How do I write a great first chapter: a guidelines
There is nothing more difficult for the author than to write the first and last chapters of a book. Here all your perfectionism raises its ugly head and demands a complete stop of your progress.
I've written and rewritten my first chapter dozens of times and I'm not alone. Most authors find it difficult to figure out how to start their novel, and that makes sense. Your first chapter can make or break your book: with readers, agents, and Publishing company.
So how do you do that? How do you write a good first chapter? In this post, I'm going to walk you through the seven things you need to do in your first chapter and give you a checklist that you can use in your novel.
Why is it so important that a first chapter is good?
My father recently finished a new book and would like to present it to the agents. So, dutiful son that I am, I helped him find a short list of agents on querytracker.com and informed him of their submission requirements.
The submission requirements for these literary agents were different, but almost everyone asked for the first few pages, somewhere between the first three chapters and the first ten pages.
Agents who often receive thousands of submissions a month will tell you how important these first pages are.
If these first pages do not involve you, if they do not immediately grab your attention and make you read more, continue with the next submission.
That said, if you want your book to be picked up by an agent and then a publisher, your first chapter must be good.
Which means that this chapter has a lot to do in terms of history.
And that leads to a big question: What exactly do writers need to achieve in their first chapter?
What is your checklist for the first chapter?
7 steps to writing a good first chapter: checklist
How do you write a good first chapter? If you touch each of these things, you will definitely appeal to the reader and create a solid foundation for your book.
1. Set the scene through physical exercise
Before you can deal with the plot and drama of a scene, the reader needs to know when and where they are. Publishers, agents and readers don't enjoy being thrown into the middle of a confusing action scene. Instead, they prefer to build the scene to a climax using the six elements of storytelling (see # 6), starting with a brief account.
The best way to set the scene is not the description that readers, agents, and publishers find repulsive in the first few sentences of the first scene. It's also not through dialogue that confuses readers – "Wait, who's talking?"
Instead, start with a character performing some kind of physical action through the room that reveals the broader context of the scene.
2. Introduce the protagonist
Your protagonist is the lens through which you tell your story. Introduce them to the reader in the first scene.
However, simply doing this is not enough for the reader see The protagonist. We must to like enough with them to want to follow them for the rest of the story.
That doesn't mean you can't have a protagonist who is flawed or even evil. It does That means we have to sympathize with them.
Here are seven best practices to get your reader to sympathize with your characters. I recommend choosing at least one in your first chapter and three in your first chapters.
The 7 characteristics of personable characters
- Take action. Show that your protagonist is proactive. Show them how to make difficult choices and take action to achieve what they want in a dilemma.
- Treated unfairly. Show that your character is bullied, persecuted, treated unfairly, or victim of injustice.
- Shows competence. Readers are interested in people who are really good at things. Don't hide your protagonist's light under a bushel. Let it shine!
- Has friends. We are drawn to people who show that they already have other people they like. Only when we have a friend do we care more about someone. Show that your protagonist is personable by surrounding him with other interesting characters from the beginning.
- Do a good deed. "Save the cat," as Blake Snyder says. By helping someone in need, your protagonist establishes himself as “the good” despite all other negative traits.
- Has a peculiarity. Quirks are memorable things we can use to instantly visualize someone, like Harry Potter's scar on his forehead, Ron Weasley's bright red hair, or Hermione's frizzy hair. Quirks are particularly important for supporting characters, but a simple quirk helps us to quickly get to know a protagonist.
- Secret vulnerability. Everyone has a secret, be it a phobia like Bruce Wayne's fear of bats, Superman's weakness towards kryptonite or Inspector Gamache's fear of heights. By alerting the reader to your protagonist's secret vulnerability, you create a connection that can last the whole story.
You can use these seven traits of personable characters at any point in your story for any character, even your villains. They are like candy for readers and will always produce results.
However, these properties are most important to use in the first chapter if you have to fast Connect to your protagonist. Indeed, one could argue that this is it whole goal of the first chapter.
3. Establish the viewpoint (POV)
What is the point of view of your story? Are you going to choose a limited third person, an omniscient third person, a first person, or another POV?
Set it up in the first chapter and don't change it!
Not sure? Read our ultimate perspective guide.
4. Set the genre
Determine the type of story you write from the start. From the first scene, your reader should know whether it's a science fiction story, a crime novel, a horror novel, or a love story.
5. Set the value scale
In the same way, set the scale of values on which your novel will move. There are traditionally six scales of values in history, and each relates to a specific type of story.
- Life against death:: Action, adventure
- Life against fate worse than death:: Thriller, horror, mystery
- Love against hate:: Love story, romance
- Performance vs. failure:: Performance, sport
- Maturity versus naivety:: Grow up
- Good versus evil:: Temptation, morality
Depending on the type of story you're telling, make sure your first scene is set on this scale.
For example, in a love story, make sure that the event that occurs in the first scene deals with either love or hate. Or put it in a moment of immaturity in a coming-of-age story.
6. Place the bets
Once your scale of values is set, create a kind of movement that ideally moves at the bottom or at the top of that scale.
For example, in an action story, take a moment when your protagonist is almost certain to die.
Or start in a love story in a place of complete hatred between the main characters.
By setting bets early, you tell the reader what to expect (and how you will play with those expectations).
7. Follow the 6 elements of storytelling
Every successful scene, plot, and story has six elements that make it work. You are:
The most important of these six is the dilemma when a character faces a difficult choice between two equally good or equally bad options.
This dilemma causes the scene to move along your value scale and creates the essential drama.
Make sure your first chapter contains each of these elements, but especially the dilemma!
What about books with prologues?
For books that have a prologue, they cannot reach all of these things down in the first chapter.
You may be in a different location or time period than in the main story. You may introduce a different character than your protagonist or introduce the protagonist, but at a different time in your life. They could be written from a different point of view than the rest of the story (but remember that once the story starts, you'll be consistent throughout your book!).
Nevertheless, the prologue should introduce the reader to the upcoming journey and these seven elements. are effective ways to do this. Consider using each of them as best you can.
The basics of a good first chapter
Don't be a perfectionist with your first chapter, especially when writing your first draft.
First drafts are difficult. First drafts of the first chapters are Really heavy.
Don't try to write a publishable, award-winning, best-selling chapter in the NY Times when you first sit down to work on your new story.
Just do the job.
Set the scene with action.
Introduce your protagonist in a friendly way so that your readers can fall in love with him.
Set the genre and value scale.
Hit each of the six elements.
When you do this, you have a strong first chapter that you can improve on in the revision.
Good luck and have fun writing!
Does your first chapter fulfill all of these steps for writing a first chapter? Let us know in the comments.
WORK OUT
Insert the checklist for the first chapter Your History.
Go back and read a first chapter you wrote. Or if you haven't written a first chapter yet, sketch a new one!
Does it hit all seven steps of the checklist? Which of the seven characteristics of likeable characters does it affect? What's missing? What can you change to make sure you follow all the steps?
Take 15 minutes to write and share your answer in the comments section. And don't forget to leave feedback for your co-writers!
Joe Bunting
