Krys Kestrel

In my experience, the first draft of the first chapter comes easily – the words begin to flow out of me, and I’ve got the “new story buzz” that comes along with each new project. While this first draft may pour out of me like water from a busted fire hydrant, the first draft is nowhere near completed for me.

The first chapter is oftentimes what convinces a reader to stick with or buy your novel in the first place, with readers picking up books in the store to read the first paragraph or so for an idea of the tone, characters, and writing style of the author. With these things in mind, what do we have to consider when writing the first chapter?

What is the tone of the novel?

When a reader reads the first chapter of your novel, the words on the page set the tone for the rest of the novel. Are you a dialogue-heavy or description-heavy writer? If that’s the way the novel goes, the first chapter should reflect that. Do you write with fanciful language and all the lovely extraness of a Thesaurus owner? That should be apparent. Is the novel gritty, or creepy, or empowering? Let the reader know in the first chapter – not by writing the tone in big bold letters, but by your language and how you set the scene. This will take time, and often comes through the editing process once your book is written, but make sure that when you read through chapter 1, you have a good idea of the rest of the book’s vibe.

Who is the main character?

When getting to know the main character, we don’t need a bio or infodump concerning the character’s full name, birthplace, stats, etc., but we do need some sort of sense for who they are. Whether this is a lonely orphan confined to living under a set of stairs or a girl with a strong sense of family and courage, show the reader through your character’s dialogue and actions who they are. This also goes back to the famous writing adage of show, don’t tell. If your main character is not someone who is gossiped about, don’t introduce them via a throwaway character telling another nobody about the main character. However, if you do choose to use this route of another character introducing your main character, give it a purpose. Is this character being introduced as a speaker at an event? Is your character a celebrity or person of importance to be spoken about? Is your character at a job interview, describing themselves in terms the interviewer and reader understands? Make it make sense.

What is the setting?

In the first chapter, the reader should be able to get an idea of the story’s setting – the world known to the main character prior to the inciting incident. This is often shown through the character’s interactions with others and through lots of descriptions, but keep in mind that if the story is written from a first person POV, what would your character actually notice? For instance, if I were writing a story about my life from my perspective, I would not describe in detail what countertops and backsplashes were in my kitchen, since I don’t pay attention to these things on a daily basis. Without looking, I probably couldn’t describe these things to you either. Make the descriptions of the setting fit. In the case of first person POV, describe things when your character notices or interacts with them, rather than giving us a beautiful description of the room that the MC passes through each day while paying no mind. In third person, this is often resolved, but be mindful of how much description you are putting in – too much description when it’s not relevant to the plot can take the reader out of the story.

Keeping in mind these three things as building blocks for your first chapter is a great place to start, but these three things by no means spell a complete success. Writing craft takes time to excel at, and practice makes better. Each draft, you are improving your story (hopefully), and so if the first or second iteration of the first page doesn’t hit just right, keep it in mind and come back to it.

For now, that’s all the advice I have. I have to get back to writing, so until next time, I’ll see you on the other side.

K. Kestrel