Your first few sentences are the most crucial words of your entire story. So today on the show, I’m doing something a little different: critiquing an opening page from a writer seeking feedback on their high fantasy novel. I talk about the need for interiority (a character's internal thoughts and voice) when providing much-needed context and framing for the first scene. I discuss how "show, don't tell" is more of an opportunity than a hard-and-fast rule. And, of course, I let you know when in the first page I would've stopped reading...if I wasn't critiquing.

Email your show feedback and/or advice prompts to [email protected] or join our Discord. You can find the first critique prompt we referenced on the show right here.

Fantasy Writing for Barbarians‘ host is Jon Negroni, author of The Pixar Theory, Killerjoy, and more. Our producers are Natalia Emmons and Bridget Serdock. You can find all our episodes and various podcast app options here.

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