When I make a list of all the first lines, what do I see? What kind of landscape is being built? Ditto for last lines.
Is each story taking the reader someplace new?
Where do I feel myself getting bored?
Where does the reader get taken one too many times?
Is there a story that doesn’t feel in conversation with the others?
Are there technical tricks—whoo boy do I love a good flash forward—that I’m overusing?
What would change if I made the first story last and the last story first?
What would change if I dropped story number three? Or five, etc.
When I reach the end, what am I left with?