Knowing how much (or little) to tell, introducing the characters, and propelling the reader into your story all take finesse. Tell too much and the reader isn't intrigued enough to continue. Tell too little and the reader is bored.
In those first five pages, you need to:
- clearly introduce your protagonist: age, name, gender, hint of goal
- setting and time frame of your novel
- give us something intriguing to sample (but neither a meal nor only a morsel)
- set the tone of the novel
Finding the right balance between showing vs. telling, as well as tantalizing the reader so much that they NEED to read more, is a tough task. I'm not technically an expert, but I have been writing ten years, as well as teaching for twenty, and have been an avid reader my entire life. I know after the first five pages whether I'm hooked or bored and would love to give my honest feedback on your novel's intro. I'm PAYING IT FORWARD to thank all those who helped me on my journey.
No need to face the rejection chair!
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Send your pages to kymbrunner@comcast.net. Limited to the first 20 writers. No strings attached! (But would love you to "LIKE" my author page so we can continue our online friendship. Thanks!) KYM
Good job - fun!
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