"We rewrote, workshopped, read aloud to consider the beat and flow..." Secrets of selling thrillers from Sarah Lawton
Jump in feet first…
Sarah Lawton
A taut and gripping psychological thriller about toxic families, secrets and life-or-death decisions, Sarah Lawton’s debut ALL THE LITTLE THINGS launches March 25, 2021 with Canelo Press. Already an established blogger at mumzilla.co.uk, Sarah honed her fiction writing through a craft-focused course, and long-listed for the Bath Novel Award 2020.
Thanks for sitting down to talk first pages tips, Sarah. How do you approach your first pages?
SL: I approach my first pages like I approach a lot of things – I jump in feet first and figure I’ll sort it out later. I tend to write things out quickly, but with each new day I’ll read and edit the previous day’s work, so it will get longer and more polished as I go along.
Is this the same approach you took with your psychological thriller, All the Little Things, in particular?
I very much wrote and thought later with All the Little Things. I was so excited to finally, finally have a whole idea (I’d always told myself I probably *could* write a novel, I just wasn’t someone who would ever have any ideas) that it all splurged out in a rush – I had the first draft in just a few months, but it was far too short and needed a lot of editing.
It’s certainly got a cracker of an opening line. This gave me ‘first line shivers’:
‘I watched my daughter die.’
How much did your original first draft pages change on their path to publication?
With All The Little Things I was doing a writing course as I wrote the novel, and we were lucky enough to meet an editor who brought in examples of fantastic first pages from some books that were on submission rounds (two of which have definitely since been published). She told us that an editor or an agent will often know from the very first paragraph whether or not they are going to like your work. Some won’t read beyond a first page if they don’t like it enough! Argh! We then did an exercise where we rewrote our first paragraphs, workshopped them, read them aloud to consider the beat and flow, and mine hasn’t changed a single word since – all the way from then, to soon-publication. The rest of the first page was edited in parts though, mainly to cut out unnecessary bumf.
Great insights into traditional publishing. As a reader, what engages you in others' first pages?
For me, good writing is usually clear and flowing, with a distinctive ‘voice’, something which makes it stand out from the crowd. I always think there’s almost something musical about top-class fiction, something that draws you in and catches you. I’ll read pretty much anything, but it’s these special few authors that I’ll remember and go back to again.
Do you have a 'forever first page'? An opening that sticks with you?
I don’t have an exacting enough memory to recall specific first pages – I’m a big picture remember-er, so I could always give you general plots, but there is one that stuck firmly in my head, and I don’t think it’s an uncommon one – ‘It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.’ I couldn’t tell you anything else about the rest of that first page, but the opening line of 1984 has got to be one of the best ever written.
Are you working on a new project and if so, how are you handling your new first pages?
I am working on a new project, yes. I’ve written a second book and have made a start on a third. So far, I’ve written the first two pages only funnily enough.
I’m going as I usually do, write first, edit as I go along, but I also have an extra step – my lovely writing group, who I meet up with online every week. I’ll probably share the first pages with them as I write, because they always have marvellous ideas and constructive criticism, but I find as I get more drawn in I start to become secretive and Smaug-like in my hoarding of words.
Thank you, Sarah! It’s great to hear how you developed your own distinctive voice yet stayed aware of the market you’re selling to. Readers, go out and pre-order ALL THE LITTLE THINGS today! See links below. And do not forget to enter First Pages Prize 2021 asap.
Mumzilla for musings, munchings and mayhem. To pre-order ALL THE LITTLE THINGS get all the links here: sarahlawton.co.uk
