Formerly Story Cuppings! Every month we visit the local library to randomly select a new release and read its first chapter. As writers, we are told that those opening pages are crucial to hooking readers. So, let's see if the first chapter successfully hooks picky readers as well as teaches fellow hardworking writers. Cheers!
You've Got Five Pages...To Tell Me It's Good
Claim This Podcastby Jean Lee
5.0(2 reviews)
155 episodes
Updated Bi-weekly
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Podcast Authority
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Podcast Overview
Formerly Story Cuppings! Every month we visit the local library to randomly select a new release and read its first chapter. As writers, we are told that those opening pages are crucial to hooking readers. So, let's see if the first chapter successfully hooks picky readers as well as teaches fellow hardworking writers. Cheers!
Language
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Publishing Since
5/5/2021
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Recent Episodes
June 26, 2026
You've Got Five Pages, A Murder Most Camp by Nicolas Didomizio, to Tell Me You're Good.
<p>Welcome back, my fellow creatives!</p><p>Yup, I'm back to looking at the first five pages of various stories, for those five pages can make or break the engagement of a reader--or an agent. So, let's scope out the stories of others to see how they hook an audience!</p><p>From the get-go, Didomizio has a sass to his voice that oozes personality. You get it from the very first line: "It's been four days since Mikey Hartford's left cheek accidentally caught an errant spritz of SPF 90--otherwise known as Why-Bother-Going-Out-on-the-Yacht-at-All?-spray--and his tan still hasn't evened out." Clearly, we've got a spoiled brat on our hands, and while we readers may roll our eyes at such brattiness, Mikey's demeanor and introspection keep us going. He has a friendly relationship with one of the staff who still serves at the family mansion, and the tense conversation Mikey has with his father reveals Mikey struggles with relationships as well as growing up. It's a unique mix here of traits that would make most folks--me included--ready to tell the guy to "get a real job" and walk away, but then we find out Mikey's father is doing precisely that: work, or lose the inheritance. I had to stop reading before learning more about the job, but the back of the book shows Mikey ends up at a summer camp, where (obviously) murderous hijinks ensue. How could a guy like this solve a mystery?</p><p>THAT is a question to keep any mystery lover going. I love a good unconventional protagonist, and we have that here. Gay spoiled brats have shown up in literature before, sure, but how many of them are solving murder mysteries at a summer camp for kids? And the opening chapter gives nothing away about some sort of secret skill set or passion for mysteries--only movie-making. So that's another reveal Didomizio gets to share with readers in the following chapters which, from the style of his voice, promises a fun adventure in and of itself.</p><p>Another key takeaway for any writer out of Didomizio's first chapter is prioritizing. The first chapter takes place in the Hartford mansion. The rest of the mystery does not. Didomizio spends only a few sentences describing the mansion, even though Mikey walks through quite a bit of it. Why? Because the mansion doesn't matter. Didomizio only shares enough detail so readers can fill in gaps while Mikey walks to his father's office and the fateful ultimatum. And these details aren't even super specific: "Mikey's voice echoes off the cathedral ceilings as they move deeper into the mansion--a museum-like fusion of marble and brass and velvet." But general details like this are enough for readers to go on. You and I may be picturing very different things, but we're both using those same ingredients, and that's okay. The mansion isn't the priority. Mikey's conversation with his father is.</p><p>If you're ready for a killer fun read with an unlikely detective, then grab A Murder Most Camp.And what will we discover in the next story's five pages?<br>We'll have to wait and see. xxxx</p><p>Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!</p>
May 29, 2026
You've Got Five Pages, The Faith of Beasts by James S.A. Corey, to Tell Me You're Good.
