Writing the first chapter of your book can often be the easiest and hardest part of the process. The first chapter will receive a lot more attention than the rest of the book because it’s the one that will need to wow your reader into reading your book. If you’ve managed to get them to pick it, intrigue them with the blurb, and now they’ve opened up to the first chapter, in order for them to buy it, they need to be ‘wowed’.
Sometimes that pressure can stop you from finishing a book and getting it out in front of readers and potential future fans.
A lot of advice out there stresses the importance of the first chapter. Unfortunately, this can also paralyse new writers into remaining stuck with the first chapter. Instead of moving on with the story they write and rewrite and repeat the first chapter of the book.
The truth is, no matter how many times you rewrite your first chapter before starting your book, it’s going to change completely by the time you finish writing your book. That’s why you shouldn’t get hung up on getting every word right in the first chapter, just get it written and move on. You can always edit once you’ve written your story.
Having said that, the first chapter is your selling point. The first chapter needs to hook the reader into a story. It will need to pose questions that the reader wants to be answered. It’s the chapter that you really want to give it everything you’ve got.
That’s good and bad advice at the same time which isn’t very helpful. So let me elaborate.
Why it’s good advice
With millions of books on the market, it’s getting harder and harder to stand out and get noticed by readers. You need to sell yourself in the first chapter, even on the first page.
How do you decide if you’re going to buy a book?
I tend to check out the blurb, if I like the premise I’ll flip to the first chapter and read a page. If I’m intrigued and like the author’s writing style I am ten times more likely to buy the book than to put it back on the shelf.
I know, it’s a fast decision and the book might be awesome if I give it a few more pages but that’s just not good enough. With so many books available and such a limited time to read, I want to be reading only what engages me from the get-go.
Make sure that your first chapter engages the reader. Here are some key points to remember:
– Avoid flashbacks and too much description.
– Get in the action.
– Ensure correct spelling and grammar
– Introduce your main character
– Pose questions that will intrigue the reader and be answered throughout the book
– Make the reader care about your main character
That’s a lot to do in the first chapter but it will be worth it.
Why it’s bad advice
Perfection is overrated because it doesn’t exist. Not everyone is going to love your first chapter, let alone your book. Get over it. You’re not aiming to please the world. It’s impossible to please everyone so don’t bother trying. Please yourself and then aim to please your ideal reader.
Who’s your ideal reader, you ask?
It’s your target market and that market depends on the type of book you are writing.
Is it a thriller, romance, young adult?
Don’t be surprised or offended if the sci-fi geek doesn’t like your Christian romance novel or when the cozy mystery reader gets offended by your gruesome horror page-turner.
Just write.
It’s all you can do.
You are your first target reader so make sure you write what you love to read. You don’t want to be spending weeks or months writing a book that you have little interest in, the reader will notice. So instead, write on the topics and in the genres that interest you the most. Then throw it all at your target market.
Think of your target market of about 10,000 people or about 0.0015% of the population.
Find your 10,000 fans, write 3 books a year, and you’re selling 30,000 books. With a profit margin of about $3 per book, you can make a living with your writing.
And you don’t need everyone to like your books. Really, you don’t.
Think of the books you’ve read. Have you really loved them all? Of course not. That doesn’t mean they were bad books. They might not have been to your taste buds. It’s the same as if you don’t like eating Thai food. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, it’s just not your type. The same goes for books.
But you’re still stuck on that first chapter.
Yes, the first chapter is important but it’s useless if you don’t have the rest of the book to go with it.
It’s easy to get bogged down and write and rewrite the first chapter but it’s never going to be good enough and you’ll only get better as the book goes along. So get the practice in, then once you’ve written your eighty thousand words, go back to chapter one and use everything you’ve learned during the process of writing a book, and start editing and rewriting.
With most books I’ve written, including the many drafts in the bottom drawer, I’ve always gone back to rework the first chapter. I have a feeling that I always will.
The first chapter sets your story for the rest of the book. It’s almost impossible to know how to do that until your story is complete.
Just write it.
Then move on to chapter two.
It doesn’t matter that your first chapter on your first draft doesn’t follow the rules, includes dreams and flashbacks, lacks drama and an attention-grabbing first sentence. Just keep writing.
Even some bestsellers break the rules.
Write the rest of the book first. Worry about the first chapter at the end.
While the first chapter is important in selling your book but it shouldn’t get in the way of you finishing your work. Make it good enough. Then move on. Often you’ll find that what you wrote when you started the book will be different from when your book is finished.
1 – Write the first chapter
2 – Write the rest of the book
3 – Go back and reread the first chapter – modify as needed
4 – Look at the book as a whole
5 – Get some feedback
6 – Rewrite if necessary- it will never be perfect, aim for good enough
7 – Start the next book!
I’m in the process of writing a new book, in a new genre, with a completely new set of rules. I don’t like rules. I’ve always been one to bend them.
Writing the first chapter of my supernatural sci-fi thriller/horror novel – see, I’m still not sure where the story will take me – is super hard. Ok, that’s a lie. It was easy. The hard part comes in the middle. I know exactly where my story starts and ends. But I’m struggling with the in-between.
But experience tells me that the first chapter that was so easy to write is not going to be the first chapter in the final product. A variation of it maybe, but not the exact chapter.
And it’s true. Since writing the first draft of the new book, I’ve rewritten the first three chapters several times. I’ve also made changes to the traits and habits of the main character’s because I didn’t really know her until I actually wrote the book. Now it’s easier to go back to the beginning and fix what’s broken.
The thing is you don’t know what your book will turn out to be like when you finally finish your story. That’s ok. You don’t have to know everything right away.
A wise writer whose name I can’t remember said to think of writing your book as driving at night with your headlights on. You’re only seeing a few metres ahead. But even though you can’t see the entire journey you trust that eventually you end up at your destination.
Trust the journey.
You can always mend what’s broken at the beginning later.
How do you start your book? The same way you finish it. One word at a time and until you’ve told the story.
Have you written your first chapter? How many times do you usually rewrite it?
Resources I Recommend
If you want to make a living with your writing:
30 Days or Less To Freelance Writing Success
If you need to organise your writing:
If you want to format your books beautifully:
Vellum
Books I Recommend
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Successful Self-Publishing: How to self-publish and market your book in ebook and print (Books for Writers 1)
Business For Authors. How To Be An Author Entrepreneur (Books for Writers Book 5)
Write. Publish. Repeat. (The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self-Publishing Success) (The Smarter Artist Book 1)
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