There’s a million ways to begin the first chapter of a novel. Some use their writing style to keep the readers hooked while others throw you right into conflict. But what are the few things that you should avoid to make your novel an interesting read and a guaranteed deal-grabber. Here is The Bombay Circle Press’ guide on how not to begin your first chapter and mistakes first-time fiction writers often make.
- Don’t Start Your Book With the Start of a Day
There is nothing that irks a reader, and even before that, an editor more than flipping to the first chapter and reading about a character waking up. Morning routines are hardly sensational and it does you more harm than good when you begin the chapter. Not only is it uninteresting, it doesn’t add anything to the plot that would make sense in the long run.
First-time fiction writers often fall into this trap to get the story going and introduce the characters but there are simply a million ways to introduce the reader to them without this overdone cliché. For example, start at an unusual turn in the character’s routine, throw the character right into action, begin with something unsettling and out of the ordinary, and so on.
- Don’t Info Dump on Your Reader
One of the easiest ways to put off your reader is by throwing information after information at them, hoping something will stick. Unfortunately, this will just confuse the reader who will not grasp what information is more important than the other. Moreover, if you give everything away in the first chapter, the reader won’t have mystery to solve or questions to ask while trying to piece things together over the course of the book. Thus, if there is nothing for the reader to discover, they won’t have a reason to continue.
- Not Including a Hook to Keep the Reader Interested
The other spectrum of first-time fiction writers is not including a hook to keep your reader interested. Yes, building intrigue and mystery is important but there needs to be something in your first chapter that keeps the reader coming back for more. It could be something as simple as an out of the ordinary in a routine or seemingly abnormal internal monologue or something as big as a dead body. The point is to make the reader want to know what happens next or why the author included certain details.
- Using Unrealistic Dialogues and Character Dynamics
Another common mistake fiction writers make is writing dialogues that don’t feel natural or human-like. By that we mean the dialogues are either too flat and lack any personality or distinction between characters, or are too cheesy and immediately make the characters fall in tropes and clichés. Thus making their actions and dialogues predictable.
An extension of such writing also leads to unrealistic character dynamics that wouldn’t exist in real life. Now this isn’t to say that real life is the set-in-stone depiction of what happens in fiction but it does hamper the reading experience when the dynamics aren’t grounded in reality even if it’s fictitious. For example, no sibling in the history of siblings has ever addressed their brother/sister as “hey sis/bro”. Character dynamics play an important role in pushing the plot forward because it tells the reader who to root for and whom to be suspicious of. At the same time, it makes the story more digestible and come across as jarring.
If you’re a first-time writer and enjoyed these tips, check out our blog on white room syndrome and how to avoid it.