Unlike other craft books on writing, Your First Page is based on the premise that almost everything that can go right or wrong in a work of fiction or memoir goes wrong or right on the first page.
Your First Page is unlike any other craft book on writing. It is based on the premise that almost everything that can go right or wrong in a work of fiction or memoir goes wrong or right on the first page. The book grew out of an experiment for which writers submitted nearly one hundred anonymous first pages of works-in-progress for analysis. The experiment proved two things: that first pages function like canaries in coal mines, forecasting success or predicting trouble. They establish the crucial bond between writer and reader, setting us off on a path toward the heart or climax of a story, or they fail to do so. The experiment also demonstrated that from first pages we stand to learn most of what we need to know to succeed as authors.The new workshop and classroom edition has been revised to better fit the needs of creative writing instructors and workshops.
“Comment on the first edition "With an emphasis on the creative process itself, I have long taught the critical importance of the first few pages of any work of fiction. What a delight to find a smart, perceptive, enormously useful book that focuses on the craft and technique issues of these same make-or-break first 500 words. I heartily recommend Peter Selgin's Your First Pageto any aspiring young writer." -- Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of From Where You Dream, The Process of Writing Fiction”
Comment on the first edition: "With an emphasis on the creative process itself, I have long taught the critical importance of the first few pages of any work of fiction. What a delight to find a smart, perceptive, enormously useful book that focuses on the craft and technique issues of these same make-or-break first 500 words. I heartily recommend Peter Selgin's Your First Page to any aspiring young writer." - Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of From Where You Dream, The Process of Writing Fiction
Peter Selgin is Associate Professor of English (Creative Writing), Georgia College & State University.
Your First Pageis unlike any other craft book on writing. It is based on the premise that practically everything that can go right or wrong in a work of fiction or memoir goes wrong or right on the first page. Those first 300 or so words function like canaries in coal mines, forecasting success or predicting trouble. They establish the crucial bond between writer and reader, setting them off together on a path toward the heart or climax of a story--or they fail to do so. From first pages we stand to learn most of what we need to know to succeed as authors. This new workshop and classroom edition of Your First Pagehas been revised to better fit the needs of creative writing classrooms and workshops.
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