102: Common First Chapter Mistakes

 

As an editor and coach, I've seen a lot of first chapters! Learn what the most common issues are in the manuscripts I've worked on.

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Common First Chapter Mistakes

Hello, and welcome back to the Blank Page to Book podcast. Excited to talk about first chapters with you. Because first chapters are frickin crucial. No matter what you were doing with your book, after it's done, whether you are hoping to find an agent, get traditionally published, whether you are sending it off to a small press, whether you are self publishing, or going the indie route, it does not matter. Because I mean, think about your own behavior as a reader, like if you are browsing in a bookstore, or looking at, you know, options on Kindle or the library or something like how many of us look at the first chapter, like we read a couple of pages, to see to get a sample to get an idea if this is something that we want to read. And a lot of us will make judgments based on those early pages, if it's something that we want to continue reading or not, as well as the cover and the, you know, jacket, copy and all of that, but it's crucial.

And I think it's it's something that I've been thinking about because I did a submission package edit for someone where I looked at their first two chapters, because they were querying, they wanted to go down this road of trying to find an agent. And when you are querying, again, like I said, it's important no matter what, but in the querying process for first chapters are really, really essential, because a lot of times agents will only request the first 10 pages, or the first 15 pages or the first chapter. And so if that's all that you're sending them of the manuscript, those pages have to be solid, they have to, to be intriguing, they have to entice the agent, to want to read more. So that sounds hard. There's like all this pressure writing in the first chapter to get it perfect. But it's more of like, okay, this is just an opportunity to make sure that my story is strong, that I've, I've done this work to make sure that it's starting in the right place.

And, you know, yeah, it's just an opportunity to make sure that the story starts off strong. I am going to share some mistakes that I see that are pretty common in a lot of manuscripts that I've worked on over the years, regardless of genre, regardless of what Path Publishing path the person is taking. These are just the common overall things that I see that I will often flag as a editor and coach is just these are the things that come up a lot.

Okay, number one, starting the story in the wrong place. I just mentioned that a minute ago. And I want to clarify and get into what I mean by that. So there's something that happens sometimes where the actual story, like the actual plot should happening, won't start until chapter two, or three, or four, or even like five, maybe six, that doesn't happen as often. Usually, it's like chapter two to four. And chapter one, there's not much happening there, there isn't a lot of real action or plot points. It's just filled with a lot of nothing, to be honest. And it feels like the entire first chapter or if not the entire first chapter, then a good chunk of the first chapter can just be cut. And the beginning point of the story that does have feel like it happens later in chapter 234, or five can just be moved up to chapter one. I'm not saying that the story has to happen.

On page one, like something massive has to get thrown onto the page in the first paragraph, or else you're not doing it right. It's just that if there's all of this background and explanation and not much really happens until chapter three, the reader is not going to stick around to see what unfolds and to see what happens. If there's no momentum in those early pages and nothing is happening. You really want to think about hooking the reader in the early pages. Again, no matter what publishing path you're thinking about doing. That's part of the function of the first chapter, right? It's to hook the reader to make them want to keep reading.

And I've talked about this before on the podcast, but sometimes I, there's almost a sense that I get from writers where they're like, oh, just wait, just wait, it gets good. Which is the complete wrong attitude to have, you don't want to tell your readers to wait, wait until chapter four, like it gets really good in chapter four, well, why do they need to wait until chapter four for things to get good, why not move that up sooner to halfway through chapter one. So if you suspect that this is happening with your first chapter, see if there's a way that you can cut or just condense some of that early stuff. So that the, when it actually feels like the story is really kicking off that point, see if that can happen sooner.

Number two, is another mistake that I see is related to this, which is just a lot of backstory, or info dumping, or just a ton of information about the world, the characters past, the setting, just all kinds of information, before we even get into the story at all. Now, there's nothing wrong with giving us you know, some background information and kind of setting the stage a little bit setting the scene for the reader. And with having some exposition, which is just kind of a background, like the part that's necessary for the reader to know about, like, where this is taking place, and all of that. And this is something that I think info dumping is a lot of times associated with fantasy or science fiction. And that can sometimes be the case, I added a lot of fantasy. In fact, I think fantasy might be the most common genre genre that I work with.

So this is definitely something that happens in fantasy, but I've seen it happen in other genres to where it might not be information about the world in terms of like this made up imaginary world, and the magic system and how everything operates. But it might just be the entire backstory of the main character, it might be the history of the town, where this is taking place in our in our world, like a real town. It could just be all kinds of information that really is not is not necessary for the reader or if it is kind of necessary, like maybe it could come later. Because again, if the function of the early pages in the first chapter is to hook the reader, hitting them with a long history, and tons of details about a character that they don't know yet, all of that's just going to feel really boring and dense and hard to get through. And it's a lot to ask the reader to do all of that work to just wait for the story to begin and wait to meet characters. So definitely pay attention to this if you are writing fantasy, or science fiction or some kind of speculative fiction. But also, if you're not, if you feel like there's a lot of just, if you're telling the reader a lot of things in the first chapter, see if you can cut some of that. So that the focus is on the action. What is actually happening in the first chapter.

