The Page 117 Rule

[Paul Whybrow]

Over the years of reading advice about editing and making submissions, I've come across mysterious references to the Page 117 Rule.

We're told to have a strong opening to our story, one that hooks the reader making them want to find out what happens next. When querying, we're often instructed to send the first three chapters or first 10,000 words. Noah Lukeman wrote The First Five Pages explaining how to stay out of the rejection pile.

One of the dangers of writers obsessing about the first few pages is that they polish them too much, neglecting the rest of the manuscript which slumps into tedious dross in Chapter 4.

There were a couple of posts that mentioned Page 117 in my Quora feed this morning:

https://www.quora.com/Do-editors-publishers-read-the-whole-book-when-they-receive-one

https://www.quora.com/Do-editors-st...-if-the-book-is-worth-reading-for-publication

Personally speaking, I've never understood the importance placed on a book's beginning. I realise that the same part of a manuscript needs to be chosen as an industry standard for assessing writing, but I've never selected a book to read because of a killer opening. Nor have I rejected a novel if it starts slowly, giving it at least until Page 50 to decide if I want to read on. The only time I'll dip into the middle of a story while standing in the library, is if I'm trying to recall if I've read it before, especially when it's part of a series.

All the same, the Page 117 Rule might have some worth. I tried it on my five Cornish Detective novels—curious to see if the story had picked up pace by this point—also looking for any similarities in mood. I found that my Page 117s all described how the investigations were progressing, with three of the stories featuring my protagonist detective interviewing the murder suspect.

This was entirely unplanned and I'm not sure what it means about how (unknowingly) I pace a plot.

What do you think of the Page 117 Rule?

How do you choose a book to read?

I tend to go by reviews in newspapers and online, and if I've read the author before. Cover blurb telling me about the story has a minor effect.

How does Page 117 in your WIP look?

 

[Leonora]

I'm quite taken with this idea. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Boopadoo]

Back in 2010, during my first run here on Litopia, a hot discussion was the Page 99 rule (curious how it's now Page 117).

I went so far as to name my protagonist Paige 99, with the preset idea that the novel would be a roller-coaster ride, start to finish, based on this notion.

I will not be changing her name to Paige 117, however.

 

[Tim James]

Back in 2010, during my first run here on Litopia, a hot discussion was the Page 99 rule (curious how it's now Page 117).

That's inflation for you...

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Page 117 in my WIP is the MC testing the special power she has and causing trouble because she doesn't quite understand it. Page 117 in some of my others: the bloody aftermath of a dragon fight, hiking through a driving rain, and the evil witch appears on the doorstep. No real patterns like in Paul's--though they aren't all in a series.

 

[Amber]

The importance of the books beginning is that readers (me... I'm a reader) will put it down if the first few pages don't have promise.

As a measure of pace and structure I think the page 117 rule isn't exact enough. It's about 32k and so would only be meaningful in manuscripts of a certain length. Percentage would work better.

I'm a sucker for interesting language. But if they don't live up to their promise I have no problem abandoning them. I don't know. I'm always reading something but the last few books I've picked up have been for book club.

I read other writers writing a lot.

 

[David Weller]

On Page 117 of Truthseeker (formatted for a 5 x 8 paperback) the MC suffers a reversal of fortune and the story takes off in a new direction. It looks like this:

Frank swung round as the net hauled Elisha into the canopy and his eyes flashed with alarm the instant he saw she’d gone. He seized Jack’s arm whose jaw dropped the moment he looked back.

‘Where is she?’

‘She’s in some kind of trap,’ Frank replied, pointing at her swaying in the branches above their heads. ‘She’s up there.’

‘Well, let’s get her down before any Scavvies show up,’ Jack said urgently. ‘See if you can find where they’ve tied off the rope.’

Flitting from tree to tree, and fumbling in the darkness, Frank tried his best to locate the anchor point. Jack, just as focussed on his own search, did the same but neither could find it.

‘What now?’ Frank asked.

‘Keep looking,’ Jack said, freezing instantly. Something was crashing through the undergrowth heading towards them.

‘We’ve caught something,’ a boy’s voice called out.

‘Wonder what it is this time?’ another replied.

‘Don’t care, so long as it’s meat.’

The Scavengers continued homing in at speed, their torches resembling giant fireflies as they weaved in and out of the trees.

 

[Andrew Okey]

Gad, if only it was this simple! I've just (nervously) checked p 117 of the novel I'm currently touting round agents and it is actually really properly dramatic (as luck would have it its set in the midst of the 1953 Berlin uprising):


I knew some of these men, they had been friends of mine, but even still my instinct was to turn and run from them. But I collected my courage and strode towards them, then pushed through their ranks. “Watch it, Hansi” one of them hissed, but I was beyond him and alongside Misha before he could take hold of me.

