First Page that Captures Readers

A First Page that Captures Readers
Kirchner

Applies to all types of fiction:

If first paragraph right, the rest of the book will be easier.

1st page – sells reader (including agent); sets tone of book; gets reader inside story and gains their trust
Readers have natural distrust upon reading a book

First page:

¼ beginning
½ middle
¼ end

Need POV character or multiple chars
Where it takes place – setting
What tense you are using
What kind of voice and style you will use – can be formal or casual for example

Can’t have main characters die; then narrator has to tell rest of story

Can have:
First sentence of a story should start with an image;

Or:
Introduce main character
Tease reader by withholding information so as to raise long-term
Questions in their mind that they will have to read further
To get answered.

Or:
Start with shocking statement

Or:
Amusing until something unhappy comes out

Or:
Give reader the feeling that something is happening beyond
The characters control

A basic cure for writer’s block:
Who, What, When, Where – will always get you started

Begin:
Begin with voice of author-> will become voice of main character (a different
Voice from authors)

Start at beginning of conflict – never start with backstory

Another method of starting a novel:
Character resisting a natural force – man against nature

Or:
Can start with description of setting (if you know what you’re doing)
- Why did they do that?
- Used a lot more before people could travel and knew what places looked
Like

Or:
Starting with description: No longer common but coming back.

Eg. 1st paragraph – Settomg
2nd paragraph – Introduce main character

If setting is very important, it can be a character by itself
Or when building a world such as in Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Can also have in mystery novels

Note – Use sense of smell – strongest sense

Omniscient beginning:

A character from above introduces character, setting conflict
(Went away mostly – some editors won’t take these kinds of
Submissions)

Why would you use it?
- Allows author to go anywhere to introduce information
Who uses?
] John Irving
(Don’t use anything this fancy in first novel)

Prologue

Should be compact and meaningful

Should be:
1) Quick
2) Smart
3) Visionary

Exercise:

1) Write first two characters of one of your novels/short stories inside a different
Character’s head
((will give you a lot of knowledge about your story)) – teaches you what conflict is all
about



The idea of using a calendar—put down real time dates when things happen –keep a timeline