Gone are the days when fiction readers were willing to read
pages of description and lead-up before being introduced to the
characters and the plot. Readers, agents, and publishers today
don’t have the time or patience to wade through pages of
backstory and description, so you need to grab their interest
right from the first sentence and first paragraph of your story.
As James Scott Bell says in Revision and Self-Editing, about the
opening paragraphs, “Give us a character in motion. Something
happening to a person from line one. Make that a disturbing
thing, or have it presage something disturbing.” Here are twelve
dos and don’ts for making the first page of your novel more
compelling: 1. Don't begin with a long description of the
setting or with background information on your main character.
Do begin with dialogue and action; then add any necessary
backstory or description in small doses, on a need-to-know basis
as you progress through the story. 2. Don't start with a
character other than your protagonist. D