It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times: throwing out your first chapter

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September 10, 4:56 PM

by Guy Incognito, Writing Examiner

 

 

The more you write, the more familiar this sight will become.

The first time I was asked this, I thought the man posing the question was insane. At the time, I was very much of the opinion that anything you write, no matter how flawed, should never be thrown away.

As I got older and more experienced, I began to see where the notion might have come from. And to see some level of value in the concept.

I am not advocating for anyone to just remove the first several pages of their book to magically make the writing better. That's just nuts.

What I would recommend, though, is writing your first chapter with the thought that this might not be the most amazing part of your novel. In fact, it's probably going to be one of the worst parts because it's all so new.

The plot is new, the characters are new (unless it's a seqeul, of course), and your head hasn't had a chance to really get immersed in your story. So use those pages to work out the kinks and figure out your tone, your character voices, etc.

And then, once you have a grip on that, start over. Not from scratch, of course. Keep the plotting you used, keep your dialogue if you like it, or at least the sentiments conveyed, and then rewrite those first pages with your head now firmly in your world.

It might feel like a waste of time, but I promise you, if you don't do it in the beginning, you'll probably spend hours doing it after the book is finished. And it's a lot easier to rewrite content when you've just created it.

This allows you to really get a chance to think your words through. And hey, this is your chance to grab the reader. So grab 'em by the horns and make your book the best it can be.

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