Is Your First Chapter BORING Your Reader? Here's How to Fix It

When you're writing your first chapter, it can be super stressful! You know this is the first impression with the reader and you want to knock their socks off by writing an amazing first chapter. These 7 mistakes writers make on their first chapters are super common, but don't worry, I've got you covered with how to fix them and one easy way to turn a "don't" into an incredible opening to your novel!

Are you a writer who wants to learn how to write better fiction, or do you simply want to take your book to the next level? This channel and the free resources found on the community can help you do exactly that.

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👱‍♀️ About Me: I’m Shirley Jump, a New York Times, USA Today, Amazon, Publishers Weekly, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of 85 books published in 24 countries. I’ve worked for 4 of the big 5 New York publishers and have self-published, so I’m a bit of a hybrid author. I’m currently writing for Harper Collins and Hachette, and working on a brand-new series with you guys on this channel. Literally writing the book with you all! Look for my how-to book, Writing Compelling Fiction, on Amazon.

🫤 How’d I Get Here? I wrote TEN books in 8 years before I sold my first one. I was rejected from pretty much everyone in the business, and even quit writing for a while because I was so disheartened. It hasn’t been all rainbows and unicorns since that first sale, which is why I’m here to help you learn how to write a better book, so that you can avoid the tough-knocks road I took. So come write with me, and let’s write a better book!

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#howtowritebetter #howtostartyourbook #howtowriteafirstchapter #howtowriteagoodbook #firstchapter

[windfisher]

Wonderful job getting straight to the point

[samp]

It takes me about max ten minutes to decide if I'm going to read further or not. If an opening chapter and next few pages are about explaining too much little unnecessary, or tmi, about the scene descriptions, I give that book away. I like reading a book that gets to the point within ten minutes. I've seen some authors writing too many pages about unimportant stupid little things. I don't care about how many blades of grass there are on the lawn. Just tell me what happened on the lawn, that's it. Get to the interaction between the main characters as quickly as possible. 😅

[KatAdVictoriam]

I recently finished reading your book Writing Compelling Fiction and found it more helpful than many other craft books I had read this year. So many highlights! :) That said -- I had no idea you had a YT channel and was delighted to find it yesterday. I love your energy and concise information (not a convoluted, bloated 55 minutes -- I have a family to juggle, I can't manage those all the time when I want to also write). Great content and I hope you go up in subs, you definitely deserve them!

[kathrynp]

This was very helpful, made me rethink my first paragraph 👍🏼

[agordon]

I really appreciated what you had to say here, it was very helpful. How do I become one of the masterminds, so I can get advice on my pages as you suggested?

[Higurashika]

That's why I drop most of the anime, lol.

[intellectually_lazy]

wow, i did so much better than i thought i would

[theonlyuncleben]

I'm beginning an ongoing comic book series and I started the first comic book with a flash-forward of my main character and then transitions to him as a child for the rest of the first issue. Thoughts on this?

[princeowiredu]

3:27 what show or movie is this? I saw a clip and have been looking for it for so long now.

[aSnailCyclopsNamedSteve]

Nice speed for native speakers, but you are preaching to the choir. Why? Because to understand what you mean, one has to already know these things. You say show, don't tell. Fine, but then the example you give at 4:57 is between those two, but far closer to telling. Showing would be to have her stand before the door and show the thoughts going through her head. She is not thinking ' Something does not look right; I don't think I should go through that door.' That is what she tells her friends afterwards. At the time, she noticed the door was open; she remembered the door. That door made an impression on her. Showing that event would be to subtly draw attention to the door by overdescribing it compared to the rest of the surroundings, which is closer to what she was thinking. She likely paused before she went through it as its openness caught her by surprise and that should be mentioned. But the description could also be as simple as just a separate paragraph: 'The door was open.' This is what sort of text you need for novices to the subject: concise, concrete examples illustrating your meaning.
You are going to say that you gave references to other postings, but without an understanding of your intention, why should I move on to them. The viewer wants answers now. A more detailed answer can certainly be given elsewhere, but the viewer needs to understand that he or she needs it before doing that.

[k.christopherpfeiffer]

Mistake #2
Have you seen Frozen or Frozen 2?
They start with backstory.
Mistake #6

Have you read Game of Thrones?
It starts with a character that dies in the next chapter.
So why does you say both mistakes are mistakes because they work in the story.