Writers stress over how to begin their novels and struggle to know what to include. It is often the most rewritten part of a novel.

If writers have read the advice given by professionals about the importance of writing the beginning of a novel, there is good reason for this anxiety. At conferences that I attended early in my career, I heard editors and agents stress again and again that if the story did not capture their interest immediately — forget 10 pages, they would say 3 — they would not continue reading.

In fact, Literary Agent, Noah Lukeman wrote an entire book titled The First Five Pages about the importance of opening the book correctly to avoid being rejected. The book might be a little dated today and focuses a lot on generally writing a good book, but it does not take away from the importance of capturing the reader’s attention immediately.

So, three, five, or ten pages, let’s agree that it is crucial to open our story strong. How do we do that?

If you'd like to read more, I invite you to use this friend link to access my Medium article for free.

If you are starting out as a writer or you've ever said, "I'd love to write a book" then visit my How to Write a Book group on Facebook to read more blogs posts about writing, and to chat about your project and ideas with others.

Or if you want to be walked through the writing process, my course The Easy Tell Your Story Course for Beginners is a great place to start.