ROBUST discussion

5 Things You Should Do On The First Page of Your YA Novel by Tracy Marchini.

http://tmarchini.wordpress.com/2012/0...

Not a perfect list but worth discussing.

The first thing*, not just the first page, should be the presentation of a conflict.

*First sentence, if possible, but first paragraph will do.

It gets tougher in the market every year. I'm not inclined to relax the requirement that the writer sets up her story definitively in the first sentence. This might do for a first sentence:

"I was up shit street again. But this time I could fucken die. Fuck, fuck, fuck."

You reckon I have enough foul language yet to be written up in the WSJ?

Huh. Normally these sorts of list irritate me, but I actually agree with this one.

If "call me" isn't okay, we'll have to shove Moby Dick off the classics shelf.

That's where I took it from. There's also an enemy wizard called Prof. Queequeg...

OK, I made that up. But I do like Melville's opening line...

Twas a dark and stormy night.....

Best.opening.line.ever! :)

It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die. Maggie Stiefvater, The Scorpio Races, Michael Printz Honor Award 2012

I know I'm not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. I mean, sure, I do ordinary things. I eat ice cream. I ride my bike. I play ball. I have an XBox. Stuff like that makes me ordinary. I guess. And I feel ordinary. Inside. But I know ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. I know ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go.
If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish. I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever noticed at all. I would wish that I could walk down the street without people seeing me and then doing that look-away thing. Here's what I think: the only reason I'm not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way. R. J. Palacio, Wonder, 2012 (One of the most talked about books in 2012)

Pretty good stuff, Margie.

(By the way, I made the French toast. It was wonderful, thanks to you.)

Patricia wrote: "Pretty good stuff, Margie.

(By the way, I made the French toast. It was wonderful, thanks to you.)"

Glad you liked it. I still have the cookbook. I have renewed it repeatedly. I hesitate to send it back until I have read every single recipe which will probably not be until this summer. I wish I could find it for sale somewhere.

It's for sale as a used book on Amazon but for a lot of money. (At least it was a few days ago.)

Patricia wrote: "It's for sale as a used book on Amazon but for a lot of money. (At least it was a few days ago.)"

I will check that out. I do have a limit as to what I am willing to spend.

At least she didn't say 'start with a car crash or a gunfight.'

Her bit about working out where the story and voice actually start once you've finished is pretty right. Not one of my stories has survived without me cutting great chunks off the front after I've finished. I think The Dragon Box lost 4 or 5 chapters.

It's a standard professional tip and has been since my Writing a Thriller appeared in 1985, when I shifted the emphasis of the thriller from "plot" to "character", and with it elevated the ancillary considerations of tone or "voice" to much greater emphasis than they enjoyed before.

http://coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/ar...
http://coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/ar...

Mmm. I'd been a writer quite a few years before I learned this good tip. Immediately I learned it, Andre showed me that I needn't pay any attention to it. In fact, I've made the character introductions, what Andre calls their "establishment", a valuable feature, for the writer and for readers too, in my series. Admittedly, it isn't easy. It helps to have a few years of practice, and a clever guru to nudge your elbow when you go wrong.

Or bop you on the head - as may be required.

Kench

I guess I'm screwed.

I've always introduced either my main protagonist or my main antagonist in the first chapter. I've set the scene, tone and direction before the chapter is half done. By the end of the first chapter, the reader knows what type of book they're reading.

And I still can't sell shizniky. LOL

In romance you have to introduce the hero in the first chapter. I like to have the hero and the antagonist both, make the reader wonder which is which.

Daniel - There is no easy way to do it.

HOWEVER - there is a website called 'Flogging the Quill' where they specialize in first pages and first chapters. I hung out there for six months trying to fix my opening chapters for "Let's Do Lunch" - Ray is quite good with helping people.

K.A. wrote: "In romance you have to introduce the hero in the first chapter. I like to have the hero and the antagonist both, make the reader wonder which is which.

Daniel - There is no easy way to do it.

Oh yeah, that's old hat for this writer, writing a novel according to gospel isn't an issue. All three of my Romance novels has my Lady hero in the first chapter, quite easily.

It's my non-romance sci-fi/fantasy where I introduced the antagonist first.

My sentiment over it was tongue in cheek, I should have been more clear. I meant I was screwed because I subscribe to popular formula, and still can't sell shizniky. ^_^

I understand - like I said, it takes time.