How to Make Your...
With First Pages Pop, learn the key to grabbing a reader by crafting powerful opening pages.
You’ve pitched stories and had positive feedback to concepts, but when agents or editors read your opening pages they go no further.
You can’t figure out what’s missing (or what’s too much).
With this short course, I walk you through the 5 key things you must have in your opening pages in order to grab a reader and keep them wanting more.
And you’ll finally understand that with just this information you can write, in story after story, opening pages that pop.
(And why this short, affordable course will be a game-changer for all your opening pages from here on.)
The 5 key things crucial to writing opening pages that pop
What those 5 key things do for your story, and why they are important
The importance of opening pages through examples from successful stories
First Pages Pop is created by a multi-published award-winning author and creative writing teacher with over 25 years of writing and publishing experience, and 7 years helping writers to publishing success through both courses and hands-on coaching.
Janet is the author of 13 books for young readers, from picture book through YA novels, fiction and nonfiction.
Her courses are designed for all kidlit writers, from beginners to advanced.
An understanding of the Five Key Things that must (or must not) appear in a story's opening pages.
The Four Grounding Details that pull the reader into your story from the start.
The precise way to present your Story Theme in your opening pages.
The power of Character Desire and Story Goal, and how they can be hinted at in successful opening pages.
Whether you are just beginning to write, or have been writing for a long time, this lesson will give you a clear understanding of what makes a story tick.
So that right from page one, you'll have the confidence to write your best story, based on concept — a story that will grab a reader and won't let go.
If you’ve been pitching stories for a while and can’t get a reader to go past the opening pages, this course is for you.
If you’ve got a great concept that excites a potential reader but they never keep reading, you need to know why.
This is the course that will catapult your story from premise to published.
The course is designed to be completed in about 1–2 hours. You can go through the lesson and handout in one sitting and immediately apply what you learn to your opening pages.
Yes. This course focuses on one specific outcome: helping you evaluate and shape your opening pages using a clear 5-step framework so you can move forward with confidence.
Perfect—you’ll use your existing draft throughout the course to test, refine, and strengthen your opening pages.
This method primarily works for middle grade and young adult novels. Although the principles of strong opening pages work for all types of kidlit.
Both! For beginners and early-stage writers, there are clear examples and a simple step-by-step approach. And even more experienced writers can struggle with weak or unclear opening pages. This course helps you diagnose and fix that problem quickly.
It will give you a strong, practical framework to evaluate your opening pages against industry expectations—so you can make smarter, more informed decisions before you invest time writing query letters or looking for an agent.
No problem. This course comes with a refund policy—if it’s not a good fit, you can request your money back.
