While the answer may seem obvious, it's important to know what our goals are for the first 50 pages. When my writing instructor urged me to send him 50 shimmering pages of a first draft, he was likely thinking of several reasons I should write 50 and not say 25 or 100, or even a complete manuscript.
For starters, as most writers know, agents usually request the first 50 pages of manuscripts they're interested in. Fifty pages allows them to determine several things about your book: Is it a good fit with their firm? Is the story compelling? Does the prose suggest that the rest of the book will hold up? Is the book one they can market? Does the writer have a unique style or voice?
But more important than finding an agent at this stage even is that writing those 50 pages helps to establish a rhythm in our writing regimens and seals our commitment to finishing the entire novel. Fifty pages requires us to stretch more than perhaps we have ever streched before without overwhelming us. Fifty pages is realistically do-able, even for the most entrenched procrastinators like yours truly; it's the equivalent of a mere two or three average-lengthed short stories-- a large enough investment of our creative energy to ensure that we follow through and finish, but not more than we can accomplish in a relatively short span of time.
Finally (and this is why agents request this much), 50 pages is just enough room to sufficiently set up a novel, to orient your reader, and to introduce the story's conflict and important through-lines. Most readers, including agents, lose interest if these basics needs aren't met quickly. Most of us are willing to hold out for the first 50 pages, but if a writer hasn't hooked us by then, we're seldom interested in reading more.
So... 50 pages is ideal for writer and reader alike-- not too much, not too little. And, an added benefit is that while you're still working toward finishing a first draft, those 50 pages will probably represent about one-fourth of your finished book. The 50 shimmering pages you wind up sending to an agent later will more likely be only one-fifth or one-sixth of the book, but either way, fifty pages is a solid beginning, a promise (to yourself and others) of more to come.
Whether or not you intend to outline your novel, it's a good idea to think about what you hope to accomplish in those first 50 pages. Here are a few things a good novel usually does:
1. Introduces the protagonist.
2. Establishes the setting and grounds the reader in time and space.
3. Establishes the POV and the storyteller's voice.
4. It may also strike a certain mood or create an atmosphere that permeates the entire novel or some portion of it.
5. Introduces other key players who will (or have already) influence/d the protagonist in some fashion.
6. Identifies the protagonist's chief wish or some problem he/she is facing.
7. Begins to raise questions that cue readers in to where the story is heading.
8. Illustrates certain characteristics, often strengths or weaknesses, of the protagonist which will determine her decisions and actions later.
9. Establishes rotation patterns, usually between chapters, in narration and plot.
10. Establishes conflict and sets the protagonist on a journey toward change.
This isn't by any means an exhaustive list but merely some of the things I've noted in my own reading, which I am mindful of as I work toward completing the first 50 pages of my novel. For instance, one of my goals in this opening section is to introduce and contrast two female lead characters and to prepare my readers for chapters that rotate from one POV to another. At this point, I'm trying to keep things simple: Introduce them. Illustrate how different they are. Enter the POV of first one and then the other. And so forth.
What are some of the goals you've set for your opening pages?
2 comments:
Exactly right--all that the first 50 pages ought to accomplish. It also makes me think about where the big and small crises of novel take place. I think there's usually a sort of establishing crisis, what gets the story started, and then, by the end of chapter 3, roughly 50 pages in, a second crisis of some kind. I remember being very conscious of this when I was writing this last novel for the reason you mention--sending a partial to an agent. I think the initial crisis can sort of carry you through the first couple of chapters, but you'd better have something else--a heightening of the stakes--by about page 50.
Excellent post, gives me a lot to think about.
Great point about the initial crisis and then torquing it up for a second crisis by the end of page 50. Thanks for sharing some of your process. I'm still reeling over the ending of Lost, the television program, and thinking how much like those 50 first pages a TV pilot is. Was so interesting to hear the cast and writers talking about the pilot in the pre-show before the big finale, talking about how was at stake with that pilot, and it sounded so much like reading a novel. How those first pages must grab us and do all the things we're talking about here. The television pilot shares the same responsibility. Connecting with the audience is everything.
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