I'm intrigued by how many names you dropped right off the bat and it makes me wonder if it corresponds to who the focus of each piece is. Ah! I see that in your revelations. (Makes me wonder how many people I mention in my first lines. I will have to go see.)

Yeah, it does, for the most part, LOL. I guess I like to have a focal point, right from the start. Plus, some of these were written under word limits, so its essential to convey as much information as possible, in as few words as possible. Yet, even with my longer pieces, I do generally start off with an action, right off the bat.

I'm also very interested in what you said about having it drilled in to you that opening with dialogue is bad form. I've never heard that before.

I think it comes from my time reading series books when I was a kid, and those were universally derided as badly written books from a stylistic standpoint. Quite a few of them, especially the BSC, had chapters that started with a line of dialogue, without fail. So, I guess the two (bad writing + opening line of dialogue) became equated in my mind. Just one of those quirks of an untrained writer, I suppose :P

Question: Wouldn't your shortest opening sentence be just two words? "He stood."

o.O LOL, you're right!! I guess I didn't notice that because I considered that whole line the opening line, instead of just the first sentence. Nice eye!!