Well, it's been a morning of highs and lows. I've been wrestling with my first chapter. Just when I think I have it pinned down, I think of another layer I could add, or something that it needs to really impact my readers as I introduce them to the characters.
After publishing eight books, though, there are three things I've learned about writing the first chapter.
1. Don't bother revising the first chapter until you have the ending. Your first chapter will always change until that end is written because until you know the end, you can't truly have a great beginning.
2. Be really sure you have a tight balance of dialogue, setting, and character introduction. Sometimes it's really tempting to introduce your characters with lots of backstory and inner thought in the first chapter. Don't do it. Leave breadcrumbs for your reader to follow as they get to know your character. I mean, if you were introducing yourself to someone in real life you wouldn't tell them your life story and deep dark secrets within moments of meeting, would you? (If you said yes to that question, we should probably talk.)
3. And lastly, remember to make your reader care about your character. If they can't relate or identify with the character or their problem, then they probably won't keep reading. When you keep things relatable, you keep your readers engaged. Which is what you want your first chapter to do.
So now I'm going to take my own advice and go back and check that I've done all this with my first chapter. Do you have any great first chapter tips?
Thursday, 7 February 2013
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