How To Write Your First Chapter

And Avoid These Common Mistakes!

We all know it. Some love it; most dread it: The blank page at the beginning of a brand-spanking new story. Something inside of us intuitively knows that this is the most important part of the book. If the reader isn't interested by the end of chapter one, or even the first page, they're never going to read the rest.

But what makes some opening chapters better than others? Is there some secret ingredient, or magic touch, or blood ritual required to create a great first chapter? Where do you even start?

Start With Characters

I'm serious. Start with your characters first. Even if you've got a ten-page outline of your entire plot, calendars, maps, a worldbuilding bible, and a notebook full of fresh dialogue - all of that means nothing unless you have solid characters.

What do I mean by 'solid'? In a nutshell, people want to read about people. This means your characters need to have goals, dreams, plans, weaknesses, irrational fears, and most importantly: Internal Conflict. Give them a mission. Give them a reason why they haven't accomplished it yet. Give them a warped view of themselves and the world, however slight or severe.

It can take time to get a grip on all of these things, and that's okay. It's like getting to know any other person - they may not be willing to open up right away. Give them, and yourself, time.

- Introducing Characters

DO NOT INFO DUMP APPEARANCES.

I cannot tell you how much I want to pick up a chair and beat something when chapter one starts with the character getting out of bed, brushing their teeth, and scrutinizing themselves in the mirror so we know exactly what they look like.

Hair color, fine. Body type? Also fine. Something that bothers them or makes them feel insecure? I'm all for it. But eye shade, lip shape, and the condition of their teeth???

Please.

NO.

I'm begging you.

What I do care about is whether they want to go to college for something; whether they have a good relationship with their family; whether they struggle to get out of bed in the morning. I want to know who they are, not what they are.

Believe it or not, there is very little you have to convey in order for me to get an idea of what someone looks like - and you don't have to do it all at once. My favorite way to introduce physical appearance is through another character's perspective, highlighting what they admire (or dislike) about the other person. But overall, what they look like barely matters. Concentrate on what's inside.

Keep All Info Dumps, Exposition, & Worldbuilding Inside The Forbidden Chest

This applies to everything, even fluffy rom-coms. You can have fun weaving your character's backstory and regional lore into the rest of the story - later. You can give me a more complete picture of the landscape as we travel through it - later (or in a map. Maps are always fun.) But none of this is needed in order to convince me to care about your main character. Page one should focus on the character's goals and deepest fears. Relay only what matters to them, personally, in this moment. The rest is useless.

HOWEVER: Avoid White Room Syndrome. You don't want to info dump anything, especially not on the first page, but that can sometimes swing the other way and we're left with very little sense of any surroundings while characters yell at each other about some unknown conflict and explosions go off next door. Chaos, right?

Or worse - nothing is happening. At all. Anywhere.

My solution for fixing this is to get really settled in my POV (Point Of View) character's voice when describing the world around them. Each character is going to notice different things, and that's where it gets fun. My militant warrior will be more concerned with terrain, strategic points of interest, exits, etc. while an innocent young poet will have more to say about colors, textures, and the feelings they evoke. Either way, I'm concentrating on what the character sees, and in the process I can give an even clearer picture of what matters to them.

Do I Have To Start With A Disaster?

Heavens, no. I'm sure you've heard people say 'your book has to start with the inciting incident right away and have action on the first page, otherwise nobody will read it' - and those people might mean well, but after years of worrying whether my inciting incident came too late, I realized that that mindset is completely wrong.

You don't want to wait chapters and chapters before writing the event that pushes your character out of their comfort zone - that's what the story is about, after all - but you don't have to blow something up on the first page just to get your reader's attention. (You can if you still want to, but that's not what's ultimately going to hook your reader.)

I have a story that's currently going through edits. The inciting incident doesn't even hit until chapter 3, more than 8 pages into the book. And it works, because I spent the first two chapters focusing on my MC's (Main Character's) internal conflict - defining her insecurities, fears, and struggle to find what she wants in life - and how it clashes with some external conflict that plays on these.

While most of us have never been in a war zone or experienced a dystopian world, we can all relate to this kind of struggle. That's what matters most to your reader. The world may not be ending, but the character's world could.

But What About Backstory?

Backstory is important - it's how your character got to be who they are, after all. But the thing is, readers don't want to know all of it right away. So how much backstory should you write, and how much of it should actually make it into the final draft?

It's a good idea to know your character's backstory before writing your first chapter. A lot of people prefer to write this out from beginning to end, even if most of it doesn't make it into the book.

As far as incorporating backstory into the narrative, my favorite way to do this smoothly is to choose a few of the most potent events (the ones that really encompass how the character's life changed), and sprinkle them throughout the story in the form of flashbacks, dreams, or an emotionally damaging confession. I almost NEVER put the backstory on the first page.

Prologues?

A lot of new writers try to start their story with a mysterious, omniscient prologue, describing everything except what we really need to know about the characters, and using a POV that we never hear from again.

DON'T.

Just don't.

Prologues can be used well, but the temptation to detach from the real story is massive. If you're new to writing, or if you're introducing a completely new world and characters, I would advise you to dispense with the prologue and get right to your MC's perspective.

Start Where The Journey Starts

Literally or figuratively, it doesn't matter; find where your character's emotional journey starts, and begin Chapter One there. No sooner (or the reader loses interest), and no later (or the reader gets confused, and will probably never finish the book.)

We're stepping into a new world, into the main character's skin if you will, and embarking on an adventure with them. Why would you make your reader wait to begin the journey that they so crave?

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There it is, my best advice for writing the first chapter of your book! This process can be really fun, once you start to look at it that way. So make it fun!

Remember to subscribe if you haven't already, so you're notified as soon as I release my next post: An excursion into the inner workings of inciting incidents!

Best of luck to you on your writing journey, mate!

- Lydia