So Writer's League says I can still participate...so what memorable story beginnings have you guys seen?

...YEAH!

So I'm back in the game! Just had to talk to the people in charge, be honest with them and let them know what I want to do. Apparently, they say it's very common to change the synopsis and story later on, so it's no big deal. They said they wouldn't take back a winning entry just because it turned out to be different later on.

So, to all you writers and readers out there, what kind of beginnings in stories were memorable to you? I'm thinking of making a prologue which details the world so they'll get a bigger picture of my whole story and a friend of mine says I should consider doing so using a character meeting.

FIVE DAYS LEFT...

Comments

[The dead Pixel Brony]

I haven't read the story. Link?

[ThatWeatherstormChap]

The best beginning to a story I read was, "Everyone is dead."
I felt like I know the rest of the story after that so I stopped reading.
True story.
-Weatherstorm

[Exaecatio]

I liked the beginning of "Spike's Rainbow Dash", iirc.

[Csquared08]

Memorable story beginnings? Well, I can think of two.

1.) The prologue to Elantris by Brandon Sanderson:

Elantris was beautiful, once. It was called the city of the gods: a place of power, radiance, and magic. Visitors say that the very stones glowed with an inner light, and that the city contained wondrous arcane marvels. At night, Elantris shone like a great silvery fire, visible even from a great distance.

Yet, as magnificent as Elantris was, its inhabitants were more so. Their hair a brilliant white, their skin an almost metallic silver, the Elantrians seemed to shine like the city itself. Legends claim that they were immortal, or at least nearly so. Their bodies healed quickly, and they were blessed with great strength, insight, and speed. They could perform magics with a bare wave of the hand; men visited Elantris from all across Opelon to receive Elantrian healings, food, or wisdom. They were divinities.

And anyone could become one.

The Shaod, it was called. The Transformation. It struck randomly—usually at night, during the mysterious hours when life slowed to rest. The Shaod could take beggar, crafts­man, nobleman, or warrior. When it came, the fortunate person's life ended and began anew; he would discard his old, mundane existence, and move to Elantris. Elantris, where he could live in bliss, rule in wisdom, and be worshipped for eternity.

Eternity ended ten years ago.

2.) The cover flap/back of the book description for Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

Once, a hero arose to save the world. A young man with a mysterious heritage courageously challenged the darkness that strangled the land.

He failed.

[Timely]

Hmm, I haven't read many..um.... unprofessionally published books....(I mainly read fanfics, trivia books and comedy), so I can't really help on that, sorry. But anyway, Congrats on passing another hurdle!