WRITING YOUR FIRST CHAPTER

Dialogue always looks good on the first page, doesn’t it? Two characters plunging into the story. Plenty of white space. Exclamation marks!

But you don’t have to start at the beginning of the conversation. The small talk, the explanations. Start in the middle, where the drama begins.

‘You’re leaving me?’

‘I’m sorry, I -’

‘Who is she?’

‘You don’t know her.’

‘It’s not that new secretary, is it?’

He shook his head. ‘You’ve never met her. She’s … someone from the past.’

Ah! The first clue!

Or, in a crime novel, start with the murder. Your reader doesn’t know who the victim is, or even the murderer. All that will come later.

How about a waking up scene? Your character opens their eyes. They’re in bed/in a locked cellar/buried under masonry/on an operating table/ sprawled alongside a wrecked plane, the pilot and his mate hanging out of the cockpit.

Drama! Mystery! Suspense! Explanations can come later, maybe not until the final chapter.

Why Start At The Beginning?

Beginnings are really crucial. How often do you pick up a book at the library or book store, glance at the first page and put it back on the shelves? But if you get past the first page, the first chapter, you'll probably want to read on.

In the good old days, before television and computers and Facebook and Twitter, perhaps readers had the necessary patience and concentration to follow a leisurely exploration of someone's life. Nowadays our attention span is much shorter. None of us wants to wade through whole chapters waiting for something to happen.

So don't start at the beginning. Start in the middle, with a real attention grabber, something that will hook your readers and draw them instantly into your story. A crisis, a murder, a love scene, a quarrel. 

Imagine your character in a situation that's dramatic, funny, emotional or atmospheric in some way and start at that point.

There! Isn't that better?

Next time - What exactly is a short story? How is it different from a novel?