{"id":4731,"date":"2022-04-12T17:45:14","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T17:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marieclaudearnott.com\/?p=4731"},"modified":"2023-01-14T15:12:45","modified_gmt":"2023-01-14T15:12:45","slug":"the-test-of-the-first-ten-pages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marieclaudearnott.com\/?p=4731","title":{"rendered":"The Test of the First Ten Pages"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes, the first pages of a book are a bit of a challenge, making me want to stop reading before I get into the story. In other words, the book is taking time to get me&nbsp;<em>hooked<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That&#8217;s why agents consider the first ten pages an evaluation tool for what is yet to come.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Does my book have enough of a good hook?<\/em> I often asked myself. Since it&#8217;s the dynamic story of a long friendship turned upside down by a short illness, I had to introduce my dilemma with the implied promise of a good read. And I could only do this in a contemplative way. But would it be enticing enough to pass the test of the first ten pages? I needed an answer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am usually not impatient to get into the action of a story. I enjoy reading an introductory narrative that draws me in as much as I would have enjoyed writing it myself. But what was missing in those laborious pages was their ability to <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-purple-color\"><a href=\"https:\/\/marieclaudearnott.com\/news\/glossary-gleaning-images\/\">create an image<\/a><\/mark> in my mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.writersonlineworkshops.com\/\">Writers Digest<\/a> offered a workshop on this, I was&#8230; hooked. The critique of my first ten pages gave me a new perspective, leading me to improve my narrative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first ten pages are like a passport. They only let the reader into the story if all is in order. If this fails, turning the pages might fail too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To the point, the first ten pages make a book sell. First, they must hook an agent who, in turn, must hook an acquiring editor, who must be hooked enough to push it for publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes, the first pages of a book are a bit of a challenge, making me want to stop reading before I get into the story. In other words, the book is taking time to get me&nbsp;hooked. That&#8217;s why agents consider the first ten pages an evaluation tool for what is yet to come.&nbsp; Does myContinue reading &rarr;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","no-thumb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Test of the First Ten Pages - Marie-Claude Arnott<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first ten pages of a book are like a passport. If all is in order, it will let the reader through.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marieclaudearnott.com\/?p=4731\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Test of the First Ten Pages - Marie-Claude Arnott\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The first ten pages of a book are like a passport. 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