The First Page of Your Novel

Whether you're a writer or not, knowing what attracts you to books can be a helpful way to sort through the millions out there. When do you know you're going to love a novel? How does the cover help you decide? The title? The first line? The first page? The first chapter?

There's been a lot of advice for novelists to make sure the first line is an eye catcher, the first page riveting. Otherwise, an agent might put it down, as well as a prospective reader.

So what is a writer to do?

The other day I picked up the book IQ84 by Haruki Murakami. The title of this novel doesn't do much for me - I have no idea what it means, so it remains a riddle. But it also isn't offensive, nothing that would turn me off. Same about the cover. It's simply okay. The eyes of a Japanese woman peer out from it, but there is a graphic design component to it that appears modern and a little surreal, his specialty.

There's a title to the first chapter: Aomame: Don't Let Appearances Fool You. I have no idea what the first word means (we find out in the first couple of pages). The warning which follows is almost cliché, but it still serves to pique my interest.

The first sentence is nothing extraordinary. "The taxi's radio was tuned to a classical FM broadcast." However, through this line, my ears (one of my senses) are involved, and a scene unfolds.

Within the first paragraph, there is a sentence that speaks to me of the author's style, a simile: "...like a veteran fisherman standing in the bow of his boat, reading the ominous confluence of two currents." It's a talented line that impresses me.

By the end of the third paragraph, I believe I want to read this novel. Why? Because of these lines: "This may be the most important proposition revealed by history: 'At the time, no one knew what was coming.' Listening to Janáček's music, Aomame imagined the carefree winds sweeping across the plains of Bohemia and thought about the vicissitudes of history."

My conclusion: there's intellectual depth to tis novel. The only hesitation is that it's about a thousand pages, so I'm not 100% sure.

Which leads to the idea of meeting the reader's expectations. The cover, title, and first page of a romance novel is going to be different from those of a sic-fi fiction novel or a literary work.

One thing you want to remember: the first page of your novel should promise something, and the rest of your novel should deliver it. 

Here's another example: One of my favorite reads this year was Yanagihara's A Little Life. The cover: a man's face, a man who looks to be in pain at least, perhaps emotionally tortured. Dead on. The title, mystifying. What is a little life? Is the phrase an oxymoron? The first line is a long sentence - it perhaps warns the reader not to expect choppy in vogue sentences here, and also to expect literary style above popularity.

And the reader is thrust into a scene immediately, even rejected in a sense by a potential neighbor, then rejected by the agent showing YOU an apartment, and yes, somehow the experience of the character feels like your own. Such is the talent of a writer like Yanagihara. This is also a very long novel, maybe 700 pages or so, but I am pretty certain in an instant I'm going to read it. Why?

Because the last highly significant component in the beginning of your novel is content! A Little Life is about complex relationships among four young men, so this at once fascinates me. More emotion is evoked in the first several pages than throughout some entire works, and this hooks me.

I've spent some time thinking about the beginning of novels. I've written three and am working on a fourth. The first three are a trilogy, so the first few paragraphs of the first novel have to introduce, in a sense, not only the first novel but also the other two.

So, let's consider an example of mine: The Search For Intelligent Life On Earth: A Story of Love. The title is intriguing, and the subtitle helps the reader know what to expect. This is not sic-fi but not exactly a love story. Otherwise, it would say "a love story."

The first line, again not brilliant, brings the reader into a scene: "Mark forged ahead, wiping dirt-laden sweat from his brow with his soiled hand."

The first paragraph introduces a spiritual philosophy and the human character's flaws through this line: "Mark liked to think he embraced the Buddhist concept of impermanence, but he wished it would leave his actual life well enough alone." The reader now knows this is not just a light story. There's something profound that will be addressed, so the novel may be literary or cross-genre.

By the third paragraph, we have more depth and an element of style revealed through this line: "...any act of brutality toward life would naturally translate into bigger and more malicious acts, as if the condoning of cruelty even toward the smallest of things would somehow, insidiously, seep its way into the very essence of one's self." Now the reader knows for sure this isn't a romance novel.

So, what do you want to do?

1) Pick an attractive cover design, or at least one that's not offensive to most. One that hints at what's in store between the covers.

2) The title should properly reflect what the reader should expect. If you're writing a piece of eroticism, "Hot and Bothered," may be an appropriate title. Conversely, the same title can be used ironically to signify a non-fiction work on febrile conditions, or a biography of a manic politician, for example.

3) The first line should transport the reader into a scene, so she is immediately involved in real time.

4) The first page should reveal style, intent, and purpose of the novel, so a reader will know if he will enjoy the book (or at least have a strong suspicion one way or another). Yes, we want to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. But sometimes I wonder if by making commercial appeal the main priority, we are negating the artist in the writer.

My Favorite Reads on Writing

It's easy to become inundated with books/blogs on how to write. To help you narrow it down, I've selected seven of my favorite reads about writing:

Best from a best-selling author: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King, inspires you to employ the nitty-gritty style and discipline of Stephen King's approach to writing. Memoir, muse, and advice, On Writing is a great addition to any writer's library. King's book is practical while also being funny, personal, and well, here's a quote from the second foreword: 
"This is a short book because most books about writing are filled with bullshit."

