The First Page Is a Contract

📸:@The X-Files

The first page is not about perfection; it’s about orientation. Before plot, before backstory, before anything impressive happens, the reader is deciding whether to trust you. Not consciously, not dramatically — just quietly. The first paragraph teaches them how to read the rest.

Most early drafts fail because they try to explain instead of position. A first page doesn’t need history; it needs temperature. Are we close to the character or watching from a distance? Is the language restrained or indulgent? The reader will adjust to almost anything if the tone is consistent from the start.

Beginnings feel impossible because they carry too much responsibility. They introduce voice, rhythm, stakes, and expectation all at once. That pressure makes writers overwrite, soften, or delay the real entry point. Often the correct first page is the one that begins slightly later than you’re comfortable with.

A strong opening does not answer questions; it creates the right ones. It signals control without showing off. When the first page holds its ground, the rest of the book has somewhere solid to stand.

IF YOU’RE STUCK..

Write past the beginning on purpose. Let yourself move two or three pages in without worrying about where the book officially starts. Once you have momentum, go back and read with distance, looking for the moment where the energy sharpens or the voice settles. Cut everything before that point and see how it feels; very often the real first page was hiding slightly deeper in the draft, waiting for you to catch up to it.

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