When you’re writing for young people or writing a fast-paced action story, first chapters have an important role to play. There’s no time for backstory and setup and waffling along a path.
Here are 5 things I try to get into my first chapter to make the reader turn the page into the second and third and so on.
- Start with your character – show us your character in action from the get go. They should be doing something interesting, exciting or important very close to the main action or decision of the plot. Especially for young readers, do not start the first chapter with weather or thinking or dream etc.
- The character must be close to jeopardy or in jeopardy very soon – say in the first two pages of the first chapter. If not, we have no reason to find out what’s going to happen next.
- The character must want something – related to the jeopardy. He/she should desire an outcome that they are willing to fight for.
- In thought, emotion and action, the character must move forward. They must resolve and decide to do something to get the thing they want / solve the jeopardy / right the situation. Indecision is unbecoming of a protagonist. Even if they’re not sure, they must make a decision that propels them into action.
- Just paint a setting where the action is taking place so we understand the context. We do need to know in the first chapter whether we are reading a fantasy or a sci-fi or contemporary story, and why the jeopardy is critical and why the character must act on it. You can tell us history, backstory and details about the protagonist or the antagonist as you go along when you need it in later chapters. In the first chapter, just set the scene, paint a picture within the constraints of which your protagonist must take action.
Whether or not a first chapter, always end on a cliff-hanger, even if it is an emotional one.
Here is a video by Ellen Brock, which might supplement my tips.