Happy Characters Need not Apply

Happy characters bore the Slushpile Diva.

I want to see a protag raked over the coals at least once by the end of page one. Otherwise, there had better be some stellar writing going on to drag me to page two. By page three, I promise you that the grace period is over if I'm not seeing you, the writer, kicking some major protag butt.

Too many writers fall back to a prologue to bolster a ho-hum beginning. If you're a beginner, I don't recommend it. Its a very difficult technique to use well. It smacks of "easy way out". It also makes it very easy for me to reject your project.