I thought for the new year I would start at the beginning so let's look at how to start your book in a way that will grab the readers' attention. Let's face it, no matter how good the rest of your book is, if the first chapter doesn’t succeed in capturing your reader’s attention, chances are they’ll put your book down and will never pick it up again.
Of course, you know this! You’ve been in a bookshop before, read a first page and made a decision to either purchase the book (vastly increasing your chances of reaching the end) or put it down and walk away. If you do this, it makes sense that many other readers will too.
Start Your Book With Action
However, your instinct start your story with a dramatic, action-packed scene is will only work if your reader understands the world the story takes place in and care about the characters involved. Therefore, a gripping action packed scene works best when the author has given enough background to allow the reader to make sense of what is happening.
Slow Down
The beginning of your story should introduce everything: the setting, the genre, the premise or hook, the characters, but in a way that intrigues the reader enough that they will carrying on reading.
The author needs to draw the initial scenes slowly enough to introduce the story with clarity, but also to make sure every word, especially on the first page, earns its place.
Your Characters
As the author you must know your characters inside out and that can take time, but being able to effectively communicate the place they are currently at in their life, what they want and what stands in their way is essential to creating a compelling start to your novel. By showing your reader what the main character cares about, and putting that at risk, you immediately raise the stakes and make the readers' experience more intense. This will not happen if they have not been given an introduction to them and therefore do not care about them.
Ask a Question First and Answer it Last
As someone working on a book with elements of mystery and suspense, I’m aware that knowing when to ask and answer questions is critical to retaining my readers' interest. This is true of any good book. The readers want you to withhold information and they want to ask questions. These may be as simple as ‘What’s going to happen next?’
The core question of your story should be found in the hook. If there’s a dead body on the first page, the answers we probably want most are ‘who is it?' and 'what caused this murder?’
I say this rather than ‘who did it?’ because while we might find this out before the very end of the book, we shouldn’t have the full picture until the very end. This will include the killer’s motives, means and the execution (pun intended) of the murder.
Take as an example Agatha Christie's Hercules Poirot. When he is solving a murder and his companion asks: ‘The one thing I don’t understand is [one final unexplained detail about the murder]...’ Poirot, always explains the missing piece of the puzzle with perfect accuracy. Withholding this final piece of information gives the reader something to hold out for. As the author, you must keep something back to keep your reader reading.
Set Expectations
If you take everything above about introducing your story and asking a question (only to withhold the full answer until the end), consider taking the idea one step further: the first chapter should set our expectations so that we understand the shape of the story ahead.
But then the book should upend them.
When you let your reader into this world you've created and raise a question, their mind will already be making assumptions about the story ahead and as the author you want this. However, readers also want to be surprised.
Think about The Hunger Games. Katniss and her dystopian world are introduced to us just before the Hunger Games take place. Everything that we are shown is nudging us to guess that Katniss will likely take part in these games. In fact, the blurb probably spoiled this for the reader.
However, what they didn’t expect is that the moment a name is called, it’s her sister’s name that is heard. This reversal of expectations raises the stakes by putting what Katniss cares about (her family) in harm’s way and forcing her to take action.
If you are writing a book in which the main character doesn’t question the lies they have been told, you might think you'll struggle to find a way to make them investigate the central issue in your novel that you need them to solve. However, it shouldn't be too difficult for you if you take something your character really cares about and put that at risk. In this scenario, to save what they care about, the character must tug on the thread that will eventually unravel the world around her.
To do this, your main character will get broken down throughout the course of the book before you as the author rebuild her. Conflict is crucial to a gripping story and your readers' satisfaction.
Good luck with all your writing in the year ahead.
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