When I say action, I don't mean high stakes action as in, like action movie kind of car chases, and something really dramatic. It can be that if that's your book, but even if you are writing a very quiet story about someone wrestling with something, they have a lot of internal conflict, it's more literary, their study, like stuff still needs to happen. Especially again, in that first chapter. We can't just have it all be explanation, and setting up this world for the reader. The third thing I want to talk about is related to the first page, I guess, there's no I'm not, how do I say this? Your first page does not have to be dramatic, to the point where it's, you know, extremely high stakes. And there's like all of this action happening and we're dropped right into the middle of it that can that's a that's a strategy in writing that can certainly work.

But I want you right now, or maybe after you are done listening to this episode, look at your first page as it stands right now. If someone were to pick up your manuscript or pick up your book, and all they looked at is the first page. Do you think your first page is enticing enough to get someone to continue reading? We're not talking about the whole first chapter. We're just talking about that first page. The first page is so short, it is so small. Just look at those few paragraphs. Is there enough there to pique your interest? First few paragraphs are backstory.

If your first few paragraphs, that first page is all, just a character thinking thoughts, and nothing is happening externally, they're not doing anything, they're just sitting in a room thinking, those that that's not going to be very interesting for someone to get into, that's not going to lend itself well to like someone being like, Oh, let me turn the page, I can't wait to see what happens because nothing much is really happening. And again, I hesitate to, I hesitated to include this one, because I don't want to make it seem like you have to have something massive happening on the first page. But just be mindful of, you know, this is someone's introduction to the book. And if it's just a character thinking about something that happened 10 years ago, and reflecting and they're not really doing anything, is that going to be interesting for the reader to read? I don't know, maybe for some people, maybe for some readers, they wouldn't mind that.

Same thing with a lot of description, like a little bit of description with some good sensory images. That's, that's fantastic to really like, drop the reader in the middle of this setting, especially if you're writing something where the setting plays a really important role. Like maybe you're writing a thriller, or suspense or historical fiction, where like getting the reader immersed in his world is important. But if the whole first page, and actually the first few pages are entirely description, you are just giving us you're telling us about what the setting is. Again, I don't know that that's going to really entice the reader. Now, most of us, well, let me talk about my behavior here, because I don't know, I can't speak for everyone. When I'm looking at a book. And thinking about potentially reading it, I don't just look at the first page, I look at the first few pages, the first chapter, whatever. So So most readers are probably going to give you more than a page. But it's still important. It's really important.

I once I watched the Ted talk about someone who had gone to a writers, they went to a Writers Conference, and there's a panel that they went to, that was a panel of agents who were answering questions from people who wanted to query and wanted to find an agent, so they were just sharing, you know, what I look forward to meeting you script? What I'm excited by what mistakes people make, etc. And this person was sharing who went to this conference that someone in the audience ask them the question, how long does it take you to read? Like, how far do you have to read before you know, if it's a, if it's a no, like, you'll immediately toss it out.

And the answers were, oh, within a few paragraphs within the first paragraph, the first page, and I don't want to share that to put pressure on you, please don't like take that and feel anxious about it. But it just goes back to what I was saying. If you want to present your best work, you want it to start strong. And if it doesn't, if it you know, kind of lacks, or there's nothing really happening on the first page. And that can be an agent is going to spot that right away. So particularly if you're querying, just make sure that you know that that first page is, is solid.

I'm going to give one additional tip that wasn't on my list. But just as I'm recording this and thinking about it, I want to at least mention it. So think of it as like a half tip. Because I think you can still do this differently and do this well. But it is a big there are some cliches in the writing world in the first chapter, like a lot of people say that opening your book with a character waking up, or having a dream is very overdone and cliche. And some agents probably well just not keep reading, if that's how your book opens. So I think if you're querying, it's important to kind of, you know, be aware of that. I mean, you could even just Google and look at what agents are saying what they've said in interviews, particularly if you have a list of agents that you want to query, what have they said about what they look for in manuscripts? What's an immediate yes, for them? What's an immediate no for them?

And if you find that agents are saying, I really, I think it's so overdone when page one opens with a character waking up in the morning, then make sure that your book doesn't do that. And the reason for that is just that it's so overdone. It's such an it's like an easy starting point for a book and it's just, it's not very exciting because it's been done so many times. Now, you could still take that concept that we're all familiar with, you know, a character waking up in the morning and getting out of bed and do something different with it and do something unique and exciting, you know, so I don't want to say like, Don't ever do that, because there are books that flip it and do it well. But particularly, you know, I just wanted to mention it because if you are quering, I think it's particularly important to look at what agents are saying what they have said our nose for them, just to be mindful of that.

All right, well, good luck with your first chapter. One more thing to say is if you are still in the drafting process, and you are still working on getting your first draft out, do not worry about the first chapter. Go back and edit it when you're done. You can always tweak and adjust later. Instead of being super focused and stressed and trying to get your first chapter chapter absolutely perfect before the book is done. I think it's a better use of your time and I suggest getting to the end of the draft first before you go back. So just if you're in the drafting process, don't worry. It's okay if your first chapter is a mess. Alright, thank you for listening, and I'll catch you next week.

Katie Wolf