How To Hook Your Readers From The Start
Leave it to the French. Earlier this year La Prixe de la Page 112, a French literary prize inspired by a quote from a Woody Allen film, announced their shortlist. The winner? The best page 112, chosen by jury, of that year’s new French releases, the contention being that by page 112 the editor and author’s attention has lapsed, so if you want to know if a book really has chops, read page 112.
No point in mincing words: I don’t agree. But like many customs of my charming, baguette-eating, underwear-matching, cigarette-smoking, French friends, I’m nonetheless inspired by their commitment.
Having read for the Bath Novel Award for five years now I’ve read a lot of first pages, and in the process have learned a great deal about what readers and agents look for, what makes a book grab you from the start, and how to improve my own writing.
I’m going to focus here on choosing the longlist from the slush pile, as by the time an award gets to shortlist/winner stage, it is judged across narrower margins. At longlist stage, just as at agent submission stage, first pages really count.
At BNA the longlist is selected from near a thousand entries. Entries are filtered to each member of the judging panel based on their preferred genres. We then each read a synopsis and first 5k words, and while the synopsis is a helpful tool, a work is judged primarily on excerpt.
At this stage I’m looking to answer ‘yes’ to all or most of the following questions: Does the opening hook me? Is the voice distinctive? Does the story begin in the right place? Do I feel the writer is in control of the narrative? Are the characters compelling? Is the writing strong?
Now let’s break those questions down:
A good hook introduces conflict. Something has happened or is happening to someone and the reader must know how it pans out. There are stakes and they are high. If your story begins with a long description and explanation of the governmental structure of the 9 planets of the sun Zolon, or the ringing alarm clock and morning wake-up rituals of your protagonist, I might pass, or at least skip to chapter 2 to see if things pick up.
Voice is one of the most important elements of good writing. It is your book’s personality. Spend time finding your voice and your characters’ voices before you move past a first draft as it’s like the foundation of a house; you want it near perfect before you build too much on top of it. Voice is tone, choice of words, humor, even grammar. It is the reader’s experience of a book and absolutely must be consistent or you risk alienating your reader and losing their trust. A unique and compelling voice is like meeting the most charismatic person at a party; you’ll follow them around all night just to see what they do.
One of the biggest problems we see in reading first chapters is stories that don’t begin in the right place. At its essence a story is about someone who is about to be put into a new situation fraught with challenges and we are compelled to see how they handle it. So your story should always start as close to the new situation as possible. A reader wants a sense of what the protagonist is about to leave behind, but we don’t need a load of back story. The most engaging writing is that which trusts the reader to figure things out for themselves.
(Oh, and no alarm clocks.)
An author who controls their narrative has authority. They know what they’re talking about; they’ve done their homework. They don’t just understand their world, setting and the situation they’ve created, they understand their characters, how they think and feel and how they react to any given situation.
Compelling characters have at least two things: an internal conflict, and a burning desire or story goal. Internal conflict is based in self-doubt. Characters have a habitual way of handling dilemmas; they are a certain type of person who does things a certain way. But suddenly, in the world of your story, the thing they most need to survive/find love/save the world can only be achieved by doing things differently, throwing them into self-doubt and, ultimately, a new way of being.
Strong writing is composed of too many elements to go into in a single column (hint, hint Madame editor!) so I’m going to name just one: Show Don’t Tell. Write this in sharpie on the edge of your computer screen, read about it in as many of the million excellent craft books on the market that you can afford, and never stop striving to fully master it. And don’t argue with me. Yes, sometimes you need to tell, but mastering the art of showing your reader a story through narrative-advancing, character-revealing dialogue; specific, engaging, emotive word choice; and active sentence structure is a lifelong goal. At the end of the day, Show Don’t Tell is about respecting your reader and trusting in yourself as a writer.
So what about that first page? How much does it matter? Is it really more important than page 112?
Stand around a bookshop, spy on the shoppers and note their behavior. Almost to a one it’s the same: pick up the book after a glance at the cover, flip it over to scan the back, open to the first page. Amazon introduced the ‘Look Inside’ feature for the same reason, readers gauge a book not by the cover, but by how it starts.
Why?
Because everything is there, and if it’s not, it should be. Voice, character, set up, conflict. In a couple of paragraphs, a reader should get a sense of who the story is about, what is at stake, and what is this book’s personality. If they don’t, there’s a good chance they’ll set your book down and go onto the next one. Agents know this, editors know this, their salaries depend on it, so focus on those opening pages.
Does that mean you should ignore page 112? Of course not! It’s your book, your baby, and every page counts, but pay special attention to the opening pages.
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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips
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