5 Steps to Write a First Chapter That Will Leave Agents Wanting More
1. Nail down your Story’s Theme from the very first sentence. Whenever possible the pros use this approach to pull their reader in not from the first page but from the first sentence. Often by stating a universal truth or something the audience can easily imagine but has never had pointed out to them before. As the creator of your story, you should know the point of your story and show it in every scene starting at the very beginning.
Ex. In Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities he opens with: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
2. Create a strong Narrative Drive throughout your story, starting in that very first chapter. Often writers struggle to focus on telling one, single, focused story. The story should focus on one specific character and their arc of change. Yes, there should be subplots but these are the icing on the cake of your story. They make it feel more realistic and organic. They shouldn’t take over and they shouldn’t confuse the point.
Ex. In the story Hunger Games we are always most concerned with Katniss’s survival. There are other important themes of love, friendship, rivalry, etc. but our main focus and that of our protagonists never faulters.
3. From your opening paragraph you should spark the curiosity of your readers by presenting questions and challenges that the main character will face and deal with throughout the novel. Drop hints about backstory that will leave your reader wondering: ‘what did he/she mean by that?’
But resist the urge to keep everything under wraps. Answer questions and solve problems early and often to keep your reader from feeling cheated. Another urge many writers grapple with is the urge to solve all the problems too soon. Don’t wrap everything up in a neat little bow. Have the solution your character thought he/she found lead to more problems instead.
4. Your first chapter bears a heavy load. You have to introduce your characters, set the reader in time and space, raise interesting questions and challenges and move everything along at a snappy pace. Many coaches suggest giving a day-in-the-life-of as an opening scene. This approach works well but be sure to make it an interesting day! Another alternative is to open with an action scene and then wait until chapter/scene 2 to slow things down and explain a bit. This approach works too just be sure that whatever opening scene you choose works well with the rest of the story. Let your reader know what they are getting into right from page one.
5. Closing the opening scene. Be sure as you bring your opening scene to a close you not only move this portion of the story forward in a satisfying way for the reader but that you also leave them wanting more. Every opening chapter (if not every chapter) should end with something to keep the reader reading forward. The protagonist needs to be at a crossroads, have an important decision to make, or problem to solve.
I hope this helps and always if you are in need of more guidance don’t hesitate to reach out. We can schedule a FREE 30-minute, no obligation Discovery Call, in which we discuss if I am the right coach for you. If I’m not but you’d still like to be coach I am happy to pass you along to another book coach, no hard feelings! Also, I do a little bit of coaching on my discovery calls! So if you’ve got a quick question we can address it there.