<p>NOTE: In the podcast, I refer to book 1 of this trilogy as The Captive's War, but that is the title of the whole trilogy. Book 1 is called The Mercy of Gods.-------</p><p>Welcome back, my fellow creatives!</p><p>Yup, I'm back to looking at the first five pages of various stories, for those five pages can make or break the engagement of a reader--or an agent. So, let's scope out the stories of others to see how they hook an audience!</p><p>So a huge disclaimer here: I grabbed the second book of a trilogy, which means we are NOT going to see much foundation work in the opening pages. We'll have to hit the ground running, and like it!</p><p>Frankly, though, that's okay. It was nice to get into some science fiction for a change, and Corey's got a lovely style to his voice. The first couple of pages aren't a prologue per se--more like an historical tidbit akin to all the histories of Paul Moadib that begin the chapters of Dune. That historical bit is only a few paragraphs, but it's almost lyrical in its sadness about a dying world, how it's seen in the crops, fish, and lost voices of the elders. It's a relatable moment: any reader could sense what this would feel like in their culture. Any culture has its feelings about end-times. And this book begins with that bit of foreboding. It doesn't outstay its welcome, either--after a few paragraphs, we move on to the proper first chapter.</p><p>Now the first couple of pages are all these snippets of librarian records. I was amused by just how many librarians there are--my kind of alien society, I guess. :) I gather that these records allude to things from the first book, so I can't really judge their merits. To Corey's credit, though, the next few pages bring readers up to speed on important past events, such as the failed human rebellion against their alien overlords--and that our human protagonist, Dafyd, was on the side of the aliens. </p><p>Why? That I can't glean from these opening pages, but I have a feeling Book 1 (The Mercy of Gods) or subsequent pages of Book 2 will tell us. </p><p>Overall, Corey's got an accessible style, one that balances relatable detail with the unrelatable alien world. If you're looking to jump off Earth for a while, Corey's trilogy is sure to lose you among the stars.</p><p>And what will we discover in the next story's five pages?<br>We'll have to wait and see. xxxx</p><p>Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!</p><p></p><p><br></p><p></p>
April 24, 2026
You've Got Five Pages, The Murder at World's End by Ross Montgomery, to Tell Me You're Good.
<p>Welcome back, my fellow creatives!</p><p>Yup, I'm back to looking at the first five pages of various stories, for those five pages can make or break the engagement of a reader--or an agent. So, let's scope out the stories of others to see how they hook an audience!</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Could my prologue curse be broken at last! Here's another book that shows an author understands the power of a prologue done right.</p><p><br></p><p>The prologue sets the time period of the story: 1910, the days of Halley's Comet's chaos among folks all over. The historical exposition is balanced well with what's going on with one Stephen Pike, a former convict ready to turn a new leaf--if only he could get a job so that turning could start. The prologue ends with May 18th: the day folks could take pictures of Halley's Comet because it was only 12 hours from Earth, and the day Pike receives a mysterious letter offering him a job at the grand estate World's End. The prologue is only two pages long, but it provides a solid foundation of the world's collective craziness alongside Stephen Pike's desperation.</p><p><br></p><p>I always worry that Chapter 1 will pull a bait-and-switch on readers after such solid prologues. We've seen that happen here often enough. Thankfully, Montgomery continues the momentum in Chapter 1, picking right up where the prologue leaves off with one major change: we're experiencing the story through Stephen's point of view. There are slight changes in cadence and word choice, slight changes in grammar, and these little changes add up to a clear, working-class voice modern readers can follow easily. The first chapter focuses strictly on Stephen's interview with the head butler of Tithe Hall, who insists that "there's been some sort of mistake" and that Pike is not going to be hired.</p><p><br></p><p>Now as readers, we know differently because there wouldn't be a story if Pike weren't hired. But that's not the point. This scene tactfully previews the kinds of situations ex-con Stephen will likely face when dealing with the "honest" working class in the Downstairs of Tithe Hall, not to mention the nobility class of the Upstairs. The scene is propelled along by dialogue with touches of Stephen's thoughts; the pacing isn't bogged down once, not even when Stephen's trying to figure out how he could possibly get back to London if the butler turns him out.</p><p><br></p><p>I had never heard of Montgomery before this book, and it could be due to his writing children's books before entering the adult fiction market. He's clearly got a passion and flair for the mystery genre, and I'm excited to see how history and fiction come together in the chapters ahead.</p><p><br></p><p>And what will we discover in the next story's five pages?<br>We'll have to wait and see. xxxx</p><p>Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!</p>
155 total episodes available
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