First pages are impossible… so we’re hearing from authors about how they got them right.
In this episode, Jasmin Hakes discusses the first pages of her debut novel, Hula, and how she structured the novel using traditional storytelling techniques from her native island. We also talk about the power of the royal we, addressing the reader directly and therefore challenging them, how to make summary work, and how to manage the revision process with agents and editors who might not know your novel’s most important contextual details in terms of place, culture, and time.
Hakes’ first pages can be found here.
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Click here for the audio/video version of this interview.
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Jasmin ʻIolani Hakes was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. Her essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Bee. She is the recipient of the Best Fiction award from the Southern California Writers Conference, a Community of Writers LoJo Foundation Scholarship, a Writing by Writers Emerging Voices fellowship, and a Hedgebrook residency. HULA is her debut novel and is an Amazon Editor’s pick. It’s received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Shelf Awareness, and is an Elle magazine 39 Best New books to Read this summer. She lives in California.
Passages: Jasmin Hakes on Hula