6 Tips for Writing The First Scene of Your Book

How to write a book for beginners! Here are six things you should keep in mind when writing the first scene of a novel. We also look at two examples of opening pages to see how the tips apply.

🌎 S O C I A L

🙌D I S C O U N T L I N K S

📸 E Q U I P M E N T

[bilingual.william]

"These aren't full scenes because I didn't want the video to be a thousand years long."


Yup, I don't think anyone would mind that.

[micahklassen]

I think I speak for the entire universe when I say we want a Day in the Life of Saya

[Trintron]

I like the idea that a reader who skips my prologue will have a different experience reading my trilogy than others. I also ALWAYS read the prologues.

[judefrombrain]

Every time you mention that most readers will skim or skip the prologue I shout "Why??" at the screen. This is not me defending prologues. But as a reader I have never once thought "A prologue? Heh, let's skip that shit."

[Pumpkinpots]

I was expecting to need a cry session after this video and I am pleasantly surprised. Thank you for editing my thing. Twas very educational. ❤

[cnurion]

So many good things packed in 14 minutes, you are great at getting to the point and giving useful information.

[baileerambles]

Yess please do this again it’s so satisfying to watch

[j.rileyindependentproductions]

You know... I think maybe monthly, first scene edit videos would be a huge hit. You could do them like a sweepstakes kind of deal, maybe getting patrons voting on them by their concepts?

Sorry, my marketing experience kicked in there for a moment. Great video.

[cityman]

A wonderful and helpful tutorial, as always! Novel writers like me really need this.

[altairdelirio]

this is so helpful honestly, very blunt and straightforward. Honestly considering removing my prologue cause while it does bring action and relation to the story, and like each book will have a prologue that has the same scene, maybe it's unnecesary? idk BUT THANKS FOR THIS VID has me considering my first chapter more

[lauthereader]

Literally the first video I've seen from you and you already made an iconic vine reference. You got yourself a new loyal subscriber. LMAO.

[IDGODROAR]

The commentary during the reading had me rolling. 🤣

[GaviLazan]

I super love your new haircut! It's really nice.




I clearly am here for the writing videos 😋

[nicodiangelo]

I love the fairy lights behind you! The background is nice

[meganrose]

Top 3 was no problem for me as I'm writing my novel in the form of a journal by the main character lol. Love your videos btw!! So helpful

[SoulsJourney]

Love seeing how you tighten the prose. 👍

[lexibiondi]

Loved this Hannah!! Thank you for the tips!! ❤️❤️

[BishyFiveSogafi]

people dont read prologues??? thats a thing i could have been doing this entire time??? also as someone who knows dick all about crafting stories, your patrons stories slap pretty immediately.

[Hxarh]

Love the singing at the begining 🗣️🎙️🤩😁

[NickSembrat]

Bookmarking this video for future use in thinking about opening scene writing! Definitely some interesting things to think about here.

I liked how you talked about settings and characters. I think a goal I would strive for is getting the readers to either like/fall in love with the character or the setting. Ideally both would be great, but for a writer at my skill level I think going for one is best.