This chart is taken from Tara Sparling writes. You can read the...

This chart is taken from Tara Sparling writes. You can read the whole article here.

The biggest problems I see in samples are too much back story and pages of internal monologue. I think the challenge in the first couple of paragraphs is to draw you into a single moment in the protagonists world and make us care about what the protagonist is thinking and feeling.

In I Bring the Fire I tried to pull the reader into a situation that every dog owner has been in: the after dead-critter-roll-bath. I thought it was ordinary, but relatable and funny, and the fact that it is in the rest stop of a bathroom off of the highway added a bit of ominous foreboding to it.

Some people loved it (maybe they are dog lovers?) Some people did not love it (to put it mildly). You can’t please everyone, and I really like mixing the ordinary in with the fantastic.