One of the trickiest parts of writing a novel is the whole “Chapter 1” thing. Or should this novel start with a prologue?! Gah! I’m already stuck!
You know you need to grab the reader in the opening of a novel, but it’s tricky to start with action. You might want to show what a protagonist’s life is like before the plot gets going, but you don’t want to be boring. You’ve given your protagonist a voluminous backstory, but how much of that belongs on the page, and where is the cutoff for where the novel begins anyway?
To make matters worse: there are no hard and fast rules here. I’m sorry! There isn’t a formula for beginning a novel! If there were, I would have already mailed it to you wrapped in velvet.
But I still have some advice.
Set aside information and brainstorm a scene
One of the easiest ways to get lost in an opening is to think solely in terms of the information you need to deliver to the reader in order for the plot to make sense. When you’re starting out, ditch the information (for now!).
Instead think: What’s an awesome scene?
What’s an evocative setting that shows my protagonist in their element? What’s a thorny situation they might need to unravel? How can I keep the protagonist active from the very start of the novel?
Information is hard to invest in before the reader has gotten to know the beating heart at the center of the novel. Without knowing what’s motivating the protagonist (and thus what’s important in the novel), a deluge of information might be more bewildering than helpful.
But more importantly: information delivery often results in a contrived, tedious scene. When characters become sock puppets for bestowing information to the reader, they can feel stilted and forced at best.
We only need to know enough information to understand the contours of the scene at hand. Trust that you can fill the reader in on even the most convoluted backstory as the novel goes along.
Instead: How can you write a showstopper of a scene that engages the reader right from the start? Rather than needing the reader to hang in there before the story gets going, how can Chapter 1 be one of your personal favorite scenes of all?
It’s helpful to show a character’s “what is,” but keep them active
J.R.R. Tolkien shows Frodo in The Shire before Gandalf shows up, which helps give the reader a sense of what Frodo’s leaving behind. Even in the movies, we don’t begin Star Wars on the way to the Death Star, we first see Luke Skywalker lamenting his life as a moisture farmer before he meets Obi Wan Kenobi and learns the ways of the Force.
Some novels jump right into the inciting incident, but often it’s helpful to lay some groundwork first. That’s okay!
But if you want to keep the reader engaged, again, it helps to keep them active. The scenes before the inciting incident can be a good time to establish a character’s hopes and dreams and show how they thought they were going to get what they wanted before the problem/opportunity afforded by the inciting incident that really gets the ball rolling.
You can also lay some Easter Eggs that become important later on. In the opening chapter of my novel Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow, Jacob tries to save his friends from an evil substitute teacher, which becomes important later on in the novel when he lands himself on the planet where substitute teachers come from.
I like to think of these pre-inciting incident activities as a mini-quest before the main quest gets going.
Don’t rest on cliches. Show off what makes your novel unique
Okay, I lied, there is a rule when it comes to opening a novel: Don’t start with a character waking up. It’s done to death.
Even if you pick up literally seconds after your protagonist wakes up, just start off with whatever the next thing it was that you were going to have them do.
I’d also recommend avoiding cheap rug pulling that will undermine reader trust and being overly vague to the point of meaningless.
Stand tall with your story. Show your stuff! Show your world! Have fun with it!
Can’t think of an awesome scene right off the bat? Just leave a placeholder and keep moving
You don’t need the perfect scene in your first draft. Heck, you don’t even need a good scene or even a decent one. It can be actively terrible or just a placeholder. Totally fine!
All you’re trying to do when you start a novel is finding your voice and plot. For even the most dedicated outliner, that might take a while. You will learn more about the characters as you go along, and you can always return the beginning when you know more about the story.
Finish the novel, then come back to your opening with fresh eyes. (Careful not to let your opening cement in your mind!) Knowing what you know now about your protagonist and the world of the novel, how would you start it off?
Wipe the slate clean and write the showstopper you wanted there all along.
Experiment until you get it right
The line between backstory and, uh, frontstory is blurry and difficult to pin down. It might take a few tries and a few different approaches before you land on the exact right place to start the story.
Just remember: It’s not about information. It’s about introducing the reader to a fascinating character in a scintillating setting and never letting them go.
Do you have any advice on where to start a novel? Let me know in the comments!
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Art: Gebirgsweg in den Beskiden by Hugo Baar
I read that you start a novel – every chapter – every scene – with the kettle boiling – not where it is being filled with cold water.
I thought it was very good advice.
I’d make a distinction between *action* and a character *being active.* You don’t necessarily need to start with a character moving around in an exciting way. It could be as simple as trying to figure something out or going after something they want in a lowkey way.
What you tell us here is the way I crafted my first novel and it worked very well. These days I’m writing memoir and I’ve found that many of your same points also apply to memoir. Several years ago I opened my first memoir with an awesome scene. Six pages into the action and emotion I transition into a flashback, tell what happened several hours before this opening awesome scene that had brought me to this point. But there was a problem. When I read my story it fell short, lacked punch, didn’t convey what I had wanted it to. For a year I read it over again and again trying to figure out what was wrong.
Then it hit me: the flashback was a scene more awesome than the one used in the opener! When I moved the flashback to the story’s beginning and let the action flow into the original narrative it all came together as one awesome scene that almost stunned me.
I have always read that you should start any story, novel or shorter works with some sort of action. It does not have to be directly related to the main action of the story but should include some sort of action to grab the reader’s attention.
I’m keeping this post up while I brush up that chapter one last time before querying.