Bottom line: Some of his recommendations are most appropriate for genre fiction, but the overall contribution of the book is worth the read if you write anything from non-fiction to literary. 
Personal comment: I don't read horror, so this is actually my favorite of King's books.

Best for nonfiction writing: On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Non-fiction, by William Zinsser (from a Yale course he taught). Masterful writing about writing, Zinsser's is a classic for tips on usage, style, simplicity, words, and special areas such as writing for your job and writing interviews. 

Bottom Line: Excellent all-around text for becoming a better writer.
Personal Comment: On my list to re-read.

Best for popular fiction writing: The Writers Digest Handbook of Novel Writing. All the basics and instructions in a how-to manual for writing popular fiction, and I quote, "Practical advice and instruction on creating the novel - from first idea to plots and subplots to outlining and writing and contacting editors and working with ideas."

Bottom Line: What more can you ask for if you're an aspiring writer or just need a little inspiration? 
Personal Comment: Someday I'll have a best seller! In the meantime, I'm writing what I love and hoping people fall madly in love with cross-genre, literary stories. 

Best for literary fiction writing: Reading like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them, by Francine Prose. All the best literature in summary form. 

Bottom Line: Love to read literature? Read this.  
Personal Comment: Reflects one of my favorite sentiments, as I've always recommended reading as the best instruction for writing.

Most useful: The Elements of Style, Strunk and White, another classic in the field, provides concise education on rules of usage, principles of composition, and approach to style.

Bottom Line: A college education should not be considered complete without this little book.
Personal Comment: Even if you have a PhD in English, you might still need it.


Most entertaining: Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, by Lynne Truss, will have you in a jolly mood as you learn to correct your English grammar. Less about writing and more about the de-evolution of the human species as seen through the eyes of a grammarian, this one might have you rolling in the aisles (yes, I snuck it into a concert in Tucson, Arizona once). This book was a best-seller. 

Bottom Line: LOL. 
Personal Comment: Read it! Seriously; don't, forget. To read it.

There are certainly many others I could recommend, including books that incorporate getting published, reading fiction alongside exercises for writing or writers'  memoirs with tips for writing. There are also books that assist with literary analysis. However, I've selected the ones I've enjoyed most over the years. I'm always open to hearing about great books, including those about writing. If you have any other suggestions or favorites, please feel free to post a reply.

Risking Your Writing

Winston Churchill once said, "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

In an attempt to figure out genre fiction, this novelist took a risk and wrote a short story – well, it was intended to be a short story, except that I couldn't keep it under seventy-five hundred words. Thus, in line with recent e-book lengths, I decided to write a short novella. In its entirety, the story ended up just under thirteen thousand words.

My intention was to write a casual, entertaining, comedic MM romance, which was also a coming-out story that highlighted changes in perceptions and tolerance levels in recent times. 

The story, which I entitled Desperate In Sheridan, is about two friends who grew up together but have been apart for a long time. Brad is gay and doesn't trust his cowboy-cultured best friend to accept his sexuality, and Jimmy is a young man who has suffered a lot of losses.

There's a lot of perceived desperation in this story. Brad is desperate to find his happily-ever-after, although he no longer believes in it after a rough break up. Jimmy wants to keep his only connection to his childhood and family in the form of his best friend, Brad. And Wendell was a model from California before he moved to Sheridan, where he's had a bit of a dry spell.

Despite the fact that I was trying to write genre fiction (MM romance), I loath to be formulaic, which in this case would be something like boy meets boy, boy attracts boy, obstacle keeps boy from boy, boys overcome obstacles and fall madly in love. Yeah, there's a little bit of that in my story, but it's mostly unrecognizable. Instead, there are surprises throughout the story that I wished to have mimic how unexpectedly random reality can be. 

I submitted the text to a group of MM romance readers, who, in turn, read the story and reviewed it for me. (Currently, the story remains free on smashwords and multiple online retailers.) The result was quite mixed. Despite the fact that it was advertised as a light, comedic, and short novella, many wished it to be longer and wanted more character development. At the same time, others did not like that the story did not meet formulaic standards.

In the end, about 70% of the people who rated and/or reviewed it so far gave the story three stars or above, indicating they liked it, and 30% indicated they did not (with the most common complaint being they didn't get the characters). As a literary writer, whose only other material happens to be a novel in which the main plot line is a love story between two young men, I am still desperately seeking my audience. Did this experiment in Romance help? I'm not sure. But it got people talking about my work (even if it was a side-story of mine) and gave me things to contemplate. 

Bottom line is that I took a risk trying this experimental story with an established group of MM romance fans. In general, the experience was positive, and I can apply the feedback I received in creating better short stories in the future (novella length or under). I also learned that there was no way to please everybody, and that probably the best thing for me to do is to write what I love and worry about genre/category afterward.

I have written several other novellas - these are about twice as long as this one and maybe more perfectly sized to explore some of the detail my reviewers mentioned. I would love to continue with Desperate in Sheridan, whether that's a part two or a remake into a novel, but it might need to wait while till I complete other projects. This includes the editing of the trilogy that starts with The Search for Intelligent Life on Earth.

I highly recommend taking risks with your writing: trying new styles, seeking acceptance into different genres or popular fiction circles, and entering contests and free review programs. It's all about learning and improving, so long as you're enjoying yourself. And remember: as with life in general, what you take from your experiences is what decides your level of success.