This is it! The Read Play Edit Restoration Project is almost complete! My friends have been helping me out with new and recycled posts of their own while I wrote and rewrote new articles to run in the new year. Today is the last of them—another great post from YA author N. K. Traver. This one’s about that first line, first paragraph, first page … and ultimately the first chapter. Enjoy!
250 Words That Will Make or Break You
Every good lesson starts with someone who learned it the hard way:
Once upon a time, a writer wrote a book with a quirky premise. With the help of her superhuman critique partners, she mashed together a query letter that other people could actually understand. And they all agreed over virtual pumpkin lattes that this would be The One That Worked.
So the writer sent a round of queries. The first response, to a query letter with just the query, was a “YES, please send me pages!” And the writer cackled because she was one step closer to world domination getting an agent. She sent off the pages and waited to hear from the other queries.
But the rejections trickled in, one by one. All the other letters she’d sent, you see, had the first five pages included. “Nope,” “Sorry,” “Not for me,” all came back. And eventually the requested partial came back as “No thanks” too. Which meant something in those opening pages wasn’t working.
So the writer rewrote her first chapter until her eyes watered and her fingers bled and she’d eaten all the dark chocolate in the land. A month later, she had new stamps of approval from her CPs. She entered the pages into two contests to see if her work had made any difference at all.
It had. She won both contests, eleven requests for pages, and a fantabulous agent.
Said writer had changed no other part of her manuscript between querying and the contests. That’s the astonishing difference first pages can make. As readers, I think we’re willing to give a book a few pages—sometimes a few chapters—to really get started. But agents and contest judges, who consider hundreds of pitches in a single sitting, must make a snap decision if they hope to keep up with their in-boxes. It’s the harsh reality of traditional publishing. If you want to stand out, you have to start standing out from line one.
Now, as a Pitch Wars mentor, I do promise to read past that tricky first page, because that’s what I would have desperately wanted as a writer in the query trenches. But I would challenge you to go through this checklist as you’re polishing your manuscript, whether it’s for a Pitch Wars mentor or an agent. Make sure your first 250 words …
Have a delicious first line. Does your opening raise a question that must be answered?
• “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.” (The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean)
• “The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don’t got nothing much to say.” (The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness)
• “Victor readjusted the shovels on his shoulder and stepped gingerly over an old, half-sunken grave.” (Vicious, V. E. Schwab)
• “There is one mirror in my house.” (Divergent, Veronica Roth)
Don’t bait-and-switch. Don’t tell us there’s a dead body just to hook us, then delve into a scene about the weather. (Unless, of course, it has to do with said body.)
Are uniquely yours. Could your chapter be the start of any other book? For example, I’ve seen a lot of YA/MG in contests (and I’m guilty of this too) that start in a classroom. The scene is doing nothing more than introducing us to the MC, maybe establishing a bully or a best friend, etc. But what makes your book different? Start us in a place no other book could start.
Bring the tension. Your inciting incident doesn’t have to happen on page one, but there should be an immediate sense of conflict, even if you’re opening with two friends eating ice cream.
Give us context. Let us know where we are and give us a few breather sentences before throwing us into a conversation or an action scene.
Honestly, even if you’re nodding along with these checklist items that you’ve done them, the best advice I can give you is to surround yourself with your favorite books and read the first two pages of every one. What about them draws you in? What keeps you reading? How does yours compare?
You have one chance to impress a potential mentor or agent. The rest of your manuscript could be out-of-this-world-amazing, but if those first 250 words aren’t your best work, there’s no way we can know. Give yourself your best chance and make sure your first page knocks us out!
N. K. Traver—Nat—pursued an information technology degree in college because she wasn’t sure she could get a job with an English degree. Then she started writing books. And in short order she got an agent and a contract and her first book, Duplicity, releases on 3 March 2015 with St. Martin’s Press. You can find her at her website and on Twitter.
Tweet: The first page: 250 words that will make or break you!
Tweet: 5 tips for a great first page.
Tweet: Getting an agent’s yes (or no): the difference a first page can make.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”