You've Got Five Pages...To Tell Me It's Good

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! The opening pages of The Peacekeeper by B.L. Blanchard are a bit of a slow burn, but it does successfully mix character development, worldbuilding, and a major cataclysmic event all...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it!  This is hands down one of my favorite finds so far for this podcast. What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher may be a reimagining of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher , but in...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! I'm not going to type up my little meandering to the question "Why I don't read literary fiction" here for you, but I will say that the first pages of French Braid by Anne Tyler rei...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! The opening pages of Hatchet Island by Paul Doiron is, sadly, a return to prologues. We meet a nameless character suffering insomnia, one who has simply given up on life in college...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! We return to cozy mysteries this week with A Secret About a Secret by Peter Spiegelman . The first chapter is only three pages long, and don't you worry: Spiegelman uses those three...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it!  At last, I have done it! I have read a western. I was expecting something a bit saccharine, a bit melodramatic, and much to my delighted surprise, I got neither of those thing...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! Huzzah, a book without any prologues of any kind! This week I couldn't find any westerns, but I did try a type of mystery I've never read before: a pet-themed mystery. Doggone Deadl...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it!  Oddly enough, this has to be the first podcast where I didn't even get to the first chapter all. The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn has three--THREE--prologues. There's a wee prefa...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it!  Once again, we've got a story with a "bait and switch" kind of prologue. There is a single page before Chapter 1 that comes from what I imagine to be the antagonist's point of...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it!  The first chapter of Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi is a fine example of how one can have the intense opener, change scenes a little, and STILL keep momentum. The protagonist get...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it!  The opening pages of Disappearance of a Scribe by Dana Stabenow are a lot of fun. The prologue has a lovely wit to the voice, its cadence an interesting mix of thoughtful pros...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! The opening line of A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong floored me: "My grandmother is dying, and I am getting coffee." Immediately I and any other reader who's coped with family...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! The opening pages of Trust by Hernan Diaz  intrigue me, but only to a point. The pages of solid exposition provide portraits of three characters: A wealthy businessman, Solomon...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! The opening pages of The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian are...well hang on. The single page of prologue is not dense. In fact, the prologue feels a little like a cheat. "We went on a sa...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! The first chapter of Red Warning by Matthew Quirk was a most unique experience. The book starts with one of the biggest tropes one can have with a thriller. ("How do you know we can...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! The first chapter of Horse by Geraldine Brooks leaves me with...mixed feelings. On a technical level--scene execution, prose, and such--Brooks is stellar. The very word choices the...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! I have to be honest--the opening pages of Verity by Collleen Hoover did not move me to keep reading. Hoover's prose style cuts like a knife, and her word choices say a lot with a li...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! I wasn't expecting yet another story's opener to be a boss and disgruntled protagonist, but here we are. The first chapter of The Cartographers  by Peng Shepherd is a slow burn...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! Okay, I laughed multiple times while reading aloud the opening pages of The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, and I'm not sorry! No, we've not met any Kaiju in the first ch...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! Honestly, this was a curious find. It's plain to see we're not starting with the regular protagonist, but that outsider perspective does provide a unique look at the setting for thi...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! With The Shattered Skies by John Birmingham , we have a unique situation. This is a new release in Science Fiction, but it's also the second book of a trilogy, which means a lot of...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! Yes, this is an MG novel, but a paranormal mystery for a kid can be a fun read for an adult, too! My daughter Blondie has been on my case to share this book on the podcast, so this...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! The first sentence of Revelator by Daryl Gregory alludes to a kid meeting "the family god," so I just don't know how the stakes can go down from there. This story's got a feeling of...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! The first pages of Joan is Okay by Weike Wang are unlike anything we've read on previous episodes of this podcast. We're not diving into genre fiction here--no fantasy, no science f...

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! The first pages of Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes are brilliant. In the first three sentences alone, we have an injured protagonist hallucinating a dead person. By the end of two pages...