Sally Newton was left alone to clean the tables outside Midnight Magic’s dance floor. The other two workers for the night always did as little work as they could get away with and as long as they left Sally alone she didn’t care too much. Annoyance number one was Cristina Palmer. The squeaky girl was a jumpy cheerleader who disguised herself as a soulless gothic chick every night she worked. When the blonde was away from the bar she wore skirts as short as they could come and tight shirts worn to reveal as much of her body as possible. Annoyance number two was Derek Cualis. The man was the owner of the bar and did his best to constantly tease Cristina in any moment. He was in his mid-thirties but walked through life as if he could pass as a young man. It always brought entertainment to Sally when he would work super hard to get with women each night only to be turned away. The few laughs her coworkers brought to her nights almost made working with them worth it.
Sally tossed the final empty beer bottle into the nearest garbage can by the tables. Obviously, the customers didn’t need to clean up if there were employees available. To the customers, the bar was simply a place where people went to get drunk and hoped they had enough luck to find a hot partner for the night. Why would they care about trash when there was another person that got paid to clean up their mess?
“Sally! Help me out!” Cristina yelled through giggles. She was running inside the bar while Derek sprayed her with the spray hose that was hooked to the sink.
“This shirt is new. I am not getting it wet to save you,” Sally lied. Her response was completely pointless since the screaming continued after Cristina’s call for help.
Sally owned the outfit she was wearing at least two years before she even began working at Midnight Magic. Her shirt was a tight tank top with clear straps allowing the shirt to appear as if it were in reality a strapless top. A pleated, black skirt was wrapped around her waist under three silver chains worn as if they were belts. High heels were always out of the question when it came to any moment in her life. Whether is was work or just shopping for groceries, she felt her black, leather army boots perfected every moment. Cristina was a jumpy woman when the dark clothes came off, but Sally never left the black clothes for a single second.
Congratulations! You have now read the first page to the novel Curse Under The Moon by Shelby Beight! Did you enjoy the characters and how they were interacting? Where you able to visualize the moment without any struggles? Do you want to keep reading? (If you do get your novel here: Curse Under The Moon by Shelby Beight) If so, then I completed a very important step to writing my novel.
As the title of this article states, it is very important to grab your reader’s attention right away. If you aren’t able to pull them in with page one there’s a high chance they aren’t going to continue the novel. There have been a few times when I opened an interesting book and read only the first paragraph to decide if I wanted to continue on with the story. The catch is figuring out the best way to get your novel running.
It’s not always easy to start off with an exciting scene right away. The first scene of my book isn’t very exciting but it’s a little silly. Readers should be able to connect the novel is about Sally Newton and she’s a bit of a loner. Getting a little smirk out of a reader with my goofy scene might pull them in to wanting to learn more. Feeding a reader’s emotions and capturing their imagination is the best way to get them hooked.
Not only will the first page of the novel hint towards the characters or scenes of the tale, but it will also reveal the writing style of the author. That is why it’s important for authors to make sure all pages of the novel are given the proper time towards editing. The first scene may not be a large factor into the big outline of the story, but it will be the first bit readers see. If page one isn’t given as much attention as the dramatic fight scene between the main bad guy and good guy then readers will walk away. We all know how frustrating it is to read a poorly written novel. It only means the author didn’t take the care to make their story enjoyable.
Capturing a reader’s attention on page one isn’t the easiest tasks of writers. It requires a good amount of planning. As a writer I strive to take on this challenge and defeat it. Am I always successful? Probably not. It’s still a step I took with every novel or piece I’ve ever written. All you have to do is put serious dedication to every page. Even page one.
Writing My Career 