Studies show people make judgments about othersâ character in a tenth of a secondâand readers, agents, and editors may decide almost as quickly whether or not to keep reading your story.
First pages and chapters carry a lot of weight: They must introduce characters and give readers a reason to care about what happens to them; set up enough suggestion of conflict or friction to intrigue; create questions that keep us turning pages; while giving readers enough information to orient us to the story and set up the journey to come.
In other words, they have to hook your readers, whether thatâs your ultimate audience for your book or the gatekeepers of the industry.
But itâs not enough to open with a bang and hope readers will hang on for the rest of the ride. You have to hook us and keep usâand thatâs where many opening pages and chapters falls short. Authors may spend so much time trying to craft the âperfectâ grabby first lines or paragraphs that they overlook the many areas of story these opening pages must establish and develop to convince readers to get in the car and go for the ride with you and your characters.
Readers need to know who weâre going on the journey with, why we care, what makes it matter, where weâre goingâand why now? We need some sense of our destination (even if it changes). Your opening pages make a promise to readers that the rest of your story must deliver onâbut itâs that promise that draws us in.
Tiffany has more than 30 yearsâ experience working in the publishing industryâwith major publishers and bestsellers as well as successful indie authorsâseeing what separates the stories that sell from the ones that donât. In this class she shares the principles sheâs culled from editing thousands of manuscripts to help you create dynamic, irresistible opening pages.
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Meet the instructor
Tiffany Yates Martin
Tiffany Yates Martin has spent her entire career as an editor in the publishing industry, working with major publishers and New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling and award-winning authors as well as indie and newer writers. She is the founder of FoxPrint Editorial (named one of Writerâs Digestâs Best Websites for Authors) and author of Intuitive Editing: A Creative and Practical Guide to Revising Your Writing and her latest, The Intuitive Author: How to Grow & Sustain a Happier Writing Career. She is a regular contributor to writersâ outlets like Writerâs Digest, Jane Friedman, and Writer Unboxed, and a frequent presenter and keynote speaker for national and international writersâ organizations. Under her pen name, Phoebe Fox, she is the author of six novels.
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