Effective writing advice for aspiring writers
Articles about fiction writing tips, elements and more
Which is one of the most popular forms of creative writing?
You guessed it: fiction writing. Novels are written every month and every year. The vast majority don’t see the light of day (a fancy expression meaning getting published). Some do. Some become bestsellers. Some don’t even sell a few copies.
Why?
What makes the difference between writing a really good story that people read with pleasure and a boring one that makes readers throw it across the room?
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Today we’re wrapping up the series on Writing Compelling Opening Chapters. So far, we know:
Now of course all we need to have is a stunning plot, superb characters, real conflict, solid architecture, mind-blowing theme and all that.
Yes… sounds hard right?
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Now we’ve learned why we should write a compelling opening chapter, my best way of beginning a compelling opening chapter, and what should be told and shown in the compelling opening chapter. Today, let’s learn the Dos and Don’ts of Writing a Compelling Opening Chapter.
All too often, writers have great content, but fail to perfect their craft, by putting a load of trash in the opening chapter. This is a sign to editors that you can write well, but you need to write tighter. How? Today we’ll look into that.
First, let’s imagine that you are an editor for a moment. A typical over-loaded, irritable editor. Two manuscripts have reached to you, along with many others. Somehow, you read these two first. You start reading the opening chapter of the first manuscript. Ten minutes later, you put it down with a cold rejection letter for the writer. Why? Because you weren’t impressed by the story. And that was because of various matters…
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An ideal first chapter tells the reader only what’s necessary. After all you can’t finish a story in a chapter can’t you? (Well you can with short stories… but that’s another story.) You must tell the reader the main parts, not the subsidiary parts. The things which are important must be in the front in the opening chapter. Very visible. The subsidiary parts should have the backseat.
Now, you may ask, “what the heck are the main and subsidiary parts? Didn’t we learn all things are important as architecture for a novel?”
Yes, we did learn it. But there are some things called subplots. These things are important – they add depth and reality to a story – but for that reason, they must be given secondary importance. Plots come first, subplots come second. All the loose ends come third.
Which leads to the question… “so what exactly are the main parts? What exactly should be told and shown in the opening chapter?”
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Of all the novels I’ve read, I (and you) prefer those who have a compelling opening chapter. The chapter which draws us in and leads us smoothly throughout the book to the end. If we are not “hooked” by the chapter, we close the book snap shut. Which means the author has failed to do his job.
But you don’t want to be that author. You want your novel (or any form of fiction) to be a bestseller. Widely read. Widely praised. You want your reader to be hooked in. You want him/her to finish the book and not close the book until the last word has been read. You want your book to stand the test of the reader’s patience.
But how do you actually achieve this things?
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Do you know that feeling when you’ve created a brand new world? Of your very own? It happens to me, sometimes. I’m a hobby writer, and am currently writing a children’s/YA novel (more information on that soon). Well, it isn’t much fun to write books about home and school. At least, not for me! Heck, we already experience such life. We want to escape from school, not have it shoved down our throats! And real-life stories are so boring, anyway….
As a result, the genre Fantasy was born.
What happened in it?
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