First pages can hook your reader – or turn them away! By hook or by crook you must get a reader interested enough to keep turning the pages of your book — as well as accomplish a number of other world-building, foreshadowing, characterization, and stakes-establishing goals. Join LQ Executive Editor Nick Thomas for an investigation into various ‘first pages’ openers you can employ and the pitfalls to avoid.

Writers will engage with a variety of mentor texts, complete on-the-spot writing exercises, and receive weekly writing assignments. Writers will submit the first 15 pages of an MG/YA project to the instructor and will participate in a 15-minute Zoom feedback session on their work.

This workshop is for you if:

You’re a MG or YA writer looking to improve the first pages of your project
You're an MG or YA writer getting ready for submission
You're an MG or YA writer looking to add new tools and techniques to your bag

All sessions are recorded for students who miss a class or wish to rewatch

First Fifteen: Openers to Keep Readers Turning the Pages