WEBVTT
00:00:00.381 --> 00:00:04.221
yeah, we're gonna talk about how to write a really captivating first page.
00:00:04.270 --> 00:00:09.820
So it's one of my favorite things to talk about because I feel like the first page is really.
00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:10.750
What sells your book?
00:00:10.750 --> 00:00:13.150
I mean, the cover gets people to pick it up, but what do you do?
00:00:13.150 --> 00:00:16.600
The first thing you do is you open it, you read the first page, and then you decide if you're gonna buy that book.
00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:22.361
Whether you're going traditional or self-publishing, that first page like just really, really matters.
00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:32.740
So we're gonna take a little bit of time and talk about the things that the first page needs to do, and then we'll talk about a few of the ways that first Pages tend to like go awry and lose the readers.
00:00:33.170 --> 00:00:38.600
And I wanna just start by saying, like, clarify a little bit about how I talk about story.
00:00:38.901 --> 00:00:41.600
'cause I generally don't believe in hard and fast rules.
00:00:41.881 --> 00:00:43.740
I had a teacher who used to say It works.
00:00:44.235 --> 00:00:45.286
If you can make it work.
00:00:45.945 --> 00:00:47.625
That's the beauty of a fiction writing.
00:00:47.625 --> 00:00:48.496
It's an art, right?
00:00:48.496 --> 00:00:49.905
It works if you can make it work.
00:00:50.415 --> 00:00:56.356
So just take that as a little caveat to everything that we're about to talk about, which can kind of sound like rules, but they're not really.
00:00:56.975 --> 00:00:58.716
So these are guidelines, right?
00:00:58.716 --> 00:01:01.415
For our first pages, and there are five.
00:01:01.875 --> 00:01:06.346
Main things that I usually talk about that your first page needs to do.
00:01:06.835 --> 00:01:14.736
And some of these sound like no-brainers, but it's amazing how many manuscripts I've read that like don't do these things.
00:01:15.156 --> 00:01:17.555
So it's worth kind of checking it off in your mind.
00:01:17.555 --> 00:01:18.635
Am I doing these things?
00:01:19.025 --> 00:01:22.805
The first is to introduce your narrator slash main character.
00:01:22.805 --> 00:01:24.695
Sometimes they're the same person, sometimes not.
00:01:25.266 --> 00:01:26.706
A lot of times.
00:01:27.266 --> 00:01:34.885
Writers will spend like the first page kind of introducing setting or setting the tone or reflect, reflecting on something.
00:01:34.885 --> 00:01:36.025
And that's all important.
00:01:36.025 --> 00:01:36.445
Yes.
00:01:36.686 --> 00:01:45.805
But it's not as important to as introducing me to the character that I'm gonna give a shit about for the next 300 pages, like if they let me know who I'm with.
00:01:45.986 --> 00:01:46.436
All right.
00:01:46.436 --> 00:01:50.756
You wanna get that information right up front so that I know who is telling me this story.
00:01:51.896 --> 00:01:57.115
Again, so a great exception to this rule would be like Arthur less if anyone read the book less.
00:01:57.385 --> 00:02:05.906
The narrator is a little mysterious, like you don't learn who the character is until later in the story, but you still have a strong sense of who he's talking about.
00:02:06.245 --> 00:02:08.526
He's narrating about this character Arthur Less.
00:02:08.526 --> 00:02:14.735
And so even if, I don't know who's exactly telling the story yet, I know who I'm paying attention to, the main character.
00:02:15.135 --> 00:02:15.645
Or less.
00:02:15.855 --> 00:02:17.746
And then I'm gonna follow him on this journey.
00:02:17.895 --> 00:02:21.376
And at that point, you don't even know that you're ever gonna find out who the narrator is, but it doesn't matter.
00:02:21.376 --> 00:02:22.455
You know who to focus on.
00:02:22.515 --> 00:02:23.566
And that's what's important.
00:02:24.015 --> 00:02:29.895
So give us someone to kind of latch onto, whether it's the narrator or the main character, or one in the same.
00:02:30.496 --> 00:02:34.515
All right, number two, you wanna establish us in time in place.
00:02:34.605 --> 00:02:39.586
So some books, like to cheat this and they'll put a chapter heading like San Francisco 2001.
00:02:39.825 --> 00:02:40.545
And that's fine.
00:02:40.575 --> 00:02:41.205
I'm all for it.
00:02:41.205 --> 00:02:47.056
But even if you do that like you want to, if that's your setting, like I wanna see the fog.
00:02:47.116 --> 00:02:54.408
I wanna see like some tech bro on his segue on the way to his startup job, I wanna smell the coffee on that first page.
00:02:54.408 --> 00:03:00.618
Give us a few hints of like where we are, ground us in place, in scene on a specific time and day.
00:03:01.118 --> 00:03:02.288
I'm big on specific scenes.
00:03:02.288 --> 00:03:09.549
I think that's the best way to draw people into a story is put them in a specific scene, and that means a specific place at a specific time with a specific number of people.
00:03:10.794 --> 00:03:12.743
Number three, you wanna set the tone.
00:03:12.894 --> 00:03:16.734
So if it's a funny book, you wanna make people laugh on that first page.
00:03:16.764 --> 00:03:22.014
If it's a sweeping epic, you wanna use language that feels like big and sweeping.
00:03:22.644 --> 00:03:26.723
If it's modern and skeptical, you can like throw in a curse word on the first page.
00:03:26.723 --> 00:03:33.014
Like you really what you don't wanna do is like, make people laugh on the first page and then kill someone on the second page, right?
00:03:33.014 --> 00:03:35.114
Unless it is like a funny mystery.
00:03:35.270 --> 00:03:45.501
But you don't wanna do like a bait and switch if it's like a dark mystery, start dark, give us that like ju some juicy dark details that set the tone for the story that's about to come.
00:03:46.001 --> 00:03:52.241
And that way you are setting expectations that we will be fulfilled as your reader moves through the story.
00:03:52.790 --> 00:03:53.420
So that's number.
00:03:53.450 --> 00:03:53.570
Okay.
00:03:53.570 --> 00:03:54.561
So number one.
00:03:54.975 --> 00:03:57.045
Introduce your narrator slash main character.
00:03:57.105 --> 00:03:59.475
Number two, establish us in time and place.
00:04:00.225 --> 00:04:02.235
And three, set the tone.
00:04:02.536 --> 00:04:07.846
Number four is you wanna, you wanna show off your writing chops just a little bit like you.
00:04:07.846 --> 00:04:16.435
Again, if you think of that first page as kind of like a first date, you wanna like be like, Hey, like you like me, you wanna hang out for 300 pages.
00:04:16.886 --> 00:04:27.735
So you wanna, you wanna take some real time with the, your first page, and I think here it's actually really important to pause and just say you should never write your first page first.
00:04:27.735 --> 00:04:33.346
I mean, go ahead and write it, but know that like the first page you write on your first draft, I.
00:04:33.781 --> 00:04:36.240
Will not be the first page that ends up in your book.
00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:42.540
'cause you're gonna learn so much about your characters and your story and all the things you wanna kind of hint at and allude to.
00:04:42.540 --> 00:04:44.610
And you're gonna come back and rewrite.
00:04:44.610 --> 00:04:47.790
Like I've gotten to the point where when I start a story, I'll like open the document.
00:04:47.790 --> 00:04:51.360
I put chapter one and I'll just bullet point it like I think it's so and so.
00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:54.420
I think they're fighting about this and then I think they're in this city.
00:04:54.540 --> 00:04:57.990
And then I like move on to write the rest of the story because I know.
00:04:58.286 --> 00:05:06.956
At this point, I know I'm gonna come back and have to rewrite it because you, you want all these things to be in there and you want the writing to be really good.
00:05:07.406 --> 00:05:08.966
They represent you as a writer.
00:05:09.086 --> 00:05:12.985
If you want them to be beautiful, make sure they're really beautiful.
00:05:12.985 --> 00:05:26.485
If they're hard or scathing, this is similar to tone, And then the last thing your first page needs to do is kind of hint it's not so much about foreshadowing as it is kind of posing a question that will be answered at some point in the book.
00:05:26.485 --> 00:05:29.545
And the a question is what actually really draws people in?
00:05:29.875 --> 00:05:36.326
You want people to be like, well, I have to know, like, what happens if they're in the middle of a burning house?
00:05:36.641 --> 00:05:37.990
The question is, will they get out?
00:05:37.990 --> 00:05:38.800
Will they survive?
00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:39.221
Right?
00:05:39.250 --> 00:05:43.271
If they're in the middle of a breakup scene, is this the love of their life?
00:05:43.331 --> 00:05:45.071
I mean, it's different for every genre.
00:05:45.430 --> 00:05:54.761
I think most of you're working on murder mysteries and thrillers, and so having a dead body in the first page or two is a great way to pose a question, what happened to that person who did it?
00:05:54.790 --> 00:05:55.180
Right?
00:05:55.480 --> 00:06:00.250
That's one of the reasons we love mysteries is, is that, that, that question draws you in.
00:06:00.466 --> 00:06:01.396
What happened here?
00:06:01.545 --> 00:06:02.235
Why?
00:06:02.596 --> 00:06:14.255
So if you are writing a murder mystery, you kind of have that built in because you're gonna wanna throw a body in the first few pages and that is almost guaranteed to raise questions that will draw your reader in.
00:06:14.646 --> 00:06:16.146
It's one of the reasons genres are great.
00:06:16.146 --> 00:06:17.935
I do have a quick question this keeps coming up.
00:06:17.966 --> 00:06:23.456
And so I do wanna ask and see what you think about this thriller mystery, suspends crime.
00:06:23.456 --> 00:06:27.326
Like usually we want that, you know, like you mentioned that like kind of dead body pretty early on.
00:06:27.576 --> 00:06:27.636
Yeah.
00:06:28.055 --> 00:06:38.425
How do I do both of those things where I need there to be this high intense moment right off the bat because to in terms of tone, I'm trying to set that tone.
00:06:38.935 --> 00:06:38.995
Yeah.
00:06:39.026 --> 00:06:41.456
But also I wanna introduce this character.
00:06:41.485 --> 00:06:45.326
Do you have any suggestions for how people can kind of navigate those two elements?
00:06:46.255 --> 00:06:55.536
Yeah, I think I think the important thing to keep in mind is that everything your character says and does, tells us about them, and every bit of setting tells us about them.
00:06:55.536 --> 00:07:00.665
So I talk a lot about setting with my clients that were like you, you can tell us a lot about I.
00:07:01.100 --> 00:07:03.201
People without telling us anything about them.
00:07:03.591 --> 00:07:15.411
If you consider the details that are about like a, like a teenage boy who runs outta the house and gets in like a beat up 94 Toyota Corolla is a very different teenage boy that runs outta the house and gets a 2025 Tesla.
00:07:16.190 --> 00:07:19.641
I haven't told you anything about this boy, but you know, those are two very different boys.
00:07:19.971 --> 00:07:28.850
And so considering like when you're writing those very first scenes, the first pages, you know, not just the first page, but the first page or two, consider.
