Carl may not have a towel, but he does have a cat.

As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.

Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.
JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES

This month I snagged from the New Release shelf:

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

This series was originally published independently, and grew such a following it’s now got a traditional publishing deal. Good for Dinniman, I say, because these first five pages are bang-on.

Heck, I spent the first half of my podcast dissecting the first page. The first few sentences alone share a lot of information.

The Transformation occurred at approximately 2:23 A.M., Pacific Standard Time. As far as I could tell, anyone who was indoors when it happened died instantly. If you had any sort of roof over you, you were dead. That included people in cars, airplanes, subways. Even tents and cardboard boxes. Hell, probably umbrellas, too. Though I’m not so sure about that one.

We don’t know what The Transformation is, but the scope of death alluded to by the narrator is shocking. We also have a sense of the narrator’s sense of humor and unreliability with the extent of his examples but uncertainty if he’s right. As readers, we have to go along with the narrator, and as the paragraphs progress, we don’t mind. The narrator is a principled guy who won’t let his ex-girlfriend’s cat die, and because of that he’s alive when The Transformation happens. By the end of five pages you learn a lot about the protagonist Carl, his skill set, his relationship with Princess Donut the cat, and what The Transformation looked like through his eyes. And if that’s just the first five pages, I can’t wait to see what the next hundred have to share. x

Let’s see what next month’s find will teach us, shall we?

Ah, school is back in session for my little B’s, and I’m…well I never left school, so I’m not exactly shedding tears on their behalf, lol. Anyway, I’ve got another interview lined up, a resource spotlight, a publishing conundrum, and a worldbuilding conundrum, too. Plus Autumn is on the horizon, and that means some spooky things to explore. Stay tuned!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!