2020 winner Pip McKay's first pages tips: 'When I plan too much, I lose some of the magic'
The joy of writing is seeing where the pen will take you…
Pip McKay
Last year’s winner, Pip McKay, entered First Pages Prize mere days before the extended deadline closed. After her win, she indie published her winning work of historical fiction, The Telling Time, and was a finalist for the NZSA Heritage Literary Award. She holds a Masters of Creative Writing from the University of Auckland. Here she shares her approach to her pages with her story of following her gut feeling and giving it your all.
Pip, your entry, The Telling Time, won last year. Congratulations, again! Thanks for sitting down to share your first pages tips. What’s your approach?
PM: For me, the single most important factor, is to start writing. The joy of writing a story is seeing where that pen will take you. When I plan too much, I lose some of the magic, my imagination or creativity gets lost in the practicalities. Start typing and revise later is my best plan.
I suggest beginning at a point in the story that excites you as the author. A place that will throw your readers into the story, an impactful place: ‘stranger comes to town’; or where your character must face some challenge or dilemma; or as with The Telling Time, transporting and immersing your reader in a new world — 1958, the island of Korčula where Gabrijela toils at a sardine factory, a place from which she yearns to escape.
Was your entry the actual first pages of your manuscript?
Not exactly! The beginning of the novel moved around plenty from when I first began writing in 2014.
I started with a simple premise: that in 1989, Luisa, a young New Zealand woman of Croatian descent, would return to Yugoslavia, her mother’s homeland, to unpick the secret as to why, in 1959, her mum had been sent out to New Zealand. The challenges Luisa faces would be the catalyst for Gabrijela’s story to unfurl.
I started writing from Luisa’s perspective: “There was no late bus.” Those earliest pages still remain but now sit around the midpoint of the novel.
By 2017, I realised I still had much to learn about craft! I was accepted into the Masters of Creative Writing course at Auckland University with Dr Paula Morris who suggested that for the novel to work, Gabrijela must tell her own story — that it wasn’t Luisa’s story to tell. ‘The magic’ then happened, my imagination kicked in, and Gabrijela’s story unfurled.
It still didn’t solve the problem though about where the novel should begin. For a long time, in fact until I entered the First Pages Prize, Gabrijela’s story opened in 1959 as she arrived in New Zealand: “I never wanted to move to New Zealand. It wasn’t my choice.” These lines are still there too, but now sit at the beginning of chapter two.
To clarify, it wasn’t until I was considering my entry (having just gone through the process of having the ‘final’ version of the novel professionally edited), that a thought kept gnawing — was the reader missing out on an important glimpse into Gabrijlela’s character by me starting the novel with her arrival in New Zealand?
I thought about where the story actually started: Gabrijela at her dreaded place of work, the sardine factory, then coming home to find her mother bent in shock over a letter which had just arrived. At the time that chapter was buried two thirds through the novel . . .
I wasn’t deterred (perhaps facing the extended deadline to enter the competition helped here!).
Something told me these pages are worth working on. From there I sent in my entry with these first sentences:
“Sardines. We reeked of them.”
Did winning First Pages Prize help your journey to publish?
Winning coincided with New Zealand going into lockdown as well as my decision, accelerated by COVID, to publish The Telling Time independently. Life felt fragile and having spent six years working on this project I was determined to see it in print.
Hearing that my opening ‘sardine chapter’ won the competition, with Sebastian Faulks as judge, cemented my gut-feel decision to pull that chapter forwards. I set about making the edits required to achieve this and sent off my baby to the printer. You could say that the three months between submitting for the competition and hearing the result changed the trajectory of the novel.
As a reader, what draws you into others' first pages?
I want to be transported somewhere, and fast. For me, the joy of reading is jumping into someone else’s story. A strong opening line, one that stands out as unique or shocking is important for drawing the reader in. From there I feel the first pages shouldn’t be too complicated or confusing.
Your first pages can reveal a lot in a short space of time and I think it’s important to take time over them to ensure you are delivering up that strong opening to grip your reader and draw them into the story’s world.
Throwing in sentences that have your reader asking why and leaving them wanting to know more is also important.
What’s a 'forever first page' that sticks in your mind?
Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things. I love descriptive language and Roy’s drips with visual sensations while dropping me head first into Ayemenem, another world.
Are you working on a new project?
I wish it were easy, but second time around it’s not! I’m waiting for a new idea to grab me but currently it’s Luisa’s story that keeps returning — what happens to her and what she still needs to resolve. I’m wary of writing a sequel, it seems fraught with problems, but it might be a case of watch this space and me heeding my own advice to jump straight in!
Thank you, Pip! It’s inspiring to see how one contest deadline worked its magic to help create publishing success for your wonderful novel. Readers, The Telling Time is “A vivid, engrossing family story that crosses oceans and eras, exploring the price two women pay when new and old worlds collide.” - Dr Paula Morris
Indulge in a copy via Pip’s website below and be transported, fast, into Pip’s story world.
