Five Pages

We've all heard about the first five pages of a novel. They must be gripping. They must plunk the reader into the middle of the scene. They must give enough information to satisfy the reader . . . for now. Those pages must also open the door to questions the reader fill form in the back of his/her mind.
--Back-story dump--outta there.
--Blathering prose--delete.
--Endless coffee scenes of putrid dialogue--but only if you plan on poisoning one of the drinkers.

The first five pages have to give enough to the reader to make them care enough to read on and see what happens.

I LOVE/HATE the first five pages. And I write, rewrite, edit, rearrange, tweak, revise, rectify, modify, redact . . .

Okay. I think y'all get it.

I thought the first five pages in the second book in my middle grade series would be easy-peasy. All I had to do was put hints about book one in the story to catch the reader up to pace. Right?

Wrongo. Oh, how wrong this cocky writer can be.

I have been working on the first five pages, roughly 1500-words for WEEKS. Weeks, I tell you! Not all the time, but thinking and fixing. Paragraphs were out of order. First, I gave too much info and then not enough. Then it had to actually make sense in the present context. *sigh*

Just trust me. It's harder than you think it is. So, finally I was sort of happy with what I had. I could start writing. Fear gripped me by the throat. Did I do enough? Did I give away the answer to the first book? Did I tell too much? Too little?

I did what any normal writer would do--I called my trusted friend, Cyndi. Yes, everyone should call Cyndi Morgan--not their own CP, but *Cyndi Morgan*--she's running for RWA Pro Liaison, by the way. Who was that running for RWA PRO LIAISON?
** CYNDI MORGAN **

I didn't want her to crit it. I didn't want her to do ANYTHING except read the first five pages and let me know if I did my job by hinting at the previous story, by building the atmosphere of an ongoing fantasy, of the challenges of being a single child, etc.

I wanted to know if it made sense.

It did.

So now I can really. . .

Write on!