You've Got Five Pages, Beasts and Beauty by Soman Chainani, to Tell Me You're Good.

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! I had originally planned a mystery for today, but once I saw my selection directly tied back to a previous book without much context, I took my daughter Blondie's offer to read Beasts and Beauty by Soman Chainani instead. I'm so glad I did! The illustrations of the first story, "Red Riding Hood," are stark and bleak--a perfect balance with the vivid yet succinct prose that describes the story-world. Just look at this first sentence: "On the first day of spring, the wolves eat the prettiest girl." That right there is intense and violent while also providing a sense of time and action. Even though the story is written in third-person omniscient, we as readers feel like we are a part of the story, watching the girl who never thought herself beautiful be chosen by the wolves for their meal. We watch her discard fear, take up her red cloak and knife, and enter the forest. We have heard this tale a thousand times, yet we cannot help but read on, for we don't know where Chainani's unique tellings will take us. His control over language is pure magic, and I cannot wait to see his imagination play with the story-worlds of Snow White, Peter Pan, and other classic fairy tale folk. And what will you learn from these opening pages? Let's find out! Cheers!