Category Archives: Your First Page

The Year of 14 Jobs

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Peter Selgin

One of the hallmarks of good writing is its power to suggest. This is true not only for poetry and fiction, but for works of nonfiction, too, for essays and memoirs, even sometimes for journalism. Conclusive statements may or may … Continue reading →

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An Opening at Odds With Itself

Posted on September 4, 2010 by Peter Selgin

Within the eight lines of its first paragraph, this opening scene presents readers with a melange of no less than ten metaphors for the narrator’s frustrated desire to belong fully to something, to “fit in.” The writing is passionate, poetic, … Continue reading →

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The Season of White Flies

Posted on September 4, 2010 by Peter Selgin

The first part of this opening of a novel confronts us with a host of negations bound by tortured syntax. Briefly, it tells us what the narrator, an only child, will (or won’t: see below) inherit from her (Italian?) farmer … Continue reading →

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Discovering Jenny

Posted on September 4, 2010 by Peter Selgin

While watching the evening news, a lawyer—Robert Leonard Singer, Esquire—learns of a woman found dead in her motel room, the apparent victim of a drug overdose. Authorities have yet to identify the victim, but Robert thinks he knows who she … Continue reading →

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