OK… so I’ve been wrestling with my opening chapter for what seems like forever. I’ve read many writing craft books. One craft book says the author can’t mess with normal until your reader knows what normal is.
And so I’ve arrived at a quandary… how do I hook my reader [and my first reader is an agent] with the inciting incident and show my main character’s normal life at the same time?
A while ago, I attended an event at a local library called Author Idol, where the 25 authors sitting in the audience had each submitted their anonymous first three pages. The four agents up on stage raised one hand when the reader came to a place where the agent would reject the manuscript. Two agents’ hands in the air signaled the reader to stop. Would it surprise you to hear that most of us didn’t get past the first two paragraphs???
How scary is that???
How perfect does that opening have to be???
What happened to editors???
If an agent is not willing to read at least the first three pages, what hope do I have of ever getting published?
So it’s back to the drawing board. On Saturday, I’ll submit to my writing group yet another attempt at my opening. My fingers are crossed that I’m at least getting closer.
Debi Graham-Leard 
The position and clarity of the POV coming across the page in your first 2-3 sentences will set the pace and the tone for your reader to decide whether or not your first few paragraphs have “hooked” them or not. Ask yourself as a reader, if the author of what you are reading, has dropped you into a scene or dialogue of inquiry or action? Either of which will normally give the reader a glimpse of what is keeping them in the moment, or if the scene is being crafted slowly with too much description to even begin to start. If your reader, or agent, feels as if they have to invest too much time “getting into the book”, their minds may have already begun calculating how long it is going to take for them to get into each and every scene throughout the remainder of your story. My editor friends always remind me to pick a point in my overall story that lands the reader some entertainment value, and begin there. Use flashbacks to bring the reader up to speed AFTER I have the reader hooked, or my reader may not even get far enough into the book to find out “why the smell of decayed flesh hung in the air as the reader walked into the room even before turning on the light…”.
Treadwriter…thanks for your targeted comments. What you describe is what I hope I’ve done during my many revisions. In the end, it’s hard to know what any particular agent is looking for on any particular day.