00:07:29.555 --> 00:07:34.355
What little details you can put in that will tell us about that character.
00:07:34.745 --> 00:07:37.456
Just like instinctively what are they wearing?
00:07:37.456 --> 00:07:40.545
Are they wearing shiny loafers or are they wearing sneakers?
00:07:40.545 --> 00:07:43.706
Are they and it, and it, you don't wanna overload it, right?
00:07:43.706 --> 00:07:45.386
You don't wanna put a ton of details in them.
00:07:45.386 --> 00:07:54.685
But I think if you're just really careful with the details that you do choose to share, you can do a lot of that heavy lifting in a way that will feel effortless and like.
00:07:55.000 --> 00:08:04.391
The people will just feel like they know this character, but really it's a very strategic strike on your part to come in and be like, okay, you're gonna know this about them because X, y, Z.
00:08:05.021 --> 00:08:16.750
So I think that can help build out the, like, getting to know someone even as like, I'm pic, I'm picturing like in the mystery right when the detective is called in and it's still kind of there.
00:08:17.375 --> 00:08:20.346
Regular world in terms of save the cat kind of structure.
00:08:20.596 --> 00:08:25.545
And those are the details in that bit that you wanna give us that start to tell us about his regular world.
00:08:25.576 --> 00:08:25.665
Mm-hmm.
00:08:25.935 --> 00:08:33.735
Even as it's transitioning into the mystery that he's gonna be solving, which will of course change him and his life and his relationships.
00:08:34.181 --> 00:08:40.000
Yeah, and I think that goes to pushing back the start of your novel as far as it can go, right?
00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:48.431
Where you're, you're at that moment, like right at that moment where you are meeting character, but they're also transitioning into that part of the story, and I think that's really important.
00:08:48.730 --> 00:08:53.780
Okay, so just to review introduce you in character, establish us in time and place.
00:08:54.530 --> 00:08:55.461
Set the tone.
00:08:55.760 --> 00:08:57.051
If it's funny, make us laugh.
00:08:57.500 --> 00:09:10.140
Demonstrate your writing chops, you know, if, if you're the kind of writer who puts big words in, put a big word in and then hinting at the story to come, which is mostly about asking a question that will draw the reader in.
00:09:11.025 --> 00:09:15.855
Okay, so those are, those are the ones you wanna consider getting into the first page.
00:09:16.275 --> 00:09:20.686
And now we'll talk a little bit about the ways that the first page can go wrong.
00:09:21.166 --> 00:09:27.855
Number one, and I, it's personal pet peeve as a reader, but I've also heard many, many agents give this advice.
00:09:28.125 --> 00:09:32.385
Don't open with a dream sequence or a hallucination or anything that isn't real.
00:09:32.686 --> 00:09:40.875
Because what happens is your reader spends 5, 10, 15 pages becoming invested and then someone wakes up and they have to start over again.
00:09:40.875 --> 00:09:44.475
And it's just frustrating as a reader to be like, well, is that real?
00:09:44.475 --> 00:09:47.446
I don't want, and again, these are guidelines, not rules.
00:09:47.806 --> 00:09:55.096
So if it works, if you can make it work, if you can have your character wake up from a dream and not have your reader at all confused, it could work.
00:09:55.365 --> 00:10:01.875
But generally speaking, opening with a dream sequence or hallucination is, is, is a good way to turn off your readers.
00:10:02.375 --> 00:10:08.905
Same for extended prologues, prologues there's prologues are always fun for like debate, right?
00:10:08.905 --> 00:10:10.826
Is it a chapter one or is it a prologue?
00:10:11.186 --> 00:10:12.745
But if you're gonna tell me like.
00:10:13.615 --> 00:10:20.186
20 pages of something that happened a hundred years ago and then it doesn't matter to the story for another 300 pages.
00:10:20.186 --> 00:10:22.196
Like you're, that, that's a big ask.
00:10:22.596 --> 00:10:27.966
My recommendation in that situation is just start the story and then when that information is important, get it in there.
00:10:28.336 --> 00:10:38.635
you want to avoid being unclear in any way about what's happening because if I can't follow your story on the first page, like I said, stories only get more complicated as they go.
00:10:38.995 --> 00:10:42.566
So this odds are that the situation is not going to improve.
00:10:42.956 --> 00:10:46.466
Some of the best opening pages are super simple.
00:10:47.005 --> 00:10:50.696
You just, you put us in a scene, certain number of people in a certain place at a certain time.
00:10:50.980 --> 00:10:54.701
Give it some conflict and just let it let it be.
00:10:54.701 --> 00:10:58.750
You don't have to make it overly complex, you just have to make it engaging.
00:10:59.291 --> 00:11:07.541
So a lot of times people will be like, they'll give you a sentence or two to get you into the story and then they're into a flashback'cause they wanna make sure you understand that this is a really pivotal moment.
00:11:07.961 --> 00:11:11.410
But the flashback only serves to confuse me'cause I don't know these people yet.
00:11:11.441 --> 00:11:14.681
You have to give us some time to like get into the story.
00:11:14.681 --> 00:11:18.071
And if you consider that your first page is really only about 250 words.
00:11:18.730 --> 00:11:21.610
That's not that long to hold off for a flashback.
00:11:21.791 --> 00:11:34.240
Like, get us into scene, let us meet the key players, and then if there really is something that must be early in the story as a flashback, you know, at least give us a page or two to settle into the story and learn who we're dealing with.
00:11:34.740 --> 00:11:38.041
Another way that first Pages can go wrong is like.
00:11:38.926 --> 00:11:41.446
20, 30 names in the first page.
