The First Page is one of Literarily Speaking’s newest features. Here we get a glimpse into an author’s work and what better place to begin than the first page? Authors share their first pages and answer a few questions about why they started their books off the way they did. Today we welcome Kerri Nelson, author of the romantic suspense novel, Cross Check My Heart.

…………………………………………………….

Cross Check My Heart
by Kerri Nelson
The First Page

London, Kentucky

As head-on collisions go, this one had been minor. The car had come to rest against the base of a large tree, but the rain-soaked floor of the forest had slowed the impact.

The tires spun deeper in the mud as Jana punched her foot down on the gas pedal. Try as she might, the car was not budging an inch. She tried turning the wheel sharply and then applied the gas again.

She could hear the whirring of the engine as it strained to comply with her demands, but it seemed a useless effort.

She knew that she had to hurry. The van that had forced her off the road would be back. As soon as they determined that she’d survived the accident, she’d be on the run once again.

She squinted at the dark forest that surrounded her here, in the woods of rural Kentucky. She’d never escape on foot. Her only hope was to get this car unstuck and back on the road before they found her.

Jana took a deep breath and then put the car in drive, inching it forward as far as she could go without hitting the tree. Then she put it in reverse, cut the wheel to the left and gently pressed down on the accelerator. The car lurched backwards.

She felt tears of relief spring to her eyes but she shook them away. It wasn’t time to celebrate just yet.

She slipped the gear back into drive and rotated the wheel in the opposite direction, easing the car forward and then back towards the highway.

As she reached the edge of the clearing, she stopped to look up and down the dark, silent highway, in search of any tell-tale vehicle lights.

Thank you for visiting us today, Kerri.  Can you tell us what your book is about?

Jana is on the run from something ominous in her past.  She escapes to Illinois and job with the US Olympic hockey team where she meets veteran hockey player Danny Cipriani.  But Danny has secrets of his own.

The first page is perhaps one of the most important pages in the whole book.  It’s what draws the reader into the story.  Why did you choose to begin your book this way?

My book is a romantic suspense and I began my book with a thriller type scene that will hopefully hook the reader into turning the page!

In the course of writing your book, how many times would you say that first page changed and for what reasons?

My first page never changed in this particular book.  I had a clear vision of how I wanted to start the book and that remained true throughout the editing process.  However, there have been books that I’ve gone back and revised the opening on.  It is crucial to have an opening that entices the reader.  You certainly don’t want to lose them early on.

Was there ever a time after the book went to print you wished you had changed something on the first page?

Yes.  I write Young Adult romance under a different pen name (K.G. Summers) and I started one of my books book out with dialogue.  It is something that I never recommend doing and I’d go back and change it now if I could.

What advice can you give to aspiring authors to stress how important the first page is?

The first page is very important when you are trying to hook the reader into delving further into your book.  I’ve picked up a lot of books where the first page bored me to tears.  I don’t continue reading.  Life is just too short.

Even more important, in my opinion, is the first line.  I recently won 2 first line contests for other books.  That first line hook has to be spot on!

You can visit Kerri’s home on the web at www.kerrinelson.com.

Related posts:

1. The First Page: ‘Crossed Out’ by Kim Baccellia
2. The First Page: Mask of the Betrayer by Sharon Donovan