First pages are impossible… so we’re hearing from authors about how they got them right.
In this episode, Henriette Lazaridis discusses the first pages of her second novel, Terra Nova, and how she discovered a new writing practice out of a heavy dose of writer’s block. We also talk about challenging the usual historical novel voice, putting yourself in the body of your characters to stir suspense and a sense of place, planting the seeds of conflict, and delaying the need for exposition by concentrating instead on rich sensory detail.
Lazaridis’ first pages can be found here.
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Henriette Lazaridis latest novel TERRA NOVA was called "ingenious" and "provocative" by the New York Times. She is also the author of the best-selling novel THE CLOVER HOUSE. Her short work has appeared in publications including Elle, Forge, Narrative Magazine, The New York Times, New England Review, The Millions, and has earned her a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artists Grant. Henriette grew up in the Boston area as the only child of Greek expats, speaking Greek as her first language. Devoted to storytelling since her childhood bedtime stories from the Odyssey, Henriette earned degrees in English literature from Middlebury College, Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and the University of Pennsylvania. Having taught English at Harvard, she now teaches at GrubStreet in Boston and runs the Krouna Writing Workshop in northern Greece. She writes the Substack newsletter The Entropy Hotel, about athletic and creative challenges at henriettelazaridis.substack.com.
Passages: Henriette Lazaridis on Terra Nova