I spent this weekend in Gettysburg at the Tri-regional SCBWI conference. I had a great time, refueled my writing bucket, and met so many wonderful people. Okay, that sounds trite, but it’s true.
Though we are limited in what we can share because of copyrights, I wanted to share one little nugget with you all:
In a session with Sarah Davies, Agent Extraordinaire of The Greenhouse Literary Agency, she said that about 50% of the submissions she receives start with one of the following opening scenes:
What do they all have in common? They are all literal beginnings. Interesting, no?
She commented that when she sees this, though it sounds harsh, her expectations drop. It’s an immediate strike against the manuscript which takes amazing writing to overcome.
Instead, start in an unexpected place, and you’ll already be one up from about half the submissions. . . . The middle of a heist. Feeding the pigs. At the top of the school’s flag pole. Standing on cloud 9 (literally). In a graveyard digging up a grave. At the scene of a murder.
So many options!
Perhaps we just need to give ourselves permission to go a little crazy. I mean, we are writers, write? (I mean, . . . right?)
Where does your book start?