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Nov 3, 2019 · Stop agonizing, sketch out the first chapter and get on with writing your story. This is really important for NaNoWriMos. You could spend the whole month worrying that thing to death. Don’t. That’s because when you’re writing your first draft, you’re writing for you. Later, you’ll edit for your reader.
- Set the scene through physical movement. Before you can get into the action and drama of a scene, the reader needs to know when and where they are. Publishers, agents, and readers alike don’t enjoy being thrown into the middle of a disorienting action scene.
- Introduce the protagonist. Your protagonist is the lens through which you tell your story, so introduce them to the reader in the very first scene. But it’s not enough for the reader to simply see the protagonist.
- Establish the Point of View (POV) What is your story's point of view? Are you going to choose third person limited, third person omniscient, first person, or some other POV?
- Set the genre. Establish the type of story you’re writing from the beginning. From the first scene, your reader should know whether this is a science fiction story, a crime novel, a horror novel, or a love story.
- State your theme. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy begins with the line, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” This line establishes the novel’s theme of dysfunctional families.
- Begin with a strange detail. An opening line can hook readers by introducing an uncanny detail right off the bat. A classic example is the opening line of George Orwell’s 1984, which references clocks striking thirteen.
- Establish your character’s voice. The first chapter of J.D. Salinger’s first novel The Catcher in the Rye immediately gives readers the sense of the main character’s point of view: irreverent, detached, and jaded.
- Introduce your narrative style. Sometimes, an introductory line can appeal to readers through pure lyricism and narrative style. Quick staccato bursts of pure syllable introduce readers to Vladimir Nabokov’s distinct writing style in Lolita, and his technical ingenuity provides incentive enough to continue reading.
Jun 13, 2021 · Especially the terrible ones. Nothing takes me out of a story faster than reading a character that the writer clearly despises—it makes the writing flat, makes you careless because it’s easier to write hatefully about someone ‘bad’." - Yael van der Wouden, author of debut novel The Safekeep “Write every day. I don’t always manage it ...
- Plan and structure your book and your time. Writing a book is a mid- to long-term project (unless you are one of those rare authors who can churn a book out in a week or two).
- Keep any research you need in an organized, accessible place. Some books demand more background research than others. If you are writing about an unfamiliar location, take a tour on Google Street View and note down landmarks and what the architecture or natural environment is like.
- Write every day, without fail. As author Steven Raichlen says in his post on how to write a first novel for Writer’s Digest: ‘The secret to writing a novel — or any book — is writing.
- Put excuses for not writing and put them to one side. As writers we find endless reasons why we can’t write: “I don’t have the time” and “my writing sucks” are two common ones.
May 26, 2020 · 7. Develop an inciting incident that will drive the plot. 8. Edit what you’ve written of the book. 1. Identify the novel premise. As King says, the best novel openings aren’t just beautiful sentences — they’re invitations into a world of the author’s creation. That means the beginning of a novel should set the tone for all the writing ...
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Aug 23, 2021 · The first chapter should engage readers, introduce your protagonist, and provide a window into the world of your story. From J.K. Rowling’s *Harry Potter* series to the sci-fi classic *The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy*, great novels nearly always have an opening chapter that captures the reader’s interest.
