There is this (correct) notion that the world is speeding up of late, that we no longer have the attention spans to wait for a story to get going. But even decades ago, Elia Kazan, award-winning director and novelist, said that film audiences gave him seven minutes to capture their interest. If they weren’t intrigued within those first crucial minutes, the film was a disappointment to them no matter what came after and they would not be telling the world, “You’ve got to see this movie.”

For Hunger Mountain, Q Lindsey Barrett talks to editors and literary agents about those first crucial moments that make them fall in love with a piece of fiction.