00:11:41.926 --> 00:11:47.895
I dunno if anyone's ever read a book where you like, feel like you need to pull out like a graph paper and like make a chart of who is related to who.
00:11:47.895 --> 00:11:49.155
Like on the first page.
00:11:49.696 --> 00:11:54.405
That's another one where it's like you're gonna lose a lot of readers and most agents right off the bat.
00:11:54.466 --> 00:11:55.155
I generally.
00:11:56.515 --> 00:12:03.836
As a rule of thumb, I would strongly advise you to avoid putting more than two or three characters on your first page.
00:12:04.355 --> 00:12:06.125
And that gives us time to meet them.
00:12:06.186 --> 00:12:12.576
You know, you're gonna introduce them, they're gonna interact a little bit, we'll learn a little bit about them, and then maybe on page two, bring in another character.
00:12:12.875 --> 00:12:17.676
But just be aware that like if you stuff a lot of, and, and this goes for place names too.
00:12:17.676 --> 00:12:20.796
I mean place names like San Francisco.
00:12:21.326 --> 00:12:30.475
New York, Tokyo, like big names are easy enough, but if you have smaller city names and you have like three different characters and three different cities, it's just a lot to keep track of.
00:12:30.505 --> 00:12:32.456
So this also is part of just keep it simple.
00:12:33.145 --> 00:12:36.086
Put us in in a scene and let the scene unfold.
00:12:36.985 --> 00:12:47.216
And then, much like the flashback thing, the last way that first pages tend to go awry is, is trying to put a lot of backstory into early I think it was Isabella Ende.
00:12:47.275 --> 00:12:57.716
I think I've heard her say this quote where she says that when she starts writing, she knows she's at page negative a hundred and she pretty much writes a hundred pages to like learn the story herself.
00:12:57.716 --> 00:13:03.926
And then right around page, she calls it page zero, she feels like she understands the backstory and she can just write it.
00:13:04.196 --> 00:13:09.535
And then there will be parts where she has to kind of sprinkle in some information that she learned on the backstory.
00:13:09.956 --> 00:13:14.546
But a lot of times when we are still figuring out our story.
00:13:15.191 --> 00:13:19.181
The first couple chapters can end up being more backstory than we realize.
00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:27.311
So when you go back and you're looking at your first page, just consider you wanna sprinkle in backstory throughout the book.
00:13:27.311 --> 00:13:29.500
You don't have to get it all on the first page.
00:13:29.551 --> 00:13:32.071
You, you, readers don't have to know everything.
00:13:32.341 --> 00:13:34.530
You can let things unfold in time.
00:13:34.530 --> 00:13:40.681
So avoiding a ton of flashback, avoiding a ton of backstory or explanation, again, put us in scene.
00:13:41.791 --> 00:13:49.321
Give us a question to chew on, and that keeping it simple is really the best way to, to make a super compelling first page.
00:13:49.821 --> 00:13:56.701
I do wanna just ask April where, so, you know, people are listening to this they're, they're really loving what you're, what you're saying.
00:13:56.701 --> 00:13:57.240
I'm sure.
00:13:57.240 --> 00:14:00.721
Can you talk a little bit about just like where people can find you if they want to hear more?
00:14:00.961 --> 00:14:01.291
I do.
00:14:01.291 --> 00:14:01.591
Yeah.
00:14:01.591 --> 00:14:03.150
So I'm very findable.
00:14:03.150 --> 00:14:04.980
It's just April Davila everywhere.
00:14:05.291 --> 00:14:06.821
At April Davila on Instagram.
00:14:06.821 --> 00:14:08.801
April davila.com is my website.
00:14:09.140 --> 00:14:11.360
And website is home base for everything.
00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:13.431
I have a course called Structure and Plot.
00:14:13.431 --> 00:14:21.650
It's an asynchronous prerecorded class It's 45 minutes of talking about plot, like basic plot points of a western traditional western storytelling.
00:14:22.041 --> 00:14:25.370
And then another 45 minutes section on structure.
00:14:25.640 --> 00:14:35.120
And this is something I get really excited about too, that like for me, when I came to understand that structure and plot are not the same thing, it made writing so much easier for me.
00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:38.961
So if you think about plot is what happens in your story and structure as.
00:14:39.291 --> 00:14:43.280
How you, the author, choose to tell what happens in the story.
00:14:43.671 --> 00:14:49.910
When you can tease those two things apart, not only can you write more compelling stories, but they're so much easier to write.
00:14:50.138 --> 00:14:51.398
I'll share one more thing too.
00:14:51.427 --> 00:14:57.488
I do occasionally teach this class a few times a year where people submit pages and we actually get to like, read them.
00:14:57.668 --> 00:15:05.437
So if you are interested in doing that, you can find me on my website, april.com and sign up for my newsletter and you'll get the announcement when those are happening.
00:15:05.437 --> 00:15:12.038
And you can send in pages and like, and we actually do like a group critique on, on a selection of of first pages, which.
00:15:12.368 --> 00:15:15.038
It can be fun just for like a little bit of feedback.
00:15:15.038 --> 00:15:18.488
So if that's something people are interested in, you can sign up on my website.
00:15:18.918 --> 00:15:20.510
april, thank you so much.
00:15:20.571 --> 00:15:23.541
I, like I said, I, I'm, I had a bunch of notes that I took.
00:15:23.541 --> 00:15:26.730
So thank you so much for your time and, and your expertise.
00:15:26.730 --> 00:15:28.171
This is really, really valuable.
00:15:28.380 --> 00:15:28.951
Thank you.
00:15:28.951 --> 00:15:30.301
It's been it's been fun.
00:15:30.331 --> 00:15:31.620
I love talking about first Pages.
