The beginning

Authors need to set a strong scene in the opening sentence. Debut authors don’t have the luxury of beginning with a long and languorous description, such as a backstory, memory or reflections.

Your opening page needs to give the reader a sense of where, when and what is going on.

And you need to create some sense of dilemma.

Grab the reader as fast as you can and hold onto them.

Place your character in a specific setting (the reader needs to picture them).

Add something...

We see a lot of manuscripts and sometimes, just sometimes, the opening paragraphs draw you in and immerse in the story almost immediately. When this happens, it is nothing but joy – just as it was in the ancient days of storytelling when the art began with ‘Let me tell you a story,’ or ‘Once upon a time’.

I do not know any editor who would disagree that an easy entry into a story is critical. First and foremost, we are readers, and it is the writers’ job to draw us in. If you do ...

Many of our authors are lovely people. They care about their family and friends; they would help the elderly cross the street and many have a good sense of humour.

So why are their novels not on the best seller lists?

I ask because of the rise of celebrity authors. I’m not talking about memoirs, that’s a whole different genre and who better to write a life than the person who lived it. I’m talking fiction – and so many of them are at it – Dawn French, David Walliams, Graham Norton...