First pages are impossible… so we’re hearing from authors about how they got them right.
In this episode, Julie Carrick Dalton discusses the first pages of her second novel, The Last Beekeeper. We talk about how she used the power of a front and back story to create tension and complexity, her love of place, the power of her descriptive details in terms of nature and time period, her use of rich familial relationships to tie us emotionally to the story, and how she handled going between two timelines.
Dalton’s first pages can be found here.
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Click here for the audio/video version of this interview.
The above link will be available for 48 hours. Missed it? The podcast version is always available, both here and on your favorite podcast platform.
Julie Carrick Dalton is the Boston-based author of The Last Beekeeper and Waiting for the Night Song, named a Most Anticipated 2021 novel by CNN, Newsweek, USA Today, Parade, and others, and an Amazon Editor’s pick for Best Books of the Month. A Bread Loaf, Tin House, and GrubStreet Novel Incubator alum, Julie is a frequent speaker on the topic of Fiction in the Age of Climate Crisis at universities, conferences, libraries, and museums. Her writing has appeared in Chicago Review of Books, Orion, Newsweek, The Boston Globe, Electric Literature, Lit Hub, and other publications. When she isn’t writing, you can usually find Julie digging in her garden, skiing, kayaking, or walking her dogs.
Passages: Julie Carrick Dalton on The Last Beekeeper