Guest Post

5 Elements of a Compelling First Page

Esteemed publishing agent Jennie Dunham and I are co-hosting two Publishing Salons this fall!

The Saturday, September 12th salon will be devoted to the “Premise & First Page,” and we've just announced a second event on the art of “The Query Letter,” which will take place on Sunday, November 8th.

Below you'll find Jennie's five keys to writing a compelling first page, which we'll be talking about in more depth at the September salon!

These events are designed to demystify the publishing industry with behind-the-scenes conversations with a successful New York City publishing agent, who will provide critiques on the work of selected participants. Even if you're not ready to submit your work, you are invited to listen in.

Scroll down to find full details and links to register, or contact me with questions!


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TWO PUBLISHING SALONS:


Premise and First Page

Saturday, September 12th

10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. PST



~ and ~


The Query Letter

Sunday, November 8th

10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. PST



with
Karin Gutman and Jennie Dunham


Hosted via Zoom

 

The Publishing Salon is designed to demystify the world of publishing. Through a series of intimate and dynamic conversations, Spirit of Story founder Karin Gutman and esteemed literary agent Jennie Dunhamoffer insights and practical steps for navigating your way to finding a home for your work.

For these fall events, Karin and Jennie will provide an overview of how traditional publishing works. We’ll discuss the key players, how a book gets sold, and the best way for an author to approach sharing their work in a professional landscape.

We’ll devote a full hour to providing feedback on either the Premise/First Page or the Query Letter of up to 10 premium participants whose work will be shown live on the screen as specific feedback about it is shared. If you are not ready to present your work, you can still take advantage of this unique opportunity to listen to the discussion. There will also be an open Q & A for all participants to ask questions related to the publishing process.

 
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Jennie Dunham has been a literary agent in New York City since May 1992. In August 2000 she founded Dunham Literary, Inc.
 
She represents literary fiction and non-fiction for adults and children. Her clients have had both critical and commercial success. Books she has represented have appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers in adult hardcover fiction, children’s books, and children’s book series.

Her clients have won numerous awards including: New York Times Best Illustrated Book, The Schneider Family Award, Boston Globe Horn Book Honor, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist.

She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Anthropology and has a master's degree in Social Work from New York University. She frequently speaks at writers conferences and events.

 
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5 Elements of a Compelling First Page:

  1. Right on the first page, readers want to meet the protagonist and begin to form a bond with him or her. After all, the protagonist will be the reader’s guide through the story. The reader will identify with the protagonist, so this character should be mostly likeable and highly relatable.
     

  2. The reader should become immersed in the “world” contained in the book, whether realistic or fantastical, so that the real world the reader lives in melts away. This process begins on the first page.
     

  3. The writing should grab the reader and keep them interested. A strong writing style captivates a reader right from the first sentence.
     

  4. Drive! Questions should come up in the reader’s mind that make him or her guessing and turning pages to find out what happens next. 
     

  5. There should also be some sense of what type of story it will be and a hint that isn’t even noticeable about the ending. 


Have you done it? Come find out at our “First Page and Premise” workshop!

 
 
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5 Reasons Your Memoir Will Never Be Published

I'm thrilled to have Jennie Nash guest post this month, where she shares her insights about what does (and doesn't) get a memoir published!

Jennie is a trusted book coach who specializes in helping writers write and publish books that will get read. She is the founder and chief creative officer of Author Accelerator, an online program to help writers get from inspiration to publication. She is also the author of three memoirs and four novels.

 


5 Reasons Your Memoir Will Never Be Published

 By Jennie Nash

 

1.)  You confused “what happened” with a good story

“What happened” in your life is only part of the equation of a good story. You also need a sense of why “what happened” mattered to you, what it meant, what you took away from the experience. You need a sense of how “what happened” says something about human nature and the world and our time here on earth, because without that connection to the bigger picture, your memoir is in danger of being aimless and self-centered. You need to know where in “what happened” would make a good place to start, where in “what happened” would make a good place to end, and which pieces of “what happened” are best left out of this story and saved for another day.

2.)  You forgot the importance of structure

Structure is the thing that holds a memoir up, that makes it more than just a series of journal entries. Take Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love. That book has a beautiful, elegant structure. Three sections. Three big ideas. Three struggles to achieve a simple grace. You think Gilbert did that accidentally? The answer is no. And what about Cheryl Stayed's Wild? It's a road trip story-except the road is a hiking trail and instead of a vehicle, she's got her feet. It follows a classic structure of a person who sets out on a physical journey and goes on an internal, emotional journey along the way. One of my favorite celebrity memoirs, Andre Aggasi's Open, has an intriguing structure. It starts at the end of an illustrious tennis career that, it turns out, nearly crippled the author in a number of ways. The story traces the tale of how he got there, of why he made it as far as he did, and what he learned along the way. It all hinges on starting at the end. It all hinges on structure. To learn more about structure, re-read a few favorite memoirs. Instead of reading for what happened, read for how the whole thing is put together. Make a map of it.  Watch how the author does it.

3.)  You did zero market research

Most art comes from someone's heart and soul-from a place as far away from commerce as you can get. We write because we are called to write, because it is satisfying and healing to write, and there is no other motivation needed. Most writers, however, have some additional agenda for wanting to set their story down on paper. Perhaps they want to preserve their story for future generations. Perhaps they want to share what they have learned with other fellow travelers. There are a thousand good reasons to want to share your story.  If your desire is to share your story with a wide reading public-with readers in a bookstore, with searchers on the Internet, with strangers you may never meet-you enter into a wholly different territory of the writing experience. You must now consider the realities of the marketplace. You must study how memoirs are packaged and sold, which ones do well, what readers respond to, what gaps there are in the conversation (and how you might put a stake in the ground in that gap), and how to present your story in such a way that it stands a chance of being read. You must, in other words, find a way to reconcile the work of your heart with the demands and realities of commerce. For help in making this reconciliation, read The Gift by Lewis Hyde.

4.)  You were too stingy with your emotions

You may have the most dramatic and exciting story to tell, and you may have a solid structure to contain it, and you may have done your market research, but unless you share the gritty emotions you felt as your tale unfolded, you will quickly lose your reader to the latest Game of Thrones installment. Readers come to memoir to get inside the author's head. That is the one true promise of a memoir-and it's a promise no other art form makes. Readers want to see what it's like inside your head and to see how you handled the difficult, embarrassing, soul-crushing, harrowing, joyous and confusing things that befell you. Telling instead of showing, whizzing by the tough stuff, leaving things out because they make you look bad, making things up to make yourself seem anything other than what you actually are-these are fatal flaws. To learn more about how to invite the reader into your emotions, read Beth Kephart's fantastic new book about writing memoir, Handling the Truth.

5.)  You didn't use a professional editor

Your sister and your spouse and your mother and your friend who is a stickler for correct grammar may love you and may support you, but they can't be trusted when it comes to how your story is working on the page and what to do to fix it. You need a professional editor or writing coach who is ruthless and exacting, and who can whip your prose into shape on every level-from the macro concerns like theme and story resolution to the micro concerns like pacing and dialogue. In the old days, editors used to do this work. Some of them still do, and some agents do, as well, but most don't. They are looking for work that is already polished. To find a reputable editor, get a personal referral from someone who has had an excellent experience, or consider the recommendation of a trusted pro. Jane Friedman, former editor for Writers' Digest and a super smart cookie about all things publishing, has a great post on her website: “4 Ways to Find the Right Freelance Editor.”

 

To learn more about Jennie Nash, visit jennienash.com

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