# First-page checklist

From "How to start a story: four openings that work" by the Feldar team:
https://feldar.com/guides/how-to-start-a-story

Free to use, copy and change. Fill in the first part before you write the
opening, try your first line four ways, then run the checks on the page you
wrote. Expect to come back to it when the draft is finished; first pages are
usually rewritten last.


## 1. Before you write

Whose story is it:
Where and when does the first scene happen:
Why does the story start today, and not last week:
What does the main character want in this scene:
What is wrong, different or about to change:
What kind of story is it (comic, cold, frightening, tender):


## 2. Your first line, four ways

Write one version of each and keep the one that sounds like the book.

In a scene (a time, a place, someone doing something):
With a voice (the narrator talking, in a way only they would):
With a question (a clear fact that leaves a door open):
With a change (the normal state, and the crack in it):


## 3. The first page

[ ] One person to follow by the end of the first paragraph
[ ] A place and a time the reader can picture, from one or two concrete details
[ ] The main character does something, not just thinks or looks
[ ] Something is off: a want, a problem, a contradiction or a change
[ ] The first line carries information: who, where, or what is wrong
[ ] The tone matches the book that follows
[ ] No more than two or three named people
[ ] Backstory only where the present needs it, ideally inside a conflict
[ ] Feelings shown in what people do and say, not named
[ ] Dialogue, if any, is anchored with a name and an action
[ ] The page ends on a question the reader wants answered
[ ] Read aloud, it makes you want to turn the page


## 4. The cut list

Cross out anything on the page that is only:

- waking up, getting dressed, describing yourself in a mirror
- weather that changes nothing
- backstory in a block
- a dream or fake-out the next paragraph takes back
- a crowd of names
- a prologue that explains the world instead of showing a scene


## 5. Where does it really start?

The different day: why today?
The first choice: where does the character first decide something?
The cut test: delete page one. Does the story still make sense? Then page two?


## 6. The question at the bottom of page one

Write the question a reader is asking when they turn the page:

When is it answered (chapter):
What bigger question does the answer open: