Every writer understands the importance of the first page. If the first page isn’t doing its job, agents, editors, and readers will not continue reading to find out how wonderful the rest of your story is. This Master Class is designed for writers who are:
- Struggling to find the right opening for their novel.
- Preparing to query their work next year and hoping to catch the eye of an agent.
- Looking for a head start in crafting a killer entry in the First Pages Panel at the 2019 JRW conference.
We’ll go into detail about all the tasks the first page needs to accomplish—things like introducing the character and balancing action with information—and we’ll discuss how to pack it into a small space. We’ll talk about when a prologue works and when it doesn’t. We’ll analyze published first pages to find out how it’s done. We’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at how the entries are chosen for the JRW Conference\’s “First Pages” panel. The final hour of the workshop will be a critique of participants’ first pages. You are welcome (but not required) to bring ten copies of your first page and receive feedback from the instructor as well as other participants.
COST: $65 for members; $80 for non-members
LOCATION: Dominion Energy Room, Visual Arts Center of Richmond
1812 West Main Street, Richmond, VA 23220
DETAILS: December 8, 2018, from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm
INSTRUCTOR
Lana Krumwiede began her writing career by creating stories and poems for publications such as Highlights, High Five, Spider, Babybug, The Friend, and Chicken Soup for the Child’s Soul. Her first novel, Freakling (Candlewick, 2012) was named a finalist for SCBWI’s Crystal Kite Member’s Choice Award and an honor book for the International Reading Association’s Intermediate Fiction Award. Freakling was followed by two more novels, Archon (2013) and True Son (2015). Lana is also the author of the picture book Just Itzy (2015) and editor of the anthology River City Secrets: Stories from Richmond(2016). She lives with her husband and daughter in Midlothian.
JRW is grateful to the Visual Arts Center of Richmond for generously donating the use of their classroom space.
