You've Got Five Pages, The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz, 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! Well, what do you know? Here the author from last week's episode left a positive blurb on the book for this week--The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz. The opening pages introduce us to Alex, a woman who is hung up on a broken friendship with Wren while attending a book release party for a mutual friend. At times the voice really shines in this prose--a bit immature, a bit creative, but overall unique. Other times the word choices do not jive with that personality--who on earth says "unselfconsciously affable"? But it was the last paragraph I read that promised redeeming qualities to the voice, for that last paragraph gave us a very clear, colorful picture of just how badly Alex latched herself to Wren. Alex describes all sorts of glittery, beautiful dreams of a friendship with Wren mere moments after meeting her at a job. This not only explains why Alex keeps lamenting the loss of Wren and why she can't stop thinking about her; it makes us wonder what Wren really thinks of Alex. We could very well be dealing with one character obsessing over another, fantasizing about the scale of that relationship while the truth is quite different. If so, then this suspenseful read just got more...suspensefuler. And what will you learn from these opening pages? Let's find out! Cheers!