the craft. the art of sample pages.
As we continue along in fellowship and residency application season, I thought it would be a great time to chat a little about sample pages. These applications have varying levels of requirements, but most want to see a little of your writing alongside the other materials you may be putting together.
You may also simply be querying and providing sample pages as well, so all of this insight applies. While you would hope that the jury or agent can see the promise of what’s to come, the reality is, you have a very short amount of time to grab their attention.
Typically, whether you're submitting for a residency or including sample pages in a query, there are about 10-20 pages that they are looking to review initially. That’s what you have to impress them, if they’re required, at all, to read the full sample.
When we think about that first act of a novel, of which your sample pages may likely be pulled from, there are some really important things that happen there. We’re establishing our protagonist. Who they are. What they “think” they want. We’re getting a glimpse into their everyday life before everything changes which sends us on an adventure with them. We may meet one other character.
From the first line, a reader is determining whether they want to keep going or not. With so much competing for our attention, it may be even more important now than ever to ensure we have something worthwhile to say. I feel like my background in journalism prepared me for writing a great lead, and a novel is no different.
Here are a couple of striking first lines from books.
“Milan was the first person Feyi fucked since the accident.” /// You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty, Akwaeke Emezi
“The telltale sign that you are at the wedding of a rich person is napkins.” /// Olga Dies Dreaming, Xochitl Gonzalez
“It was a cool evening in late summer when Wallace, his father dead for several weeks, decided he would meet his friends at the pier after all.” /// Real Life, Brandon Taylor
Do not be afraid to write, and re-write, and re-write your first line to ensure that you have a striking opening image that makes the reader immediately want to know more.
Here are a few other notes that I have from reading the works of emerging writers:
You’re not going to give it all away. I remember Toni Morrison explaining that she could tell you exactly what happened at the beginning of a book and then walk you back through how it happened in an intriguing way. Sometimes we hold onto the story so precious that we can bore the reader in those beginning pages. Even if we don’t implicitly give away the ending, you have to allude to the meat of the story. What adventure are we about to be on as the reader? It can be a hint, or it can be more, but you just have to ease the reader into the story.
Too much interior, not enough action. Now this can vary based on genre. Literary fiction in general is going to have a lot more interior, but for the love, please have some action. Even if it’s the person recounting something that happened, it just should be actionable. Too often stories are starting with a lot of interior detail, and it’s easy as a reader to get lost in the mind of the character instead of understanding what the story is about.
Pretty language without story. In a similar way, you may have a lot of great language at the beginning of a novel but not enough story. I have found myself asking in reading samples often, WHAT IS HAPPENING? Like what is really happening in these initial scenes vs. having the most beautiful and poetic sentences. Language is great, but make sure it is taking us somewhere.
Help us feel invested in the protagonist right away. Notice I’m not saying we have to like the protagonist right away. We don’t. Even if the protagonist is someone we don’t like, we should still have an interest in this person and what is about to happen to them. Make sure that you have created a fully fleshed out character. Do you know this person well enough that they translate through the pages? Make sure that they are showing up three dimensionally and not falling flat in those starting pages. It’s very important.
We have a great character profile on our resources page.
Create a sense of suspense. All books need an element of mystery regardless of genre. When we get to the end of the sample, we should want to know what else happens. It’s a balance between letting the reader know enough about the story and not too much that there’s no need for them to finish.
And while in this piece we’re focused on opening pages, the caveat is making sure that your full manuscript lives up to the hype of those beginning pages. I’ve often heard agents complain about being excited after reading opening pages, only for the rest of the story to fall flat. Be sure to spend as much time polishing your novel as you do on those first few pages.
When you’re deciding what to submit, make sure it’s your strongest piece of writing. These opportunities are highly competitive, and you want to make sure that you’re putting your best foot forward. You got this, I promise!
The Feminist Press is accepting submissions for their spring reading period. Novels and novellas only. (Opens March 25th, up to capacity.)
NBC News Digital is hiring a well-sourced and sharp reporter on the Hollywood beat. This is someone who wants to break news on the biggest storylines of the moment and can publish deep and premium enterprise coverage and analysis of Hollywood and entertainment culture. ($140-190k).
Through the 2026 Open Call process for the Creative Capital Award, Creative Capital will also select recipients of the State of the Art Prize, a new national, two-year initiative, which aims to recognize one artist residing in each U.S. state and its territories, with an unrestricted grant of $10,000 per artist
The Letras Boricuas Fellowship is an opportunity sponsored by the Mellon Foundation and the Flamboyan Arts Fund that will impact more than 100 writers with $25,000 per fellow. For literary writers who identify as Puerto Rican. (Closes Apr. 30)
10 Novels in Translation You Should be Reading This Winter and Spring
Brooklyn White-Grier’s New Book to Explore History of Women Rap Battles
Writer’s Victory Lap
Celebrate your writing journey with our community! Whether you've finished a chapter, received positive feedback, submitted work for publication, seized an opportunity from our newsletter, or reached a personal milestone, we want to amplify your success. Share your writing wins—big or small—for our weekly newsletter by emailing hello@permissiontowrite.com. Your achievements inspire fellow writers and strengthen our creative community.
What counts as a win? Everything from:
Completing a writing goal
Getting published
Starting a new project
Receiving an acceptance letter
Reaching a word count milestone
Getting constructive feedback
Finding breakthrough in a difficult scene
Landing an opportunity shared in our newsletter
Send us a brief (50 words or less) description of your accomplishment, and we'll feature it in next week's newsletter. Your success story might be exactly what another writer needs to hear!"