00:00:00.381 --> 00:00:04.221
yeah, we're gonna talk about how to write a really captivating first page.
00:00:04.270 --> 00:00:09.820
So it's one of my favorite things to talk about because I feel like the first page is really.
00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:10.750
What sells your book?
00:00:10.750 --> 00:00:13.150
I mean, the cover gets people to pick it up, but what do you do?
00:00:13.150 --> 00:00:16.600
The first thing you do is you open it, you read the first page, and then you decide if you're gonna buy that book.
00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:22.361
Whether you're going traditional or self-publishing, that first page like just really, really matters.
00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:32.740
So we're gonna take a little bit of time and talk about the things that the first page needs to do, and then we'll talk about a few of the ways that first Pages tend to like go awry and lose the readers.
00:00:33.170 --> 00:00:38.600
And I wanna just start by saying, like, clarify a little bit about how I talk about story.
00:00:38.901 --> 00:00:41.600
'cause I generally don't believe in hard and fast rules.
00:00:41.881 --> 00:00:43.740
I had a teacher who used to say It works.
00:00:44.235 --> 00:00:45.286
If you can make it work.
00:00:45.945 --> 00:00:47.625
That's the beauty of a fiction writing.
00:00:47.625 --> 00:00:48.496
It's an art, right?
00:00:48.496 --> 00:00:49.905
It works if you can make it work.
00:00:50.415 --> 00:00:56.356
So just take that as a little caveat to everything that we're about to talk about, which can kind of sound like rules, but they're not really.
00:00:56.975 --> 00:00:58.716
So these are guidelines, right?
00:00:58.716 --> 00:01:01.415
For our first pages, and there are five.
00:01:01.875 --> 00:01:06.346
Main things that I usually talk about that your first page needs to do.
00:01:06.835 --> 00:01:14.736
And some of these sound like no-brainers, but it's amazing how many manuscripts I've read that like don't do these things.
00:01:15.156 --> 00:01:17.555
So it's worth kind of checking it off in your mind.
00:01:17.555 --> 00:01:18.635
Am I doing these things?
00:01:19.025 --> 00:01:22.805
The first is to introduce your narrator slash main character.
00:01:22.805 --> 00:01:24.695
Sometimes they're the same person, sometimes not.
00:01:25.266 --> 00:01:26.706
A lot of times.
00:01:27.266 --> 00:01:34.885
Writers will spend like the first page kind of introducing setting or setting the tone or reflect, reflecting on something.
00:01:34.885 --> 00:01:36.025
And that's all important.
00:01:36.025 --> 00:01:36.445
Yes.
00:01:36.686 --> 00:01:45.805
But it's not as important to as introducing me to the character that I'm gonna give a shit about for the next 300 pages, like if they let me know who I'm with.
00:01:45.986 --> 00:01:46.436
All right.
00:01:46.436 --> 00:01:50.756
You wanna get that information right up front so that I know who is telling me this story.
00:01:51.896 --> 00:01:57.115
Again, so a great exception to this rule would be like Arthur less if anyone read the book less.
00:01:57.385 --> 00:02:05.906
The narrator is a little mysterious, like you don't learn who the character is until later in the story, but you still have a strong sense of who he's talking about.
00:02:06.245 --> 00:02:08.526
He's narrating about this character Arthur Less.
00:02:08.526 --> 00:02:14.735
And so even if, I don't know who's exactly telling the story yet, I know who I'm paying attention to, the main character.
00:02:15.135 --> 00:02:15.645
Or less.
00:02:15.855 --> 00:02:17.746
And then I'm gonna follow him on this journey.
00:02:17.895 --> 00:02:21.376
And at that point, you don't even know that you're ever gonna find out who the narrator is, but it doesn't matter.
00:02:21.376 --> 00:02:22.455
You know who to focus on.
00:02:22.515 --> 00:02:23.566
And that's what's important.
00:02:24.015 --> 00:02:29.895
So give us someone to kind of latch onto, whether it's the narrator or the main character, or one in the same.
00:02:30.496 --> 00:02:34.515
All right, number two, you wanna establish us in time in place.
00:02:34.605 --> 00:02:39.586
So some books, like to cheat this and they'll put a chapter heading like San Francisco 2001.
00:02:39.825 --> 00:02:40.545
And that's fine.
00:02:40.575 --> 00:02:41.205
I'm all for it.
00:02:41.205 --> 00:02:47.056
But even if you do that like you want to, if that's your setting, like I wanna see the fog.
00:02:47.116 --> 00:02:54.408
I wanna see like some tech bro on his segue on the way to his startup job, I wanna smell the coffee on that first page.
00:02:54.408 --> 00:03:00.618
Give us a few hints of like where we are, ground us in place, in scene on a specific time and day.
00:03:01.118 --> 00:03:02.288
I'm big on specific scenes.
00:03:02.288 --> 00:03:09.549
I think that's the best way to draw people into a story is put them in a specific scene, and that means a specific place at a specific time with a specific number of people.
00:03:10.794 --> 00:03:12.743
Number three, you wanna set the tone.
00:03:12.894 --> 00:03:16.734
So if it's a funny book, you wanna make people laugh on that first page.
00:03:16.764 --> 00:03:22.014
If it's a sweeping epic, you wanna use language that feels like big and sweeping.
00:03:22.644 --> 00:03:26.723
If it's modern and skeptical, you can like throw in a curse word on the first page.
00:03:26.723 --> 00:03:33.014
Like you really what you don't wanna do is like, make people laugh on the first page and then kill someone on the second page, right?
00:03:33.014 --> 00:03:35.114
Unless it is like a funny mystery.
