The crucial ten pages your favourite novelist always gets right.
Welcome to Chapter 2a of The Pro-Reader Toolkit
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We’ve all been there.
A new book in our hands. Maybe it’s by a favourite author, maybe you were drawn to the cover, or maybe it was recommended by a friend. You settle into your favourite reading chair, steaming cup of coffee and chocolate bourbon on the side table, and open the first page.
The first line doesn’t grab you, but you’re an experienced enough reader to know a story doesn’t stand or fall on a single sentence.
You keep reading.
A few pages flick by and your attention starts to wander. You refocus on the words. The story is going to get going any minute. A character will appear who piques your curiosity, or a catastrophe will shatter the calm.
By page ten, you wonder how long until the chapter finishes. You might even check. Then you place the book on the side table, pick up the coffee and slide your phone out of your back pocket.
What happened?
The opening pages of a novel are vital in building a relationship with the reader that draws them into the story.
They are a promise.
You may not even be conscious of why you’ve settled into a book so easily, or why you already suspect you probably won’t finish it.
Those pages do far more than introduce characters, set the scene or lay the groundwork for conflict. Hidden within them are the building blocks of trust and a guide to how you will read the book.
Here’s what a reader needs to feel and understand in those first pages of a novel:
