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Angels, Books, Demons, Facebook, Fifty Shades of Grey, Stephen King, The Writer's Circle, Twilight, Writers, Writing
Irony hit me two ways today, and both times in the crotch. As I was writing this blog about starting your first chapter I peeked online and saw this on a Facebook page I follow regularly – The Writer’s Circle (https://www.facebook.com/writerscircle?fref=nf) (because of course I do), and saw one of the posts was advice from writers to writers. One of them was a quote from Stephen King: “The scariest moment is always just before you start.”
See, I may not read his novels, but if he’s going to give me advice about writing I’m going to listen because he’s sold a lot of books (and not Twilight or 50 Shades of whatever books), and because writers I respect read him even if I don’t. Beyond friends and family I’m going to admit the fact that even if I don’t appreciate his work that doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s a smart guy. Outside of his writing I think he’s smart and I appreciate his talent enough to admit that he’s right, it is a very scary moment to start writing a book. You’re about to embark on a project that is going to take a lot of time, commitment, and patience. The beginning of any journey can be frightening, whether it’s mental, physical, or spiritual. Writing combines all three.
The first chapter is probably the hardest part of writing for many. Getting that first word down on such a momentous project is tense because you want it to be perfect. Sometimes too perfect. You want the first sentence your reader to read to be memorable, haunting, instilling, and something that stays with them for the rest of their life. They forget about the fact that they can always go back and revise and rewrite. Remember, there is no perfect beginning; as things unfold they develop and become an aspect that will eventually form your novel or book.
You don’t need to write the perfect first chapter, that’s later. What you want to do is just finish that damn book (unless you’re writing a book about fallen angels and demons, then it’s a damned book). Sometimes, sometimes, you might get the right first word(s) down the first time. But more than likely you won’t. The cynical bastard in me is thinking that you’ll stop halfway through the chapter because you’ll want to tweak what you have, or if you finish it you’ll want to rewrite the whole first chapter because you can do it better. You want the perfect book and you’ll have that written chapter to chapter, inch by inch. Each chapter will be a finished draft that no editor will dare change. You’ll rewrite each chapter half-a-dozen times, and suddenly after chapter three you’re sick of the whole thing and you drop it, and then start a new project and the cycle of writing abuse starts all over again.
Don’t be that writer.
Instead, write your first sentence. Get it down, you heard me, get the first sentence written down or typed and then write the next one and the next one, and so forth and so on, until you have the first paragraph and then the second paragraph and before you know it it’s going to be a completed first chapter. Once it’s done resist the urge to revisit and revise, yes you can re-read, but only if you’re looking up a plot point to help you write the current chapter you’re working on, but the most important thing is to keep writing and moving your manuscript or novel forward and keep the momentum going until you have that first draft, and yes this is going to be a run on sentence, why do you ask?
Back to my primary idea, I suggest a novel (pun intended, nah I’m not that clever) idea, once you finish the first chapter, instead of going back immediately to revise chapter one, you start writing chapter two. Then the next chapter, and the one after that. Before you know it first draft is done.
Of course there is another way you can bypass the first chapter stigma completely, and that’s by writing the last chapter first.
That’s my trick.
What? The blog is about writing the first chapter, not about writing the first words to your book. *evil smile*
What are your solutions to first chapter anxieties?