Hooked From Page One: The First Page & Interview: THE MORPHEUS DECISION by Seeley James

THE MORPHEUS DECISION

by Seeley James

Who killed Chloe England?

When a friend from her days in international soccer, now a British constable, is murdered, Pia Sabel uncovers an assassination ring catering to the ultra-rich – putting her dead center in their crosshairs.

For most of her life, Pia Sabel worked through the pain of losing her parents, threw herself into her work, and lived with insomnia. Now her doctor warns growing paranoia will soon threaten her mental health. She escapes to rural England to mourn the loss of her friend. On arrival, she is attacked by a mob, dismissed by officials, and ridiculed by high society for inquiring about an English Lord and a British institute. The more people tell her not to ask questions, the more she questions their motives.
Unconquered and unafraid, she investigates the murder and exposes a well-connected web of billionaire suspects. Along the way, she touches a nerve, bringing down an avalanche of killers on top of her. Unable to trust anyone, from the handsome Scot she wants to know better to Britain’s titled class, she must unravel the clues before more victims land in the morgue. Peeling back the layers of deceit, lies and cover-ups, Pia finally discovers the truth about who killed Chloe England. A revelation sure to endanger everyone she loves.

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Blood drifted over the curb on its way to the gutter as Chloe England tried to shift her gaze for a better look. Her eyes wouldn’t respond. Not even a blink. Her vision was fixed on the chemist’s across the narrow lane. Closed. And for a long time judging by the dirty windows.

Her arms and legs wouldn’t move either. The blood felt warm on her cheek. Chloe had the strangest feeling it was her blood. After all, she was lying on her side with her face pressed to the cement, but she wasn’t sure why. When she tried to think, all that came to mind was TS Eliot from a boring literature class long ago:

I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,

And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker;

And in short, I was afraid.

She’d rather have been on the pitch playing football than stuck in a classroom reading that drivel.

Chloe sensed a presence lean down over her. Maybe it was a good Samaritan who could help her up. Her muscles weren’t responding. Someone reached over her shoulder and plucked the phone out of her hand. The person disconnected her call.

So, not a good Samaritan.

Chloe felt embarrassed. The stalker just cutoff the voicemail to Pia Sabel before she’d finished. What would Sabel think of the poorly worded message? Rambled on like a fool, she did. To top it off, she’d blanked before telling Sabel what she wanted. Such bad form.

Welcome to the blog! The first page is perhaps one of the most important pages in the whole book. It’s what draws the reader into the story. Why did you choose to begin your book this way?

I love the way the first Star Wars movie started with a little spaceship being captured and boarded by a big spaceship, a princess taken prisoner, and droids making their escape. From that point on, George Lucas had our attention because we wanted to know: What’s the deal with that princess and will her droids save her?

In all my books, I try to start with a question that will drive our heroine to find the answer. In this book, I knew who the bad guys were and what they were up to, so I sat down and brainstormed ideas: Who could they victimize that would cause Pia Sabel to drop everything and solve the mystery? I have a sketch pad where I throw ideas down for a few days as I work on other things. When new ideas start to slow, I find myself being drawn to one scenario.

That first page has to start out badly. The second page will make things worse. The third page will present a crisis … and off we go.

For this one, I wanted to reach back in time. Everyone has a friend from their carefree youth that we’ve lost touch with but still think of fondly. I fashioned that character from previous hints about our heroine, Pia Sabel’s life. I didn’t want to give it all away, so I skipped the specific action and showed her to the reader as a young woman thinking her last thoughts as she lay dying. That leaves the big question hanging: Who killed Chloe England?

In the course of writing your book, how many times would you say that first page changed and for what reasons?

Once I have a first page or chapter done, I work on it at the start of every day. It has to be perfect. It has to set the tone, define the urgency, outline the major players, and do it all without being boring or giving too much away.

A lot of people put too much emphasis on the first sentence and cite “Call me Ishmael” or “It was the best of times…” but those sentences aren’t intriguing, they are iconic because the book was intriguing. This blog’s emphasis on the first page is much more indicative of what really pulls a reader into a story. The first sentence must be good, but it must draw us into a fascinating first paragraph which will drag us all the way to the bottom and force us to turn the page. That doesn’t happen by accident.

Was there ever a time after the book was published that you wished you had changed something on the first page?

Toward the end of his life, I heard Pavarotti interviewed on the radio. The interviewer played his most famous solo and asked him what he thought. Almost in tears, he answered, “I hear only the imperfections. I want to try it one more time and get it right.” For that same reason, I stop looking at my first pages after publishing. There is always one more idea that could truly transform this first page and make even better. When I pasted the passage above, my first thought was: Oooh, I should’ve written this chapter from the killer’s point of view. Alas, one must stop somewhere or tomorrow will never come.

What advice can you give to aspiring authors to stress how important the first page is?

Make it PERFECT or the worst thing in a writer’s life will happen: the reader won’t turn the page.

Kurt Vonnegut once said, “Every character should want something, even if it’s a glass of water.” For a first page, I spin that statement around: the reader should want something on page one.

In my first page above, the reader will instinctively want Chloe to survive. They’ll also want to know what was in that “poorly worded message.” They’ll want to find out who Chloe is, what she’s made of and why someone would kill her. They’ll want to know who Pia Sabel is, and why she was Chloe’s last phone call. The answers to those questions are doled out over the next 392 pages, one at a time.

Seeley James’ near-death experiences range from talking a jealous husband into putting the gun down to spinning out on an icy freeway in heavy traffic without touching anything. His resume ranges from washing dishes to global technology management. His personal life ranges from homeless at 17, adopting a 3-year-old at 19, getting married at 37, fathering his last child at 43, hiking the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim at 59, and taking the occasional nap.

His writing career ranges from humble beginnings with short stories in The Battered Suitcase, to being awarded a Medallion from the Book Readers Appreciation Group. Seeley is best known for his Sabel Security series of thrillers featuring athlete and heiress Pia Sabel and her bodyguard, veteran Jacob Stearne. One of them kicks ass and the other talks to the wrong god.

His love of creativity began at an early age, growing up at Frank Lloyd Wright’s School of Architecture in Arizona and Wisconsin. He carried his imagination first into a successful career in sales and marketing, and then to his real love: fiction.