00:03:35.270 --> 00:03:45.501
But you don't wanna do like a bait and switch if it's like a dark mystery, start dark, give us that like ju some juicy dark details that set the tone for the story that's about to come.
00:03:46.001 --> 00:03:52.241
And that way you are setting expectations that we will be fulfilled as your reader moves through the story.
00:03:52.790 --> 00:03:53.420
So that's number.
00:03:53.450 --> 00:03:53.570
Okay.
00:03:53.570 --> 00:03:54.561
So number one.
00:03:54.975 --> 00:03:57.045
Introduce your narrator slash main character.
00:03:57.105 --> 00:03:59.475
Number two, establish us in time and place.
00:04:00.225 --> 00:04:02.235
And three, set the tone.
00:04:02.536 --> 00:04:07.846
Number four is you wanna, you wanna show off your writing chops just a little bit like you.
00:04:07.846 --> 00:04:16.435
Again, if you think of that first page as kind of like a first date, you wanna like be like, Hey, like you like me, you wanna hang out for 300 pages.
00:04:16.886 --> 00:04:27.735
So you wanna, you wanna take some real time with the, your first page, and I think here it's actually really important to pause and just say you should never write your first page first.
00:04:27.735 --> 00:04:33.346
I mean, go ahead and write it, but know that like the first page you write on your first draft, I.
00:04:33.781 --> 00:04:36.240
Will not be the first page that ends up in your book.
00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:42.540
'cause you're gonna learn so much about your characters and your story and all the things you wanna kind of hint at and allude to.
00:04:42.540 --> 00:04:44.610
And you're gonna come back and rewrite.
00:04:44.610 --> 00:04:47.790
Like I've gotten to the point where when I start a story, I'll like open the document.
00:04:47.790 --> 00:04:51.360
I put chapter one and I'll just bullet point it like I think it's so and so.
00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:54.420
I think they're fighting about this and then I think they're in this city.
00:04:54.540 --> 00:04:57.990
And then I like move on to write the rest of the story because I know.
00:04:58.286 --> 00:05:06.956
At this point, I know I'm gonna come back and have to rewrite it because you, you want all these things to be in there and you want the writing to be really good.
00:05:07.406 --> 00:05:08.966
They represent you as a writer.
00:05:09.086 --> 00:05:12.985
If you want them to be beautiful, make sure they're really beautiful.
00:05:12.985 --> 00:05:26.485
If they're hard or scathing, this is similar to tone, And then the last thing your first page needs to do is kind of hint it's not so much about foreshadowing as it is kind of posing a question that will be answered at some point in the book.
00:05:26.485 --> 00:05:29.545
And the a question is what actually really draws people in?
00:05:29.875 --> 00:05:36.326
You want people to be like, well, I have to know, like, what happens if they're in the middle of a burning house?
00:05:36.641 --> 00:05:37.990
The question is, will they get out?
00:05:37.990 --> 00:05:38.800
Will they survive?
00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:39.221
Right?
00:05:39.250 --> 00:05:43.271
If they're in the middle of a breakup scene, is this the love of their life?
00:05:43.331 --> 00:05:45.071
I mean, it's different for every genre.
00:05:45.430 --> 00:05:54.761
I think most of you're working on murder mysteries and thrillers, and so having a dead body in the first page or two is a great way to pose a question, what happened to that person who did it?
00:05:54.790 --> 00:05:55.180
Right?
00:05:55.480 --> 00:06:00.250
That's one of the reasons we love mysteries is, is that, that, that question draws you in.
00:06:00.466 --> 00:06:01.396
What happened here?
00:06:01.545 --> 00:06:02.235
Why?
00:06:02.596 --> 00:06:14.255
So if you are writing a murder mystery, you kind of have that built in because you're gonna wanna throw a body in the first few pages and that is almost guaranteed to raise questions that will draw your reader in.
00:06:14.646 --> 00:06:16.146
It's one of the reasons genres are great.
00:06:16.146 --> 00:06:17.935
I do have a quick question this keeps coming up.
00:06:17.966 --> 00:06:23.456
And so I do wanna ask and see what you think about this thriller mystery, suspends crime.
00:06:23.456 --> 00:06:27.326
Like usually we want that, you know, like you mentioned that like kind of dead body pretty early on.
00:06:27.576 --> 00:06:27.636
Yeah.
00:06:28.055 --> 00:06:38.425
How do I do both of those things where I need there to be this high intense moment right off the bat because to in terms of tone, I'm trying to set that tone.
00:06:38.935 --> 00:06:38.995
Yeah.
00:06:39.026 --> 00:06:41.456
But also I wanna introduce this character.
00:06:41.485 --> 00:06:45.326
Do you have any suggestions for how people can kind of navigate those two elements?
00:06:46.255 --> 00:06:55.536
Yeah, I think I think the important thing to keep in mind is that everything your character says and does, tells us about them, and every bit of setting tells us about them.
00:06:55.536 --> 00:07:00.665
So I talk a lot about setting with my clients that were like you, you can tell us a lot about I.
00:07:01.100 --> 00:07:03.201
People without telling us anything about them.
00:07:03.591 --> 00:07:15.411
If you consider the details that are about like a, like a teenage boy who runs outta the house and gets in like a beat up 94 Toyota Corolla is a very different teenage boy that runs outta the house and gets a 2025 Tesla.
00:07:16.190 --> 00:07:19.641
I haven't told you anything about this boy, but you know, those are two very different boys.
00:07:19.971 --> 00:07:28.850
And so considering like when you're writing those very first scenes, the first pages, you know, not just the first page, but the first page or two, consider.
