You've Got Five Pages, The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian, 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! The opening pages of The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian are...well hang on. The single page of prologue is not dense. In fact, the prologue feels a little like a cheat. "We went on a safari and almost everyone died! Who died and who didn't? You can't know yet!" So of course we have to read on to find out what they're talking about. Only of course the first chapter isn't starting off with such a tense moment; in fact, we start the chapter with watching giraffes. That is not to say the scene is without tension, however. I will give Bohjalian all the props for having very layered prose, hinting multiple sources of tension on a honeymoon where tension between newlyweds should be the last thing anyone wants to see. Nothing is stated, but sure as hell is implied, and this kind of set up cues the reader that personal conflicts will boil over in the coming chapters. Because the hints are wrapped up in exposition about characters and interactions from a previous evening, the first chapter feels very dense and motionless, which doesn't seem fair. I've no suggestions for how else to do this, for as a writer, I deeply respect the layered prose of meaning between the lines. I just wish a bit more action could have broken up the density of that first chapter so a cheat of a prologue wouldn't have to be used at all. And what will you, fellow creative, learn in the first five pages? Let's find out!