![]() Why? Because you never have a second chance to make a first impression. Is he a rebel? Then the first thing we see him doing is probably some crazy stunt he pulled. Is she head of household or a protector? They we probably see her in the midst of providing. Is he overly ambitious? Then we probably meet him at work or ditching someone for work. When the reader meets a character for the first time, it must be in a context that somehow reflects a vital aspect of his or her identity. In terms of revealing the core of your character, this applies to the first page as well as every time you introduce someone new. Reveal the Core of Your Character (and Your Book) The only question I left the reader asking was whether two sisters would take a walk in the cold or go back inside. When writing my book, I took another look at my own first page. However, new authors like me don’t have that luxury. In my opinion, this exercise isn’t completely fair because established authors don’t need to hook you on the first page-their fans already know what they are getting. Reasons include too much detail about the setting or not interested in the characters, but usually the reason was simple-no tension. Writer Unboxed has this thing called “ Flog a Pro” where they invite people to read first pages of books written by famous authors and then comment on whether they were moved to continue. A character should be placed in a situation rattled with tension from the first page of a book. A professional book doesn't make a reader wait a long time before getting to the tension. If you jump to page fifty in your book, is this a more exciting place to start instead of your prologue? 2. In her book The Writer's Guide to Beginnings, literary agent and author Paula Munier suggest that writers turn to page fifty in their books and that's probably the best place to start the book. Does it add to the story or is it just enabling you to do less work?Īnother question to ask yourself is: is the prologue really the best place to start the book, or is it trying to explain things instead of let the reader dive into the story? So my advice is this: if you are a new author considering the use of a prologue, seriously think about why you chose to include it. That all said, I do enjoy reading prologues, and there are books that work better with a prologue than without one. I was trying to tell the reader my character’s motivation instead of letting her figure it out herself. ![]() I used to have a prologue to my novel that I thought was good however, at some point I realized the agents were right, it was really lazy. in most cases, prologues suggest laziness or weakness in the writer-or confusion on the best place to start the beautiful book. Unfortunately, almost everything I’ve read says agents hate prologues. It allows us to start the book with our favorite part of the story or to tell the reader our character’s back story rather than bother with interweaving it into the text. ![]() Your first page should probably actually begin your story rather than consist of a prologue. It helps writers like you make their plot better and write bestselling, award winning books readers love. 4 Tips to Write the Perfect First Pageīelow are some of the rules I've discovered for crafting the perfect first page of a book.įirst, though, if you want to learn more about plot and how to structure your story, check out my new book, The Write Structure. ![]() You need to make it good! Something that can uphold the excitement of your book idea and that would impress a publishing company. The thinking is that readers thumbing through books in the bookstore and agents alike make snap decisions based on those initial words.Īnd while it's essential that the entire book is great, the reality is that the first page of your book sets the tone and expectation for the quality of writing for the rest of the book. It happened because as I was writing, I followed a lot of writing blogs, attended a lot of author talks, and browsed a lot of guides that had a lot to say about how to write the first page of a book. I’ve changed the first page of my novel a lot. ![]()
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