The first page is one of the most daunting challenges writers face, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are 4 things to avoid in your first pages that can turn readers away from your book.
Don’t Introduce Too Many Characters
It’s exciting to introduce our readers to our beloved characters, but introducing too many in the first page will lead to confusion.
Imagine you walk into a place you’ve never been to before. You’re surrounded by people you’ve never met before.
Within ten seconds, you’re introduced to Sarah, Vincent, Molly, Edward, Tiffany, Will, and–wait, was that guy’s name Liam or Leon?
Unless you’re a genius, it’ll be difficult to keep track of all these people in such a short amount of time.
In a novel, this issue compounds: the reader will have no reason to care about any of these people. There’s no time to introduce interesting personality traits or compelling goals for that many characters.
If the reader doesn’t care, why should they continue?
Introduce your characters gradually, as they become important, so the reader has time to remember them and discover reasons to care about them.
If you’re introducing more than two major characters on your first page, ask yourself if it’s necessary to introduce that many at once, or if you can delay a few introductions.
Don’t Introduce Too Many Concepts
Just like with characters, introducing too many grand worldbuilding concepts can leave the reader confused, especially in fantasy or sci-fi.
On the first few pages, the reader is new to everything in your story. We want to feed them bread crumbs of our complex world, inviting them to follow the trail and see what’s at the end.
A good rule of thumb is this: Explain only what the reader needs to know.
If a deep dive into the political system of the narrator’s home planet isn’t important to what’s happening on the first page, save it for later.
Give the reader tidbits. Make them anticipate more.
Explain only what they need to know in order to understand what’s happening now.
Don’t Start With a Day Like Any Other
One of the least interesting ways to start a novel is with the main character waking up to their alarm clock, brushing their teeth, and running off to school or work like any other day.
Unless, of course, their alarm clock is actually a dragon alerting them to a pirate raid.
The difference here is that a dragon waking you up to warn you of a pirate raid is interesting. Something is happening that immediately defines this world, and the main character’s reation will immediately reveal their personality to the reader.
Don’t start with any boring old day.
Start with something interesting.
This does not mean you need to start with a fight scene. The definition of “something interesting” will change depending on your genre and your story.
Something interesting in a historical romance might be the main character’s carriage losing a wheel in the mud.
Something interesting in a sci fi novel might be an alien invasion.
You may have also heard the phrase en media res. This means “in the middle of things” and is used in reference to starting in the middle of the action.
Don’t waste too much time setting the stage, introducing a boring day like any other. Either get to the action as quickly as possible or start in the middle of the action.
Start with something interesting.
If you’re looking for fresh ideas for interesting ways to start your novel, check out my post about finding writing inspiration.
Don’t Start With a Dream Sequence
You’ve likely experienced this before. You’re on the first page of a new book and the main character is in trouble with some thugs. Just as things are getting interesting–
Bam. The main character wakes up.
It was all a dream.
Starting with a dream (or in some cases a flashback) is often used as a quick and easy way to start in the middle of some action. However, it leaves the reader feeling cheated. Here they were, getting invested in the story, only for the rug to get pulled out from under them.
It cheapens your story’s tension and stakes, because everything that was just introduced as a threat turned out to be fake.
Starting with a dream sequence also leads into the same problems as the third point (starting with a day like any other), because once the dream is done, now the main character is waking up and getting ready for work or school.
As with any writing rule, there are situations where starting with a dream works. But unless this dream sequence is crucial to the plot, I suggest avoiding it. Even if it is crucial to the plot, it might serve its purpose better in a chapter or two.
Start with your main character doing something real and something interesting.
What are your favorite ways to start a story?
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