THE CRITICAL FIRST THREE PAGES
Copyright - 2012 - Linda Style
All rights reserved
Most writers fantasize that readers will pick up our book and suddenly be compelled to stay up all night to finish reading just one... more... page.
How many of you have picked up a book in which the story line or subject matter isn’t even one that interests you, and then you read the first page and somehow found yourself continuing to read one more page...and then another? I have. And I love it when that happens...and I want it happen with my books, too.
So, what is that special element that hooks us and keeps us reading? Interest in the plot may get a reader to open the book, but when we get drawn into a story and feel compelled to continue reading, it’s almost unfailingly because we’ve been engaged emotionally...and our expectation is that the rest of the book will be just as good. Some authors write like this intuitively. Most of us have to learn how to do it.
In order to be truly engaged, the reader needs to be actively concerned about a character’s sanity, safety or soul. The reader must to be interested in the outcome for that character. As authors our job is to make our readers care what happens.
HOW DO WE DO THIS?
1. We establish what’s at STAKE: What’s at stake is the main character’s goal...and it's not going to come easy. This is your promise to the reader. You’re promising the reader there’s going to be a fight. So, while introducing the reader to his/her guide for the story, you must also establish what's at stake.
2. We create a memorable FIRST IMPRESSION:
The first impression tells the reader who your protagonist is and whether he’s going to be interesting enough to read his whole story.
3. We help the reader IDENTIFY with the protagonist by creating a bond. The sooner the reader IDENTIFIES with the protagonist, the sooner he can EMPATHIZE. The reader should identify from the moment your character makes an entrance.
For example: Imagine you’re at a park and you see this big biker dude in his leather vest, chaps and bandana, a shirt with a skull on the back and an earring in his nose. He's standing near a smaller nerdy looking man and a little boy, and the biker dude is blasting the other man calling him all kinds of names. Instantly our preconceived notions take over.
Without even hearing anything, we may figure the dude is the bad guy, and our first emotion is probably fear for the little man’s safety. Then we might get angry and maybe even call the cops on the dude because we think something terrible is going to happen. We’ve become involved. Why? Because we’ve probably all had an experience with bullying at one time or another and we IDENTIFY. We identify when others experience things we’ve experienced. We know something bad is going to happen and we react. When we react, we're engaged. We're hooked.
4. Create reader EMPATHY. We create empathy by creating an emotional bond.
Take the same two guys, but this time when you walk up, you find the biker dude is blasting the other guy for hurting his little
boy. All your preconceived notions fly out the window. You’re going to think differently and you’ll react differently. You’ll be on the dude’s side. Why, because you’ve probably been enraged at similar kinds of things. You’ve seen or heard horrible cases of child abuse, people preying on those who are vulnerable. You may have been picked on as a child or have been a victim of child abuse yourself.
You EMPATHIZE (engage emotionally) with the little boy. You IDENTIFY with the experience and EMPATHIZE with the emotions a similar experience made you feel. These two elements are probably the most important ingredients in engaging the reader in the first three pages.
CREATING INSTANT EMPATHY:
One technique is to create sympathy for your character: Sympathy is a wish fulfillment. A reader connects with a character when the character does, says, and is…what the reader wishes he could do, say, or be. Does your protagonist have traits the reader wishes he could have? Think about your character’s emotional needs driving him toward his goal. Does the goal symbolize something emotional? Does he have to succeed because he wants to prove to his father that he’s not a screw-up? Or is it the repercussion of not meeting his goal that strikes an emotional chord--if he doesn’t succeed he’s a failure as a father to his own son.
EMOTIONAL URGENCY:
To establish emotional urgency, ask yourself what emotional stakes (fear, excitement, tension, etc.,) are raised at the start and how does this foreshadow the story? What questions will the opening create -- what are the emotional hooks that will compel the reader to continue reading?
For example: In Susan Elizabeth Phillips novel "Dream a little Dream" the first 2 lines are: "The last of Rachel Stone’s luck ran out in front of the Pride of Carolina Drive-In. There on a mountainous two-lane blacktop road shimmering from the heat of the June afternoon, her old Chevy Impala gave its final death rattle."
In two sentences we know who the main character is, we know where she is, what time of the year, time of day--and that she’s really down on her luck. We know, in fact, that this event is the last in a long line of things that have happened to her, and it’s easy to find her sympathetic. We probably all know what it’s like to have our car die. But this is even worse because we know it’s not the first thing that’s happened to her. That’s also something most of us can empathize with. We all know the feeling of frustration and hopelessness when that last straw happens. So, we identify and empathize. The opening also raises more than one question. Why is she in the Carolina mountains? What happened to get her into this predicament? What will happen to get her out?
