LOST writing lesson #10: The First Page(s)

You will sell your book or script based on the first page. Harsh, isn't that? As writers, we crave the time to explore and explain. We've poured our blood into every written word, and as such they deserve to be seen and savored. But the reality of the publishing and production world is, those who buy stories don't have time to read thousands of hopeful writers' every precious word. Often, they will read the first page. If it intrigues them, they turn to the second. And only if you've hooked them so completely will they turn to the third.

So how do you craft an amazing first page? Or let's be generous and give ourselves the first five pages. (BTW, Noah Lukeman's book "The First Five Pages" is an excellent resource on how to craft an amazing beginning). What do you need to do in order to ensure that the reader will not put your story down or turn the channel?

I had a screenwriting professor who told us to start off with a scene that makes the hero state out loud what he wants for the rest of the script. Start him in a pressure cooker of a situation, and you'll be showing what kind of man he is, what he wants and hint at what he's willing to do to get it.

Let's say your story is about a plane crash on a mysterious island, and your hero is a man who has to fix things (Hmmm.... sound familiar? LOL). You need to establish some things first. The mystery. The hero's savior complex. The crash. How do the first minutes of LOST establish this? Jack (our hero for all intents and purposes) wakes up flat on his back in a jungle. A dog runs by. He hears screaming. He gets up and starts running, passing a white tennis shoe stuck in a tree. When he gets to the beach, everything looks calm. And then he turns to his left.

BOOM. We're into the story. Pieces of burning plane wreck litter the beach. A woman screams. People scramble, looking for their loved ones. Someone calls for help. What does our hero do? He immediately runs in to save. The first five minutes (or five script pages) is all about Jack running to help. He moves quickly from crisis to crisis, saving people. Because that's who he is and what he does. He doesn't state out loud, "I want to save these people and get them off this island" but his actions do.

On a side note, we get to see what this savior complex will cost him in the next five minutes. I love that scene where he leans against the fuselage and surveys the inside. We see a hand dangling down from the top of the scene (which always gives me the chills). And when Boone brings the pens, we also see that while Jack is one of the survivors, he's also detached from them. He can save these people, but he will never be one of them. The cost of leadership is going to be huge for this man.

You may spend a lot of time on that first sentence/paragraph/page of your story. You should. It's your first impression with the reader and can make or break the sale. But if writing that perfect first line is preventing you from writing the rest of the story, get something down on paper (or on your computer screen) and move on. You can always go back to edit and revise, edit and revise.

Do you need a burning plane crash to hook your reader? No. But put your hero in a situation that is intense (physically, emotionally, spiritually, whatever), get your reader to identify with your her, and make her state what she wants.

So you've got a great first page now. What's next? We'll explore first acts next week: what needs to happen and where do you go from there.