Inlanders by Stephen Reese

Logged about four hours today, rewriting the first two pages from scratch, editing and tightening as I go. They’re looking okay now.

One thing I learned from screenwriting is the importance of the early pages - how much has to be communicated efficiently and engagingly, to build investment in the characters and create an expectation of the story to come. It’s a contract you sign with your audience: this is what you’re getting yourself into; give me your time and I’ll deliver on my promises.

Watch the first fifteen minutes of any film and you’ll either be signing that contract or ripping it up in favor of another, different agreement you can fulfill elsewhere. Those flicks that betray the contract during the balances of their running times will leave audiences feeling cheated and dissatisfied.

Such a breach could be a violation of tone, a switch in lead character, a jump across genres. If you’re gonna play with expectation, you gotta do it early on, so people know that’s your trick and will play along in a civilized fashion. Change the rules on them too late in the game, and you’ll have players wanting their money back.

I’m going to venture the technique reaches across into novels to the tune of the first fifty pages, though I’d much rather the contract be made clear, and signed, by page ten. That’s my aim with the first chapter of Inlanders. By the time you get to the end of Chap 1, you’ll have a sense of what you’re in for, and can choose to partake, or decline, per your preference.

But ten pages, or one chapter, is being generous.

I more rightly expect the deal will be made, or broken, probably no later than page three. So these first few pages, including the first two I drilled at today, are especially important.

- Stephen Reese