00:07:29.555 --> 00:07:34.355
What little details you can put in that will tell us about that character.
00:07:34.745 --> 00:07:37.456
Just like instinctively what are they wearing?
00:07:37.456 --> 00:07:40.545
Are they wearing shiny loafers or are they wearing sneakers?
00:07:40.545 --> 00:07:43.706
Are they and it, and it, you don't wanna overload it, right?
00:07:43.706 --> 00:07:45.386
You don't wanna put a ton of details in them.
00:07:45.386 --> 00:07:54.685
But I think if you're just really careful with the details that you do choose to share, you can do a lot of that heavy lifting in a way that will feel effortless and like.
00:07:55.000 --> 00:08:04.391
The people will just feel like they know this character, but really it's a very strategic strike on your part to come in and be like, okay, you're gonna know this about them because X, y, Z.
00:08:05.021 --> 00:08:16.750
So I think that can help build out the, like, getting to know someone even as like, I'm pic, I'm picturing like in the mystery right when the detective is called in and it's still kind of there.
00:08:17.375 --> 00:08:20.346
Regular world in terms of save the cat kind of structure.
00:08:20.596 --> 00:08:25.545
And those are the details in that bit that you wanna give us that start to tell us about his regular world.
00:08:25.576 --> 00:08:25.665
Mm-hmm.
00:08:25.935 --> 00:08:33.735
Even as it's transitioning into the mystery that he's gonna be solving, which will of course change him and his life and his relationships.
00:08:34.181 --> 00:08:40.000
Yeah, and I think that goes to pushing back the start of your novel as far as it can go, right?
00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:48.431
Where you're, you're at that moment, like right at that moment where you are meeting character, but they're also transitioning into that part of the story, and I think that's really important.
00:08:48.730 --> 00:08:53.780
Okay, so just to review introduce you in character, establish us in time and place.
00:08:54.530 --> 00:08:55.461
Set the tone.
00:08:55.760 --> 00:08:57.051
If it's funny, make us laugh.
00:08:57.500 --> 00:09:10.140
Demonstrate your writing chops, you know, if, if you're the kind of writer who puts big words in, put a big word in and then hinting at the story to come, which is mostly about asking a question that will draw the reader in.
00:09:11.025 --> 00:09:15.855
Okay, so those are, those are the ones you wanna consider getting into the first page.
00:09:16.275 --> 00:09:20.686
And now we'll talk a little bit about the ways that the first page can go wrong.
00:09:21.166 --> 00:09:27.855
Number one, and I, it's personal pet peeve as a reader, but I've also heard many, many agents give this advice.
00:09:28.125 --> 00:09:32.385
Don't open with a dream sequence or a hallucination or anything that isn't real.
00:09:32.686 --> 00:09:40.875
Because what happens is your reader spends 5, 10, 15 pages becoming invested and then someone wakes up and they have to start over again.
00:09:40.875 --> 00:09:44.475
And it's just frustrating as a reader to be like, well, is that real?
00:09:44.475 --> 00:09:47.446
I don't want, and again, these are guidelines, not rules.
00:09:47.806 --> 00:09:55.096
So if it works, if you can make it work, if you can have your character wake up from a dream and not have your reader at all confused, it could work.
00:09:55.365 --> 00:10:01.875
But generally speaking, opening with a dream sequence or hallucination is, is, is a good way to turn off your readers.
00:10:02.375 --> 00:10:08.905
Same for extended prologues, prologues there's prologues are always fun for like debate, right?
00:10:08.905 --> 00:10:10.826
Is it a chapter one or is it a prologue?
00:10:11.186 --> 00:10:12.745
But if you're gonna tell me like.
00:10:13.615 --> 00:10:20.186
20 pages of something that happened a hundred years ago and then it doesn't matter to the story for another 300 pages.
00:10:20.186 --> 00:10:22.196
Like you're, that, that's a big ask.
00:10:22.596 --> 00:10:27.966
My recommendation in that situation is just start the story and then when that information is important, get it in there.
00:10:28.336 --> 00:10:38.635
you want to avoid being unclear in any way about what's happening because if I can't follow your story on the first page, like I said, stories only get more complicated as they go.
00:10:38.995 --> 00:10:42.566
So this odds are that the situation is not going to improve.
00:10:42.956 --> 00:10:46.466
Some of the best opening pages are super simple.
00:10:47.005 --> 00:10:50.696
You just, you put us in a scene, certain number of people in a certain place at a certain time.
00:10:50.980 --> 00:10:54.701
Give it some conflict and just let it let it be.
00:10:54.701 --> 00:10:58.750
You don't have to make it overly complex, you just have to make it engaging.
00:10:59.291 --> 00:11:07.541
So a lot of times people will be like, they'll give you a sentence or two to get you into the story and then they're into a flashback'cause they wanna make sure you understand that this is a really pivotal moment.
00:11:07.961 --> 00:11:11.410
But the flashback only serves to confuse me'cause I don't know these people yet.
00:11:11.441 --> 00:11:14.681
You have to give us some time to like get into the story.
00:11:14.681 --> 00:11:18.071
And if you consider that your first page is really only about 250 words.
00:11:18.730 --> 00:11:21.610
That's not that long to hold off for a flashback.
00:11:21.791 --> 00:11:34.240
Like, get us into scene, let us meet the key players, and then if there really is something that must be early in the story as a flashback, you know, at least give us a page or two to settle into the story and learn who we're dealing with.
00:11:34.740 --> 00:11:38.041
Another way that first Pages can go wrong is like.
00:11:38.926 --> 00:11:41.446
20, 30 names in the first page.
00:11:41.926 --> 00:11:47.895
I dunno if anyone's ever read a book where you like, feel like you need to pull out like a graph paper and like make a chart of who is related to who.
00:11:47.895 --> 00:11:49.155
Like on the first page.
00:11:49.696 --> 00:11:54.405
That's another one where it's like you're gonna lose a lot of readers and most agents right off the bat.
00:11:54.466 --> 00:11:55.155
I generally.
00:11:56.515 --> 00:12:03.836
As a rule of thumb, I would strongly advise you to avoid putting more than two or three characters on your first page.
00:12:04.355 --> 00:12:06.125
And that gives us time to meet them.
00:12:06.186 --> 00:12:12.576
You know, you're gonna introduce them, they're gonna interact a little bit, we'll learn a little bit about them, and then maybe on page two, bring in another character.
00:12:12.875 --> 00:12:17.676
But just be aware that like if you stuff a lot of, and, and this goes for place names too.
00:12:17.676 --> 00:12:20.796
I mean place names like San Francisco.
00:12:21.326 --> 00:12:30.475
New York, Tokyo, like big names are easy enough, but if you have smaller city names and you have like three different characters and three different cities, it's just a lot to keep track of.
00:12:30.505 --> 00:12:32.456
So this also is part of just keep it simple.
00:12:33.145 --> 00:12:36.086
Put us in in a scene and let the scene unfold.
00:12:36.985 --> 00:12:47.216
And then, much like the flashback thing, the last way that first pages tend to go awry is, is trying to put a lot of backstory into early I think it was Isabella Ende.
00:12:47.275 --> 00:12:57.716
I think I've heard her say this quote where she says that when she starts writing, she knows she's at page negative a hundred and she pretty much writes a hundred pages to like learn the story herself.
00:12:57.716 --> 00:13:03.926
And then right around page, she calls it page zero, she feels like she understands the backstory and she can just write it.
00:13:04.196 --> 00:13:09.535
And then there will be parts where she has to kind of sprinkle in some information that she learned on the backstory.
00:13:09.956 --> 00:13:14.546
But a lot of times when we are still figuring out our story.
00:13:15.191 --> 00:13:19.181
The first couple chapters can end up being more backstory than we realize.
00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:27.311
So when you go back and you're looking at your first page, just consider you wanna sprinkle in backstory throughout the book.
00:13:27.311 --> 00:13:29.500
You don't have to get it all on the first page.
00:13:29.551 --> 00:13:32.071
You, you, readers don't have to know everything.
00:13:32.341 --> 00:13:34.530
You can let things unfold in time.
00:13:34.530 --> 00:13:40.681
So avoiding a ton of flashback, avoiding a ton of backstory or explanation, again, put us in scene.
00:13:41.791 --> 00:13:49.321
Give us a question to chew on, and that keeping it simple is really the best way to, to make a super compelling first page.
00:13:49.821 --> 00:13:56.701
I do wanna just ask April where, so, you know, people are listening to this they're, they're really loving what you're, what you're saying.
00:13:56.701 --> 00:13:57.240
I'm sure.
00:13:57.240 --> 00:14:00.721
Can you talk a little bit about just like where people can find you if they want to hear more?
00:14:00.961 --> 00:14:01.291
I do.
00:14:01.291 --> 00:14:01.591
Yeah.
00:14:01.591 --> 00:14:03.150
So I'm very findable.
00:14:03.150 --> 00:14:04.980
It's just April Davila everywhere.
00:14:05.291 --> 00:14:06.821
At April Davila on Instagram.
00:14:06.821 --> 00:14:08.801
April davila.com is my website.
00:14:09.140 --> 00:14:11.360
And website is home base for everything.
00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:13.431
I have a course called Structure and Plot.
00:14:13.431 --> 00:14:21.650
It's an asynchronous prerecorded class It's 45 minutes of talking about plot, like basic plot points of a western traditional western storytelling.
00:14:22.041 --> 00:14:25.370
And then another 45 minutes section on structure.
00:14:25.640 --> 00:14:35.120
And this is something I get really excited about too, that like for me, when I came to understand that structure and plot are not the same thing, it made writing so much easier for me.
00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:38.961
So if you think about plot is what happens in your story and structure as.
00:14:39.291 --> 00:14:43.280
How you, the author, choose to tell what happens in the story.
00:14:43.671 --> 00:14:49.910
When you can tease those two things apart, not only can you write more compelling stories, but they're so much easier to write.
00:14:50.138 --> 00:14:51.398
I'll share one more thing too.
00:14:51.427 --> 00:14:57.488
I do occasionally teach this class a few times a year where people submit pages and we actually get to like, read them.
00:14:57.668 --> 00:15:05.437
So if you are interested in doing that, you can find me on my website, april.com and sign up for my newsletter and you'll get the announcement when those are happening.
00:15:05.437 --> 00:15:12.038
And you can send in pages and like, and we actually do like a group critique on, on a selection of of first pages, which.
00:15:12.368 --> 00:15:15.038
It can be fun just for like a little bit of feedback.
00:15:15.038 --> 00:15:18.488
So if that's something people are interested in, you can sign up on my website.
00:15:18.918 --> 00:15:20.510
april, thank you so much.
00:15:20.571 --> 00:15:23.541
I, like I said, I, I'm, I had a bunch of notes that I took.
00:15:23.541 --> 00:15:26.730
So thank you so much for your time and, and your expertise.
00:15:26.730 --> 00:15:28.171
This is really, really valuable.
00:15:28.380 --> 00:15:28.951
Thank you.
00:15:28.951 --> 00:15:30.301
It's been it's been fun.
00:15:30.331 --> 00:15:31.620
I love talking about first Pages.
