Fabulous First Page -- Spooky Edition

With a Prologue That Works!

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Next week I am going to be talking on a podcast about ghost stories, and of course it’s almost Halloween, so I decided today’s Fabulous First Page showcase should be from a ghost story. A haunted house story, in particular — one of the cleverest (and creepiest!) takes on a haunted house story I’ve ever read.

In this case, the novel’s first page is part of its nine-page prologue, and I know agents and editors often say they don’t like prologues (especially long ones). And yet, half the books you pick up at the library have prologues… so what gives? That’s why I thought we’d take a look at a novel with a prologue and analyze why it works.

Before I reveal the book, I’ll start with a reminder of all the things a first page should try to do:

A first page should:

• Hook the reader right away and invite them into the story.

• Set the scene and the overall tone of the novel.

• Introduce a main character (and/or introduce a main setting or theme).

• Hint at a conflict, situation, mystery/secret, or question.

• Set reader expectations.

Yes, that’s right, I added a new bullet point: set reader expectations. In other words, a reader should know what type of book this is from page one. A humorous book? A dark thriller? A literary novel? Let your first page reflect the rest of the book.

Take a look at the first pages of recently published books in your genre. How do they tend to start? In a scene? With a setting description? With a narrator talking to the reader? You not only want to hook a reader, you want to hook the type of reader who likes your particular type of book.

For more on first pages, check out:

• This recent post on Jane Friedman’s blog about first pages.

• The September episode of

  The Shit No One Tells You About Writing
  podcast, “Making Something Unexpected Happen in Your Opening Pages.” Agent CeCe Lyra gives an interesting dialogue suggestion, taken from screenwriting, that I’d never heard before.

And now, without further ado, let’s read today’s fabulous first page…