UPDATE: I'm at a conference so I will do a post on Monday with a few great third person POV and literary fiction examples. It's true that third person is harder to show voice but it's still necessary.
Your first page should:
- Establish your character and the voice
- Establish the conflict and begin moving the story forward (ie plot)
- Establish the tone (Dark? Fluffy beach read?)
- Establish indication of the setting: (If it’s paranormal/fantasy/sci fi/historical, we should get a sense of this from the first pages)
*BONUS POINTS* for
Catching the reader off guard!
If your first lines can cause your reader to sit up closer and pay more attention, that’s what it means to effectively grab them or hook.
Alice Sebold is a MASTER at this. Look at The Lovely Bones and her memoir Lucky, those first lines are brilliant.
Once you grab your readers with their first page, you're set. Now you’ll just have to keep them there.
Once I started reading a manuscript on the way home from work. I was on the train, and I booted up the kindle and started reading, and after a few lines, I literally sat up straighter and paid more attention. It was that good. (that manuscript was by Dan Krokos, by the way). That's what you want.
Some great examples:
(first, if you haven't read this yet, you must, seriously. Stop and go buy it right now.)
The first line: "So I'm on my way to work and I stop to watch a pigeon fight a rat in the snow, and some fuckhead tries to mug me!"
The first page hooks in readers and works because it totally establishes the voice. One of the best things (of many) about Beat the Reaper is the way Dr. Peter Brown's voice jumps off the page. And the fact that he's not exactly your typical doctor. The language, descriptions, and tone, all tell us within the first page that he's a guy you don't want to mess with--and a guy who we're going to be willing to follow.
You by Charles Benoit
(again, this is a book everyone should read)The first line: "You're surprised at all the blood."
The first page hooks in readers and works because despite the unique storytelling (the book is written in second person POV), it establishes a mystery--something tense within the first scene, that will pull readers all the way through the book until the end where they'll find out what actually happened in that first scene. And of course, it's not at all what they'll be expecting.
Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
(another one of my favorites!)
The first line: "I stiffened at the red and blue lights flashing behind me, because there was no way I could explain what was in the back of my truck."
The first page hooks in readers and works because we're introduced to our heroine, who comes across as an anti hero. (She has a body in her truck bed). But it also establishes the paranormal aspect of the novel. (The body is a dead vampire). Also within the first two pages, we understand a lot about our protagonist, the town she lives in, and her extracurricular activities.
For writers, this means...
You have essentially two goals in your first page.
- Create Interest
- Create Investment
You want your readers to be interested in where your story is going and invested in the characters who are going to be on that journey with them.
So again, feel free to send your first 250 words to firstpageshooter@gmail.com for your chance to be critiqued. The first critiques will go up next week!
So again, feel free to send your first 250 words to firstpageshooter@gmail.com for your chance to be critiqued. The first critiques will go up next week!