Chapter One
I hadn’t realised until I started the opening draft of the second book in my Will Logan dystopian crime series, that I spend around a week on chapter one before moving on and writing the rest of the novel in around four weeks. It appears I like to have a solid foundation on which to build the rest of the story. Thinking about it more, it makes sense. Although I’m prepared to rewrite the whole book in draft two – including chapter one if necessary – I take my time with the opening and write and rewrite until I feel it’s as good as it can be for now, before tackling the rest of the story.
There are two things at work here. The first is ensuring the opening is a springboard for the rest of the book so it has to work from the point of view of the plot and how I envisage it panning out. Otherwise, I feel it may cause me problems later on when working the draft up to be queried. If I feel I have the first chapter right, it gives me confidence to carry on with the rest of the draft. It needs to set the scene, introduce characters and avoid dumps of backstory. I would also say, watch how much description is included. I always like to err on ‘less is more’ here, and large paragraphs of description is not something I do. I like the advice of ‘show, don’t tell’ and that is as important throughout the book, and it is in chapter one. Secondly, the first chapter is the only chance you have of hooking a reader into reading chapter two and beyond. The opening is where you have to provide enough intrigue and entertainment to make the reader want to carry on reading. Remember, anyone can view these pages on Amazon before making a purchase, so it’s vital you are on your best game here.
A great deal has been written about the importance of the first line and I’m at a loss on what works and what doesn’t in my own work. I know what I like and what works for me, but this is subjective. One reader will love an opening sentence, while another will consider it boring or cliched. You will read when querying, how the first line needs to draw the reader in and other such phrases. Who knows? I’ve just stopped writing this to check out some famous books and some modern novels that have sold in huge numbers and the opening lines are as varied as the stories themselves. I think we can overthink it. I know I certainly can. Some of the lines I’ve just read I think are great. Others, I feel okay about. I just came across one novel that started with a single word sentence. If I have a favourite, right now I can’t think what it is.
Before I forget, I need to stress it’s not all about the first sentence, but the first couple of sentences. The first paragraph if you like. If you have a great first sentence, the second one needs to be of a similar standard. There are websites you can look up listing what many consider great opening lines and it’s worth checking them out. If you do, I’m sure you will end up reading some of the books listed, such is the hook of a great first line. As a writer, I know it’s achievable. I just have to put the effort in.
Of course, with this process, I end up at the end of draft one, with a cracking first chapter, with little editing to do, and the rest of the draft in a state only I could love (and even then convincing myself I have a book here worth a second draft is a hard sell). But it’s my process and I’m happy with it. It’s not perfect, but for now it prepares me for that writing marathon we call a novel.
The Fiction Factory 