Today we’ll discuss the first chapter. Arguably, one of the most important chapters.
4 Approaches for the First Chapter of Your Novel – this article is dated, but very useful. It explains a few ways you can start your story and gives the advice on how to follow up.
Consider your choices, and then choose the beginning that fits naturally with the story you want to tell. If you approach your first chapter from a strategic standpoint, you have a better chance of maximizing your novel’s potential—and engaging the reader from the very beginning.
It’s crucial to hook the reader right there.
25 Things to know about writing the first chapter of your novel – a few ideas, obvious and not as much.
First impressions matter. Impressions are in many ways indelible — you can erase that thing you just wrote in pencil or tear up the page with the inky scribbles, but the soft wood of the table beneath still holds the impressions of what was written, and so it is that the first chapter is where the reader gets his first and perhaps strongest taste of mood. Make a concerted effort to ask, “What is the mood I want the reader to feel throughout this book? What first taste hits their emotional palate?”
Your readers will think of your whole story based on the impressions the first chapter gave them. Think smart, choose wisely.
8 Ways to Write a 5-Star Chapter One – a shorter list of stronger points.
This step might seem obvious, but too many first-time novelists try to lure the reader into a story by holding back the main character. Having a couple of subsidiary characters talking about the protagonist can be a terrific technique for character or plot development at some point, but not at the beginning of your novel.
Put the light correctly, make sure the readers know whom they are doing to follow throughout the book.
This is it for the week, the next writer’s corner will happen in 2017. Have great holidays and enjoy the rest of the year!
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