The first five pages

There are critique sites out there, good ones, where aspiring authors can submit the first five pages of their work in progress (WIP) for review. Anyone submitting can count on a variety of input. Some comments are incredibly helpful, others less so.

Many writers take the well-meaning critiques to heart and resubmit the same five pages again and again. I applaud them for their dedication. After all, the first five pages - a mere 1,250 words - are what an agent might consider before making the decision to ask for a complete MS or sending a form rejection letter.

Those five pages are a first impression.

I wonder though - with the time and effort that go into the first five are the next two hundred pages just as good? They need to be.

I am working on a chapter that seems trite. If I read it out of context, I would assume a nine year-old had had a bad writing day. Who wrote that drivel? Me? Did I drink one too many glasses of wind before I tried to type?

Yikes. I guess I can take comfort in knowing the first five pages of the MS are awesome