The Important First Page

I love to browse in book stores when looking for something new to read (a pleasure that is going the way of the dinosaur, unfortunately). My tried and true method for deciding whether to buy is often a quick read of the first page. It’s not foolproof- I have gotten books home that, once I get a few more pages into them, are not of interest, but overall it’s been a good “first test.”

In my latest round of editing my own manuscript, my friend and editor brought up the very thing that was worrying me- my first page doesn’t have the “oomph” it needs. My first chapter is mostly setting the stage for the later interactions, and as such, it’s “fine”, but there’s no punch. So I’ve decided to try a quick “prologue” describing an event in one sister’s life to give a little more “punch” to the start of the story. We’ll see….

Then the next step is to write a convincing letter to an agent and see if I can get the publishing world to notice me. Two good goals once we get through the crazy schedule around the holidays…