A Guide to the Dark Night of the Soul
October 26, 2022How to Survive a NaNoWriMo Plot Point Snare
November 8, 2022As an editor, I get a lot of questions from clients, other writers, and all of you. Some of those questions come up so often, I’ve decided to do a blog post on the most common ones. In these posts, I’ll set out a generalized version of the question, along with my answer and the writing theory behind that answer.
Today’s question comes from fellow author N. E. M. Francis and goes like this:
I have my major story plots pretty much set out, however I am having trouble with the opening scene. I am stuck on my opening chapter, I have three ideas but none seem right. How do I decide which idea to use?
Today’s answer goes like this:
First, realize that your first chapter has an intrinsic relationship with your final chapter, so this chapter might change three or four times before publication. This means that the most important factor to consider right now is yourself, not your reader. Which one do you want to write the most? Which one gives you the most motivation?
I really don’t say this enough on this blog, but there is a huge difference between your first draft and your last draft. Draft one should always be about putting words down on the page. You can edit bad words, and change the structure of a story which has been written, but you can’t do the same to an empty page.
Still, this question is about which idea will likely be best, so let me give you my two cents as a developmental editor.
The first chapter’s job is to make your reader ask a question. Ideally, the answer to that question would be the beginning of the actual story. For example, if the question posed by the reader is: why is a character being evicted, I would expect the cause of the eviction to be the meat of the story. If the question is: why does she have to give up her pet and the answer is eviction, then I would expect the story to be about the eviction itself and the first major plot point would be the moment where all hope to avoid this eviction is gone. This sets the stage for the actual plot to center around the eviction.
The other job of the first chapter is to make the MC someone you can root for. Quite often, this is a “save the cat” moment where the MC does something good which allows the reader to root for them. In the Mandalorian, this is Mando keeping his bounty from getting gutted by obvious bad guys. He continues on to freeze said bounty and hand him over, but that doesn’t matter because we already like Mando.
The other way to make a character likeable is to show that they are relatable. They have the same emotions we do. When they get punched, they cry. They have a tragic backstory. They love their pets and hate to give them up.
I’m going to take a quick tangent and tell you one thing not to do in the first chapter. Backstory. Don’t do it! The first chapter might frame questions about the backstory, and that’s great. But please don’t give us a chapter full of backstory as chapter 1! There’s time for that in chapter 2. Chapter 1 is for framing the question, not giving your reader a bunch of information they will need later. You can trickle in a fact here or there, and that’s fine. Give me a mini-flashback that’s half a paragraph long, and I’ll love it. Give me five paragraphs of info-dump about why this person’s childhood was tragic, and I will tell you to move it every single time. The bottom line: backstory is for chapter 2, not for chapter 1.
Ok, back to the main two things a first chapter should focus on. As a quick recap, number one is to make the reader ask a question, and number two is to make the reader care about the MC. In other words, the job of this chapter isn’t to start the main story, but to introduce it.
Anyway, I hope this Question of the Day post has helped you all figure out what to write on day one of drafting your story, whether you’re doing NaNoWriMo this year, or just drafting on your own. Just remember that your first draft about getting it perfect. If you want to write a completely different first chapter, go for it! If you want to skip the first chapter and come back later, do it! Even with the most tightly written plan, the first chapter is still almost guaranteed to change, so do what makes you happy!
Well, that’s it for today’s question. Did I miss anything in the answer? How do you all solve this problem when it surfaces? Let me know in the comments below!
Also, N. E. M. Francis has a brand new short spooky ghost story, so this is a shout out! Ghost of the Graveyard is perfect for anyone who wants to put a little spooky in their evening. You can buy it through the button below, and follow them at https://twitter.com/Author_NFrances and https://www.facebook.com/NEMFrances
