by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
My editor emailed me last week to see if she could get the first chapter for the next book in the series to include as a teaser for the book that’s coming out February 5. Her managing editor said he needed it by November 1.
“Sure,” I answered. This, although I hadn’t started the book yet, and was working on a different project. :) I always say yes to whatever editors want, then figure out the details later.
With a teaser, you end up with a chapter floating around with no anchor—no cover copy to give the set-up for the book. The teaser is functioning solely as ad copy for the series. My editor asks for it to be fairly fixed—I can have some differences between the teaser chapter and my final version of chapter one …but that it not be too radically different.
The character names have got to be the same in both the teaser and the actual finished book. This means I need to have more of a handle on these characters than I frequently do when I’m writing a first draft (since I usually make it up as I go along and change character names when I get to know the characters better.)
Setting needs to be fairly concrete, too. Can’t have the teaser set in a lighthouse and have the finished book set in a remote mountain cabin.
And the general plot set-up has got to be consistent. If the teaser opens with a dead body and the suspects exclaiming over the body’s discovery, I don’t need to change the story to have the body discovered in chapter three. Some readers buy several books in a series at once and read them back to back. Those readers would definitely notice any large discrepancies.
My first chapters usually include (whether they’re teasers or not):
Action. Something needs to happen in the first chapter. If there’s a lot of talk and no action, readers may not stick with the book. Sometimes I have a dead body in chapter one. Sometimes I have an argument between the future victim and one of the suspects. The first chapter is a great place to include the inciting incident for your story—the point where it’s no longer an ordinary day for your character.
Minimal character introduction. This is something I’ve learned the hard way over the last few years of writing. Readers won’t be happy if they’re overwhelmed by characters and character names in the first 15 pages of the book.
Limited backstory. I just bring in enough backstory to keep the reader from getting confused. The first chapter isn’t the time or place to just flat-out tell the reader all the character motivation. That gets boring when the reader hasn’t even gotten to know the character.
Minimal setting and character description. I tend to skimp on setting and description, anyway….and it’s really, really skimpy in chapter one. That’s just personal preference. I give enough broad brushstrokes to give the reader an idea what or who they’re looking at. I do provide more detail in following chapters, but still try to space it out.
The story’s mood, tone, genre. It’s a murder mystery, so I want to make sure it feels like one from the beginning. I set the mood and tone for the story in the first chapter, too.
Dialogue. Because I’m a fan of dialogue, I usually have a lot of it in my books—and I almost always open with dialogue (despite what a lot of the writing “rules” say.)
What do you include in your first chapter? What do you keep out of it? How do you like to open your stories?
Image—Cohdra : Morguefile
Hope you’ll run by Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy blog for a giveaway of Hart Johnson’s Azalea Assault and my Quilt or Innocence. You only have to comment on the post for an opportunity to win the books.
Elizabeth – I think you’re wise to hook the reader right away in the first chapter. I had to learn how to do that. People want to get drawn right into the story and that includes some action, some dialogue and a solid sense of setting and context. Once you orient the reader you can fill in the backstory. It’s a bit like meeting someone for a date. You don’t want to hear your first date’s entire life story within the first hour. You want to start by getting a general impression and of course, you want to start with something that’ll keep you asking questions and staying interested.
Great tips! I try to use a lot of sensory elements in the first chapter and a mix of dialogue and thought. And enough description to ground the story. Like you, I’m also bad about changing names as I know the characters better. One character in my WIP is now on about Name #4 – and I’m only halfway – LOL.
This is so interesting! I’ve always wondered how the author went about including the first chapter for a future book in the back of a just-released book. It’s kind of funny you have to write it before you’ve begun thinking much about it. At least now you have a start!
I do minimal setting and character description! Oh wait, I do that throughout the whole book though…
Writing a first chapter that can’t be changed much would be a challenge. Especially with the names. I don’t select most of my characters’ names until I’m done. (But I leave blanks, which makes inserting the names an even bigger challenge!)
I really appreciate all of your tips, Elizabeth. As a reader, I do get overwhelmed being introduced to too many characters all at once.
Thank you so much for the shout-out!
Kathy M.
Laura–Now I feel like I’m ahead of the game! Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have started writing that book for another month (or longer), so now I’ve got lots of time to think it all through.
Margot–Very good analogy! A first chapter is very much like a first date. (Or, at least as I *remember* first dates. It’s been a good 22 years or so…ha!)
Alex–We’re a lot alike. :) I’ll sometimes just put in ***A and ***B and then fill in the names later. No luxury in doing that with teaser chapters, though.
Kathy–I am, too…and I should have picked up on that right away, as a writer! I’m more careful with it now.
And thanks so much to *you* for hosting the giveaway!
Carol–Ha! I’m glad to know I’m not alone.
You’re smart to put in sensory details–I do like using other senses to shake things up a bit.
I just edited a book where I changed the character’s name halfway through and didn’t somehow even realize I did it! Corinne changed into Connie. I really don’t know where my brain has gone…
This is such a helpful round-up for the first chapter–it would be great to use as a revising check too. :) Awesome!
These are really great tips! I enjoyed reading it, mainly because I don’t know how to start my first chapter.
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Jill–Thanks! And thanks for coming by.
Gina–It’s tough to start out, but the most important thing is just to keep writing, finish the chapter, and fix it later. You can always go back and fix anything. :)
I always say yes to whatever editors want, then figure out the details later.
I laughed. If I had to write a teaser chapter I’d try to write one that raised more questions than it answered. Of course, that’s like saying “buy low, sell high” to succeed at the stock market.
The other option is use a page out of Dan Brown and end on a cliffhanger. Or if you are feeling more like George R. R. Martin that day, just kill off a character or two (though killing a character in the same chapter he/she is introduced might be a new record even by G.R.R.M’s standards).
Peter–Raising questions is always good. That’s one of the appeals of putting the dead body in chapter one…the whodunit gets set up right away. (For me, anyway…I’m writing mysteries.)
And you’re right–it can also be tough to stick a dead body in chapter one! Because you *have* to reveal who the guy was…and how will you do that? Can’t really introduce him after he’s dead. Flashbacks are tricky (I don’t use them most of the time). I did have a victim in chapter one in the book I just finished and I decided to fill in who the victim was with the suspect interviews and what they said about him. Hope that worked! The reader won’t feel connected to the victim or really care about his fate so I had to make them care about getting the case solved for other reasons.
My husband LOVES George R.R. Martin…reads all his books. :)
Thanks for this, Elizabeth!
Julie–Thanks for coming by the blog!