Perhaps the most important part of your book is the beginning. Often a potential reader will open your book to the first chapter, read a few paragraphs, and then decide whether to purchase it or put it back. Thus, it's vital that you grab the reader's attention in those first few paragraphs, and hold it.
Today's tarot deck is the Quest Tarot. Here are a couple of sample cards from the deck:
Images courtesy of Aeclectic Tarot
The card I drew is the Son of Wands, or "Charisma." This is a positive card, but on the edge of negativity. It shows a golden figure with joyously upraised arms, surrounded by butterflies. This figure has endless energy and is always looking for adventure. A journey may occur in the near future. The character may seem full of joy, but it's a frenetic kind of emotion, unpredictable. Makes decisions quickly and acts on them immediately without looking back.
For some reason, I get the feeling this card applies to the villain in the story. This person will be introduced, perhaps in a prologue. No name will be given, but the reader will see the joy-turns-to-mania happen before her eyes. And woe to anyone who crosses the villain's path during one of those spells!
Monday is C. We'll see what comes next!
6 comments:
It's supposed to be the same with an editor. If you don't catch their interest on the first page, forget it. Although...
Although...??? I imagine there are lots of books that didn't capture the interest of ONE editor, or two, or ten, but eventually found someone who "got" it. You only need one editor...but you need lots more readers. ;-)
Yes a good beginning will intrigue a reader - I will usually read on a bit, but if it fails after that, its a dnf.
Kathryn Discovering Daisies
Me too, Kathryn. I like to give a book a fair chance, but sometimes there's just not enough going on to snag my interest.
What an interesting way to use tarot cards- look forward to seeing more of your blog challenge! Che
Thanks, Marie! I'm enjoying it so far.
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