I haven't sat down and written anything for a bit, but I have been thinking about (how to) start stories. There was a Swancon panel a while ago, where... Stephen Dedman? Someone else? Said to "start your stories from the second punch, bringing the reader directly into the story without a big lead up".
And now I can't stop thinking like that, and am actively trying to figure out a compromise - a medium between the two extremes.

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An eyebrow raised, his grey eye scanned through the haze of smoke that filled the room. They were still there, he knew. Somewhere.
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The flimsy door to his motel 6 suite burst inward with a spray of splinters and rancid body oder as three burly suits pushed inside, filling the entranceway.
[I'm finding this one clumsy to read/say. I think I blame splinters. Maybe "inward in a spray of cheap wood and"?]

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I plan to compile this mix tape, as made my Automatic Tiny Mix Tape Generator:
Songs to listen to when you have a writer's block and can't think of anything interesting.

requested by: contenderrr
compiled by: dale

01. Modest Mouse - "Think Long" (Sad Sappy Suckers)
02. The Pixies - "Where is My Mind?" (Surfer Rosa)
03. Nirvana - "Something in the Way" (Nevermind)
04. 764-Hero - "Out Like a Light" (Weekends of Sound)
05. Gang of Four - "Paralysed" (A Brief History of the Twentieth Century)
06. Built to Spill - "Temporarily Blind" (Keep it Like a Secret)
07. Adam Green - "" (Garfield)
08. Interpol - "Obstacle 1" (Turn on the Bright Lights)
09. The Gentle Waves - "Hold Back a Thousand Hours" (Falling From Grace)
10. Ugly Casanova - "Things I Don't Remember" (Sharpen Your Teeth)
11. Elliot Smith - "Ballad of Big Nothing" (Either\Or)
12. Interpol - "Obstacle 2" (Turn on the Bright Lights)
13. Bedhead - "What's Missing" (Beheaded)

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And this: http://tesladownunder.com/tesla_coil_sparks.htm#Rotating%20long%20breakout%20point
Is just so cool I had to link it.