Misha was gabbling into a field radio, too fast for me to follow. He only noticed me when he signed off. “Standard Bearer! You shouldn’t be here. You need to go home before you get yourself hurt.”

I waved my arm to indicate the crowds of protestors behind me. “Misha, all those people, they’re unarmed. Please, promise me there’ll be no violence.”

He fixed me with a furious, incredulous stare. “I am an officer of the Red Army. I enjoy all the privileges of my rank, because I undertake all the duties of my rank. I have received my orders. Those people have been categorised as counter-revolutionaries. My instructions are to keep them away from the House of Ministries, and to clear them from the streets. Using whatever force proves necessary. You have no right to ask me to disobey this order.”

All around me, there were clatters and clicks as his soldiers began loading their rifles. In desperation, I grabbed at his arm. “Misha, you have to keep your dogs off my people.”

He turned his good eye to me and leaned in close. “Standard Bearer” he whispered, and his voice carried a venom I’d never previously heard, not even in the worst moments of the war. “Just because I like you, never think that we are friends."

 

[Robert M Derry]

I think of all of these rules suffer from the same issue of 'make this area good'. The beginning is vital because it's what hooks the reader, a slow beginning is a weakness, the rest of the book may be brilliant but if your opening is weak you're facing an uphill battle to retain readers (and get on the bestseller list). I'm sure plenty of people will cite brilliant books that had slow openings, but the fact is those books would have been better if they'd had a strong opening. Regardless there is no magic page number that must shine with perfection, the whole manuscript should aim for brilliance, if you have slow bit, trim it down, every page should progress the plot and the reader should be sparingly given pauses for breath (that way they'll appreciate them!)

 

[Allan Hunter]

I'm not a good one to ask. I resent the focus on query letters! WTF does being an excellent author of 70,000-120,000 word tomes have to do with being particularly good at writing snappy one-page come-on letters to lit agents and publishers?

I suppose the "strong beginning" focus is somewhat reasonable though. Many people yank books down from the bookstore rack and flip through a few early pages, then put them back and try another until something grabs them. Others flip at random and read a paragraph from here and a paragraph from there. Yet others make their judgment solely on the basis of the summary writeups on the back cover and the flyleaf. (I don't know how readers of digital media pick theirs out!)

 

[E G Logan]

This is part of p117 from the completed MS I'm currently trying to place:

"Light flooded the room. I gasped. I was certain this was not how I had left it.

I needn’t have worried about falling over the old chair in the dark because it wasn’t where I had last seen it, in the middle of the floor. It was now neatly positioned out of the way, near my side of the bed. And the bed cover that matched the bed hangings was folded over the chair arm. I was sure I remembered having left it turned down across the foot of the bed.

I knew for sure I had taken my clothes off before I got into bed and dropped them casually on the chair. Now my underclothes were in a tidy pile, my dress was draped neatly over the back of the chair and my shoes were placed together in front of it.

Then I turned to the bed. The bedclothes had been kicked into a sweaty tangle at the bottom of it. It appeared I had been sleeping under just a rumpled sheet, which covered only my side of the bed and hung down to the floor. Both pillows had dents in them.

I began to feel a prickle of unease. The hair on the back of my neck was slowly beginning to rise. What in the world had been going on here?"

 

[Leonora]

This is part of p117 from the completed MS I'm currently trying to place:

"Light flooded the room. I gasped. I was certain this was not how I had left it.

I needn’t have worried about falling over the old chair in the dark because it wasn’t where I had last seen it, in the middle of the floor. It was now neatly positioned out of the way, near my side of the bed. And the bed cover that matched the bed hangings was folded over the chair arm. I was sure I remembered having left it turned down across the foot of the bed.

I knew for sure I had taken my clothes off before I got into bed and dropped them casually on the chair. Now my underclothes were in a tidy pile, my dress was draped neatly over the back of the chair and my shoes were placed together in front of it.

Then I turned to the bed. The bedclothes had been kicked into a sweaty tangle at the bottom of it. It appeared I had been sleeping under just a rumpled sheet, which covered only my side of the bed and hung down to the floor. Both pillows had dents in them.

I began to feel a prickle of unease. The hair on the back of my neck was slowly beginning to rise. What in the world had been going on here?"

Ooh!

 

[Eva Ulian]

Usually I enjoy writing scenes, the nostalgia of it, thoughts, expressions, conversations... often recalling something from my emotional reservoir- whether that happens at the beginning, middle or end to me has no bearing. However, since I started querying I have consciously given some particular attention to the opening and have changed it more than once; I am sure it will change again. But I've never been one to use a bait like a fisherman to catch a reader- doing so will soon get you a reputation of being somewhat of a "trickster", I think.