standing between him and one of the most elite offices in

Australia and swung it open just wide enough for his body to

slip inside. He was met with the glare of southern sun pouring

through ceiling to floor windows. He moved to the right for a

small button on the wall.

"I was up to give a look in on Markus today." He said

pressing the button.

A mechanical hum filled the room and a dark curtain

emerged, starting to draw itself across the windows.

"Oh really?" a voice said from across the office.

Alec dropped down in a leather chair, swinging one of his

Alec Kelly dropped down in a leather chair inside one of

Sydney, Australia’s most elite business offices. He swung one

of his legs over the chair’s arm and slammed the other onto a

table in front of him, watching sunlight spark off his heavy

steel toed boot. He drew a cigarette out of the pocket of his

T-shirt, placed it in his mouth and fished out a lighter from

his faded jeans.

"I was up to give a look in on Markus today." He said,

lighting up the smoke. “Nothing’s changed. The house was

thrashed and Markus was passed out with an empty bottle of

vodka in his hand.”

Alec took the cigarette from his lips and blew out smoke,

I haven't read "The First Five Pages" but I've seen it mentioned a few times so I believe I will. Before I got on this site it never occurred to me that I had to hook the reader in the first thirteen lines. I thought I had the entire first chapter to do that. Wow... what an eye opener!

Actually, Kelly is Australian. That's why his dialog may sound a bit different.

I was just at my local library and they had "The First Five Pages" on the shelf. Score! I plan on spending my evening with it, my writing and my guilty pleasure... Project Runway.