They say that unless you grab the reader within the first page, readers won't be excited to turn the page or read the entire novel. Sometimes the most compelling scenes involving dialogue centre around what the characters are NOT saying, versus what they're actually saying. It's in the negative space, the silence, what's left unsaid, that we find the tension. Learn how to write the most engaging first sentence/first paragraph/first page that really grabs a reader and makes them want to turn the page and also engage in a deep dive about the unsaid!
CHRISTINE ESTIMA is an Arab woman of mixed ethnicity (Lebanese, Syrian, and Portuguese) and the author of the short story collection The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society, which the CBC called one of the Best Fiction Books of 2023. She has written for The New York Times, The Walrus, VICE, The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Maisonneuve, the Toronto Star, and the CBC. Her story “Your Hands Are Blessed” was included in Best Canadian Stories 2023. She was a finalist for the 2023 Lee Smith Novel Prize and was shortlisted for the 2018 Allan Slaight Prize for Journalism. Christine has a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from York University and lives in Toronto.
