I'm working on the first draft of the third book in the Sheridan and Blake Adventure series at the moment, Gabriel's Game.
In a fleeting moment of creative randomness, I wondered what would happen if I took the first line from every chapter of the first draft and put them together. I've switched the order around so it makes some sort of sense and here's the result - I call it, a First Line Poem:
Gabriel's Game a First Line Poem
Tom
leaned into the open passenger window of the blue London Cab, “Temple Meads
please.”
Tom
looked down the tunnel, hearing the familiar whistle and rattle as the train
approached.
Tom
blinked his eyes open, dreamscapes faded from memory and the comforts of sleep
melted away.
Tom
Sheridan pushed himself from the chair and shook his leaden limbs out, wrung
his hands, rolled his shoulders and made for the window.
It had
been a couple of weeks since Tom had been for a run.
Tom
looked at the handset.
Harry hit
pause on the TV and got up to answer the phone.
“Harry?
May I call you Harry?” said Milton, a grin lubricating his face.
Milton
Harkett looked up from his notes and offered a thin smile to the Agent he had
summoned.
Milton
said he was his best agent, Benedict Morris knew he was being flattered, but
liked hearing it.
Benedict
pulled up a chair alongside Angus and leaned his elbows on the table.
Benedict
clutched the headset to his ears, listening hard for anything, any progress at
all.
Sasha was
swimming, at least, it was the best word she could come up with to describe the
feeling.
Consciousness
slowly returned in piercing waves.
“Sasha,
come back to me,” whispered Tom.
‘My Tom’
– that’s what she’d said last night.
Tom had
only told her what was necessary.
A rare
insomnia had Sasha in its grip.
Sasha
latched onto Tom’s arm for stability when he swiped the key card and jostled
the door open.
“Nice
place,” Tom followed Sasha into the apartment.
Tom’s
socks muffled the sound of his footsteps as he padded across the lounge.
Tom
ducked into the bedroom, a pink misty hue filtering through the French doors.
Tom set
his glass of water down on the bedside table and moved around the bed.
Giraud la
Riviere rose before the sun.
Giraud la
Riviere tugged his cape around himself shielding his tired body from the autumn
chill.
They’d
tried two hotels already before stepping into the shiny air-conditioned lobby
of this one.
“Aside
from the obvious meteorological benefits, why Cyprus?” Tom assessed his white
pieces on the chess board.
It was
worth a try.
Tom
pulled up to the high metal gate.
“Well,
this is home,” Tom glanced back, smiling and held the door open.
Gabriel
took the white cotton gloves from the desk drawer and slipped them on.
Kat
leaned over the small heap of soft toys Elly insisted on sharing her bed with
and pressed a lingering kiss onto her sleeping head.
“Where do
you keep your car?”
Benedict
polished the lens of his binoculars with a cotton handkerchief.
Rehu
adjusted the focus on the binoculars.
“So what
happens now?”
Hamed
Moktari supped at his glass of mint tea, just the right temperature, crisp and
refreshing, the fragrance filling his nostrils.
Sasha
stood on the patio waiting for him, a warm fluffy towel draped over her arm.
Sasha
worked it through in her mind, slotting the pieces into place.
Weirdly, it does capture some of the essence of the overall story.
Here's a little more about it:
Bristol, 1205: A Templar
Knight returns from the crusades seeking forgiveness. He failed to retrieve a sacred manuscript from
the Library of Constantinople.
The Present: Archaeologist,
Dr Sasha Blake is being hunted by an unseen enemy. Her only chance is to locate
an ancient manuscript and trade it for her life.
Tom Sheridan is at her side,
but is he really being hunted or is he one of the hunters?
They are offered shelter and assistance by a
wealthy businessman, Gabriel Fletcher.
Can Gabriel be trusted or is
he playing games with her?
Here's a bit of fun:
Grab a book, any book
- Jot down the first line of the first 10 chapters
- Now mix them up and see what First Line Poem you can put together
- Share the result here, I'd be fascinated to see what you've come up with
