AND THEY'RE OFF. . .

I've certainly heard enough in the past couple years, whether in reading books on writing or attending conferences, about how important it is for a book to come out of the gate strong and introduce its conflict right away and, in the case of YA, often on page one, sometimes paragraph one.

Hence my dilemma: how do I provide enough exposition to introduce the characters and allow the reader to develop some connection with them before hitting the reader with the main conflict. In this case, I do mention what the conflict is in the first line just to insure the reader hears about it, but what we might call the "inciting moment" doesn't actually occur until late on page 5. Is that too late in the game?

My very real fear is that the first four pages are all throat clearing and "telling" (as opposed to "showing), and that my story should start on page 5, right at the inciting moment. But if I do that, I know I will not have provided enough of a glimpse into the characters so that the reader will care about them.

What do I do?

I know there's no one answer, but maybe the one or two people who read this rag might have a suggestion or two?

I'm open.