In a post on Writers Helping Writers, Marissa Graff shares tips for hooking your reader on your first page. “Ah, first pages. We angst over them. We change them incessantly,” she says. “We hope they’ll nab readers and agents and editors. No pressure, right?”
Her tips include:
- Make Your Protagonist Part of the Very First Line. “Even if your story starts with setting, or a line of dialogue or action that belongs to a character who isn’t your protagonist, consider a way to bring them into that first line,” Graff says. “Attaching the reader to their story ‘guide’ in that first line increases your chances for getting them to stick around for the rest of your book.”
- Give Your Characters Indirect Lines of Dialogue. Readers loves figuring out clues and solving mysteries, so you shouldn’t tell them too much about your protagonist at the outset. Having your characters identify each other by name or provide exposition via dialogue is a bad way to introduce your story. “Challenge yourself to bypass the stock interactions and sink into the world en medias res,” Graff suggests. “Consider crafting each line of dialogue as a clue—a line that gives rise to a question as soon as read it.”
- Manipulate White Space. “Sometimes, we’re so focused on what our writing is saying that we might overlook the way what we don’t say plays into the reading experience,” Graff notes. Long blocks of text might deter your reader from diving in. “If getting readers to turn pages means they stay inside our stories, breaking up chunky blocks of text and maximizing white space encourages them to keep reading,” Graff explains. “Before they know it, they’ve several pages into our books and they’re invested.”
- Avoid Complex Sentences. “Direct, easy-to-read, smooth lines are our secret weapons in keeping the reader in our stories,” Graff says. “The fewer multi-syllabic words, the fewer commas and clauses, the fewer fancy things to hold onto in any given line, the better.” [Ed. note – Remember: you are free to ignore advice.]
- Manipulate Sentence Length to Evoke Mood. Sentences of varying length create different emotional responses. Long, languid sentences encourage your reader to sink into your narrative. Short, staccato sentences mimic tension. Apply this technique in places where you want your reader to turn pages quickly and where you need to give them a break. Graff says the opening of your story is a good place to create the kind of tension that keeps pages turning.
