Eye opener

One session of the MN SCBWI conference was something called "First Pages". For this session people anonymously submit the first page of their story and then the editors pointed out what was good or what needed work.

I think it is awesome that there were brave people who submitted their work. In the handful of selections that were read there were at least two that started with the first day of school. Which got me thinking about how many books and stories start with the first day of school. If there were two in the eight examples that were read to the group then mathematically how many do editors receive in a day.

My current WIP starts on the first day of school. Which got me thinking about trying to change my opening chapter. It also got me thinking about the opening chapter of other books. For example Harry Potter could have opened with the first day of school at Hogwarts. Instead Harry Potter starts with the chapter "The Boy Who Lived". He lived. He cheated death. He's going to be famous in his own world and he's being dropped off with his muggle relatives. It is way more attention grabbing than "It was the first day of school at Hogwarts."

So now I'm revising my current work with this in mind. I'm changing the opening I've had and worked with and revised for a year. It is kind of exciting and I hope it works out well.