The next few sentence show that the heroine has had many disasters, and a child is introduced, which makes her even more sympathetic and by introducing her child, the situation becomes urgent. When she tries to make light of it for the child’s sake, we really empathize and we like her a lot. Immediately we want to root for her and see her get out of whatever mess she’s in. We want to know why she's in trouble…and we're interested in the outcome. We're compelled to read more.
BACK TO THE BASICS
GMC - Goal, Motivation and Conflict. You've probably heard the importance of GMC dozens of times, but it bears repeating. Your protagonist must have a "worthy" goal (what he plans to accomplish during the book). The goal must be concrete and measurable. He must have believable motivation to want to carry out his goal--and there must be stress-inducing conflict. Without conflict, there is no story. These things belong in the first three chapters and, preferably, in the first three pages. (though not fully developed).
Once you have these three elements identified, you can move on.
Ten Points to remember for the first three pages:
1. Start with important action - a new writer doesn’t have the luxury of building up to your conflict. Something should happen immediately to hook the reader.
2. Develop your conflict - things need to be stressful right away. If life is too easy for your characters, you will not hold the readers’ attention.
3. Make promises–and keep them. Romance readers want romance; mystery readers expect a good puzzle. A horror reader wants to feel a chill run up his spine. Hint at things to come and then deliver.
4. Develop a protagonist your reader can identify with, worry about, and root for.
5. Let the reader know up front what’s at stake. What’s the conflict? What stands to be lost?
6. Establish the setting - Let the reader know where we are and when, and use it to enhance the emotion and tone.
7. The beginning must foreshadow the conclusion. Your story is not a random series of events. All activities are carefully linked together. All plot elements must intertwine with one another. It really helps to have an idea of the ending before you begin...even if it changes.
8. Set the pace – to some degree, the genre will set it for you. Generally, historical romances are more leisurely, suspense plots move faster.
9. Emotion trumps reaction and action. We see, we feel, we think, and then we act.
10. Don’t digress. Everything mentioned in your book must have a reason for being there. If it doesn’t advance the story line, it shouldn’t be in the book. This includes gratuitous love scenes, red herrings and plot twists that don’t ultimately tie in.
Are the stakes evident in the first three pages of your story? Is the protagonist sympathetic? Can the reader identify and empathize? Do all these things well and you'll create a compelling read...and hook the reader.
~~~
**If you liked this article and want more information like this, check out my Bootcamp for Novelists non-fiction book BEYOND THE FIRST DRAFT: Writing Techniques of the Pros. Examples and exercises are included.
**Reprint or use of this work is forbidden unless permission is granted by the author.
All rights reserved
Most writers fantasize that readers will pick up our book and suddenly be compelled to stay up all night to finish reading just one... more... page.
How many of you have picked up a book in which the story line or subject matter isn’t even one that interests you, and then you read the first page and somehow found yourself continuing to read one more page...and then another? I have. And I love it when that happens...and I want it happen with my books, too.
So, what is that special element that hooks us and keeps us reading? Interest in the plot may get a reader to open the book, but when we get drawn into a story and feel compelled to continue reading, it’s almost unfailingly because we’ve been engaged emotionally...and our expectation is that the rest of the book will be just as good. Some authors write like this intuitively. Most of us have to learn how to do it.
In order to be truly engaged, the reader needs to be actively concerned about a character’s sanity, safety or soul. The reader must to be interested in the outcome for that character. As authors our job is to make our readers care what happens.
HOW DO WE DO THIS?
1. We establish what’s at STAKE: What’s at stake is the main character’s goal...and it's not going to come easy. This is your promise to the reader. You’re promising the reader there’s going to be a fight. So, while introducing the reader to his/her guide for the story, you must also establish what's at stake.
2. We create a memorable FIRST IMPRESSION:
The first impression tells the reader who your protagonist is and whether he’s going to be interesting enough to read his whole story.
3. We help the reader IDENTIFY with the protagonist by creating a bond. The sooner the reader IDENTIFIES with the protagonist, the sooner he can EMPATHIZE. The reader should identify from the moment your character makes an entrance.
For example: Imagine you’re at a park and you see this big biker dude in his leather vest, chaps and bandana, a shirt with a skull on the back and an earring in his nose. He's standing near a smaller nerdy looking man and a little boy, and the biker dude is blasting the other man calling him all kinds of names. Instantly our preconceived notions take over.
Without even hearing anything, we may figure the dude is the bad guy, and our first emotion is probably fear for the little man’s safety. Then we might get angry and maybe even call the cops on the dude because we think something terrible is going to happen. We’ve become involved. Why? Because we’ve probably all had an experience with bullying at one time or another and we IDENTIFY. We identify when others experience things we’ve experienced. We know something bad is going to happen and we react. When we react, we're engaged. We're hooked.
