NovelTalk Article - Great Beginnings

Catching an Editor's Eye: Great Beginnings

You have only a few pages to catch an editor’s eye. In the first few pages, an editor expect to get a sense of:

the time, place and mood of your story (i.e. winter, a monastery, ominous).
pace—is it as James Bond action adventure with one explosion after another? Is it an emotional love story? Both will give a different sense of pace.
point of view. Whose head are you in? Whose story is this?
central question. What is this story about?
your hero’s wants.
what’s keeping her from getting what she wants.

The editor wants to:

like your hero,
care if he gets what he wants,
want to know what happens next.

Want your manuscript to stand out from all the others in the slush pile? Here are a few ways to grab the reader’s attention:

Have your first sentence raise a question. i.e. "Tuesday was a fine California day, full of sunshine and promise, until Harry Lyon had to shoot someone at lunch." — Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz. The reader asks herself, "Who’s Harry Lyon? Why did he have to shoot someone? Why at lunch?" Because she wants to know the answers to those questions, she’ll keep reading.
Start your scene with action. A slap is action. A turtle crossing the road is action. Two people talking is action. As long as something or someone is moving, it’s action. Avoid starting with background description. This is static and doesn’t tend to raise a question in the reader’s mind.
Start a scene at the last possible moment. If you want the heroine to slap the hero’s face, don’t start with her arriving in her car, walking up the drive, knocking on the door, tapping her foot while she’s waiting for him to answer. Start with the slap.
Start with conflict. The heroine slapping the hero makes the reader want to know why, is action, starts at the last possible moment and strongly hints that all is not well between these two people. i.e. Did she know she was being used? Probably not. "Christiane Lawrence was too trusting for her own good. That more than anything made her a threat to him." — A Rose at Midnight by Sylvie Kurtz
Use active language and concrete details to create a vivid picture. i.e. "Lightning cracked the black of night and made the rain look like dragon tongues licking at the bedroom window. Daddy said the rain couldn't hurt her; she was safe inside the house. But Adria Kaholo didn't like it, especially when the bangers came. And bangers always came after lightning. She brought her pink blankie up to her mouth and sucked on the satin corner." — Remembering Red Thunder by Sylvie Kurtz.

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Last Updated on February 06, 2009