It has come to my attention that the first five pages of a novel are the most important. Well, some authors and books suggest it's the first page or the first three pages, but more and more I hear five is the number.
I've started looking at my finished manuscripts and my current WIP to work and tailor those first pages to be exciting enouigh for potential readers not to mention agents.
Yet, as I go through this exercise I feel some guilt, some disloyalty to my stories. I don't want to lose the essence of those first pages I wrote so feverishly months, years ago.
Again, I try to find some balance because I do want to get published, yet I want to keep some artistic integrity.
Is it about integrity or being published? Are both possible?
More to come.
Annie