4. Create reader EMPATHY. We create empathy by creating an emotional bond.
Take the same two guys, but this time when you walk up, you find the biker dude is blasting the other guy for hurting his little
boy. All your preconceived notions fly out the window. You’re going to think differently and you’ll react differently. You’ll be on the dude’s side. Why, because you’ve probably been enraged at similar kinds of things. You’ve seen or heard horrible cases of child abuse, people preying on those who are vulnerable. You may have been picked on as a child or have been a victim of child abuse yourself.
You EMPATHIZE (engage emotionally) with the little boy. You IDENTIFY with the experience and EMPATHIZE with the emotions a similar experience made you feel. These two elements are probably the most important ingredients in engaging the reader in the first three pages.
CREATING INSTANT EMPATHY:
One technique is to create sympathy for your character: Sympathy is a wish fulfillment. A reader connects with a character when the character does, says, and is…what the reader wishes he could do, say, or be. Does your protagonist have traits the reader wishes he could have? Think about your character’s emotional needs driving him toward his goal. Does the goal symbolize something emotional? Does he have to succeed because he wants to prove to his father that he’s not a screw-up? Or is it the repercussion of not meeting his goal that strikes an emotional chord--if he doesn’t succeed he’s a failure as a father to his own son.
EMOTIONAL URGENCY:
To establish emotional urgency, ask yourself what emotional stakes (fear, excitement, tension, etc.,) are raised at the start and how does this foreshadow the story? What questions will the opening create -- what are the emotional hooks that will compel the reader to continue reading?
For example: In Susan Elizabeth Phillips novel "Dream a little Dream" the first 2 lines are: "The last of Rachel Stone’s luck ran out in front of the Pride of Carolina Drive-In. There on a mountainous two-lane blacktop road shimmering from the heat of the June afternoon, her old Chevy Impala gave its final death rattle."
In two sentences we know who the main character is, we know where she is, what time of the year, time of day--and that she’s really down on her luck. We know, in fact, that this event is the last in a long line of things that have happened to her, and it’s easy to find her sympathetic. We probably all know what it’s like to have our car die. But this is even worse because we know it’s not the first thing that’s happened to her. That’s also something most of us can empathize with. We all know the feeling of frustration and hopelessness when that last straw happens. So, we identify and empathize. The opening also raises more than one question. Why is she in the Carolina mountains? What happened to get her into this predicament? What will happen to get her out?
The next few sentence show that the heroine has had many disasters, and a child is introduced, which makes her even more sympathetic and by introducing her child, the situation becomes urgent. When she tries to make light of it for the child’s sake, we really empathize and we like her a lot. Immediately we want to root for her and see her get out of whatever mess she’s in. We want to know why she's in trouble…and we're interested in the outcome. We're compelled to read more.
BACK TO THE BASICS
GMC - Goal, Motivation and Conflict. You've probably heard the importance of GMC dozens of times, but it bears repeating. Your protagonist must have a "worthy" goal (what he plans to accomplish during the book). The goal must be concrete and measurable. He must have believable motivation to want to carry out his goal--and there must be stress-inducing conflict. Without conflict, there is no story. These things belong in the first three chapters and, preferably, in the first three pages. (though not fully developed).
Once you have these three elements identified, you can move on.
Ten Points to remember for the first three pages:
1. Start with important action - a new writer doesn’t have the luxury of building up to your conflict. Something should happen immediately to hook the reader.
2. Develop your conflict - things need to be stressful right away. If life is too easy for your characters, you will not hold the readers’ attention.
3. Make promises–and keep them. Romance readers want romance; mystery readers expect a good puzzle. A horror reader wants to feel a chill run up his spine. Hint at things to come and then deliver.
4. Develop a protagonist your reader can identify with, worry about, and root for.
5. Let the reader know up front what’s at stake. What’s the conflict? What stands to be lost?
6. Establish the setting - Let the reader know where we are and when, and use it to enhance the emotion and tone.
7. The beginning must foreshadow the conclusion. Your story is not a random series of events. All activities are carefully linked together. All plot elements must intertwine with one another. It really helps to have an idea of the ending before you begin...even if it changes.
8. Set the pace – to some degree, the genre will set it for you. Generally, historical romances are more leisurely, suspense plots move faster.
9. Emotion trumps reaction and action. We see, we feel, we think, and then we act.
10. Don’t digress. Everything mentioned in your book must have a reason for being there. If it doesn’t advance the story line, it shouldn’t be in the book. This includes gratuitous love scenes, red herrings and plot twists that don’t ultimately tie in.
Are the stakes evident in the first three pages of your story? Is the protagonist sympathetic? Can the reader identify and empathize? Do all these things well and you'll create a compelling read...and hook the reader.
~~~
**If you liked this article and want more information like this, check out my Bootcamp for Novelists non-fiction book BEYOND THE FIRST DRAFT: Writing Techniques of the Pros. Examples and exercises are included.
**Reprint or use of this work is forbidden unless permission is granted by the author.