Description
The first 500 words can make or break a project. Most editors and agents, like most readers, make very quick decisions about whether to commit to a book.
Over her 30 years in publishing, Ann Patty learned the first two pages of a book have to be immediately engaging and written in perfect prose. She has rejected manuscripts after reading only a paragraph and often gave up after only two pages. Grammatical errors, mixed or bad metaphors, twisted syntax, misplaced modifiers, clichés, or telling too much too soon, almost always result in quick rejection.
Patty will begin this class by discussing the importance of the first two pages of a novel, memoir, or work of nonfiction and what these pages should tell readers about what sort of book they have chosen. Then we’ll look at the beginning of a few well-known contemporary works as examples of great beginnings.
Finally, Patty will analyze the first 500 words of our writing, sentence by sentence, which participants will submit electronically in advance. Discussion will include the supreme importance of the first sentence, fundamental grammar, syntax, use of literary devices (metaphor, simile, alliteration), voice, point of view, showing versus telling, and foreshadowing.
Because of the time spent on each submission, this workshop must be limited to 9 writers. We’ll leave with a fully edited, compelling beginning for our work.
