1 1st 5 Pages December Workshop - First Round Up for Comments

It's the start of a new month, which means we're excited to start a new First Five Pages Workshop. The five new entries are posted below and the participants are poised to help each other make those all-important first five pages as strong as possible.

Please pitch in and help! Tell the writers what you like, and what elements might be improved. But remember, we are not rewriting these word by word, especially at this stage. The workshops begin with a structural overview, what's right and wrong in the big picture. We're considering concept, conflict, characterization, originality, plot, theme, tone, mood, revelation of information, pacing, action/reaction, age-appropriateness, voice--all the good BIG stuff. We'll work down from there in the coming weeks. Consider where you think the story is going based on what you read in these first five pages, think about whether the conflict is enough to sustain a whole novel, and whether you think the target audience is going to be interested in continuing to read beyond the fifth page. But remember, please be courteous, respectful, and constructive in your comments.

If you are a workshop participant this month, please put in your comments on the other entries as soon as possible. We'll need your first set of revisions emailed to us on Sunday afternoon for Monday posting.

Good luck, everyone. Happy workshopping!
Martina and Lisa