was the season of Love, it was the season of Hate, it was the spring of freedom, it was the winter of chains, we held the world in our hands, we held nothing but dreams, we were all to be Gods, we were all nothing but demons – in short, the passing of puberty is so unlike any other passing that its wildest and most diligent biographers insist on its being received, for joy or for ill, in the superlative degree of comparative states – our coming of age.”​

Possibly one of the longest entries we’ve yet received, and worth every golden word… @Rich. wins 25 LitCoins!


​

The Special mention (my own award) goes to…​

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, for it was a tale of three mothers: The first having given her life to place him in this world, the second he had chosen to stand in her place, and the third saved them both from the incoming wall of water, and rode north to where the desert turned white.”​

Which is a heck of an opening sentence, so in media res I can’t quite believe it! 10 LitCoins go to @Sarit.
***

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I hope you enjoyed it, everyone – judging by the quality of entries, you did. Next month’s OPS starts on February 7th – I’m already looking forward to it – hope you are, too!

I’m looking for someone to help me run the OPS contest… it’s surprisingly technical behind the scenes, so it may not be for you if you’re not happy with stuff like that. Also, of course, if you run the contest, you can’t take part. But if you’re interested in helping out, do drop me a message.

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

Shucks! I'm so delighted folk liked my entry! . . . (Now to decide who, what, why and when is Jasper Herriot!)

And - ha, ha - I guessed the chronically undecided society was a Jonny invention!

Congrats to @Jonny and @Rich. and @Sarit too. I loved your entries!

 

[Claire G]

Well done, @Hannah F and all! Great entries xx

 

[Aethalope]

Congratulations @Hannah F, @Jonn y, @Rich and @Sarit! Some truly excellent lines there

 

[Rich.]

Congratulations @Hannah F! Well played! And we'll played to @Jonny, @Sarit, and all the other entries. January's competition was much fun indeed.

 

[Sedayne]

Congrats to all. Well-deserved winners!
Jasper Herriot sounds like a cad and a bounder - what did he do to make that summer the worst of times? This needs to be written. Will we all fall a little bit in love with him?

 

[mickleinapickle]

I think he's too evil. No redeeming features, and will eventually dance a fine jig 'tween heaven and earth.

 

[Sedayne]

I think he's too evil. No redeeming features, and will eventually dance a fine jig 'tween heaven and earth.

But he's a beautiful villain...

 

[mickleinapickle]

But he's a beautiful villain...

Yes, he may be devilishly handsome, but his heart is black. He kissed every girl on the street that summer.... and left them all in tears.

 

[Jonny]

Great opening there, @Hannah F (cookies aplenty)

Sets up so much mystery and intrigue in just one sentence.

And well done, too, to @Rich. @Sarit and all who took part.

 

[E G Logan]

Congratulations to all, especially winners. I thought the standard was very high – old CD might have been proud of us – perhaps.

 

[Rich.]

old CD might have been proud of us – perhaps

Perhaps. But I'm sure would have demanded royalties.

 

[Sarit]

The prompt this month was to complete “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” in a novel way. In this, you manifestly succeeded In fact, this was arguably the best OPS contest we've run so far.

The results are as follows (remember, you voted for the winners, and each entry was anonymised):

In first place…​

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the first day of my School Summer holidays, and the day Jasper Herriot arrived on my street."​

For this masterfully foreboding YA opening, @Hannah F wins 100 LitCoins!​

In second place…​

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, as the keynote speaker approached the podium in readiness to address the annual conference of the Chronically Undecided Society.”​

Sly humour there! Congratulations to @Jonny for this – he wins 50 LitCoins!​

And closely following in third place…​

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of change, it was the age of fixture, it was the epoch of hubris, it was the epoch of shame, it was the season of Love, it was the season of Hate, it was the spring of freedom, it was the winter of chains, we held the world in our hands, we held nothing but dreams, we were all to be Gods, we were all nothing but demons – in short, the passing of puberty is so unlike any other passing that its wildest and most diligent biographers insist on its being received, for joy or for ill, in the superlative degree of comparative states – our coming of age.”​

Possibly one of the longest entries we’ve yet received, and worth every golden word… @Rich. wins 25 LitCoins!


​

The Special mention (my own award) goes to…​

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, for it was a tale of three mothers: The first having given her life to place him in this world, the second he had chosen to stand in her place, and the third saved them both from the incoming wall of water, and rode north to where the desert turned white.”​

Which is a heck of an opening sentence, so in media res I can’t quite believe it! 10 LitCoins go to @Sarit.
***

​

I hope you enjoyed it, everyone – judging by the quality of entries, you did. Next month’s OPS starts on February 7th – I’m already looking forward to it – hope you are, too!

I’m looking for someone to help me run the OPS contest… it’s surprisingly technical behind the scenes, so it may not be for you if you’re not happy with stuff like that. Also, of course, if you run the contest, you can’t take part. But if you’re interested in helping out, do drop me a message.

OMG! First off thank you @AgentPete so much for the special mention and apologies for being MIA until now, I was in Rome bending my neck at the sistine chapel.... For what it's worth it's the opening sentence from my current WIP novel which I thought fit perfectly with your prompt. Congratulations to @Hannah F @Jonny @Rich. great stuff there. What do I do with litcoins actually?

 

[AgentPete]

What do I do with litcoins actually?

Ah, now there’s a question
For the moment, nothing directly, other than bask in their exclusivity.
But soon, you should see various options emerging...

 

[CarolMS]

Hooray for all! @Hannah F, your sentence had struck me as one which would definitely open a novel well, not just because of it's content, but because it was so well-written. And @Jonny, I loved the tongue in cheek humor of your sentence! Your sentence, @Rich. was such fun to read, a delightful compilation of all that makes up those wild, wonderful, angst-ridden and chaotic teenage years! How DO we get through them??? And cheers to @Sarit. too, for a mini-story all in one sentence.
Congratulations to all.

 

[Bloo]

It was the best of times; it was the wurst of Times Square - tasty curried hot dogs with a German pedigree.