What Goes Into Chapter One?

Whether you’re a plotter that has to figure everything out ahead of time like Kristin or a pantser like me that just starts (and restarts…a lot) to see where the story goes, there’s nothing harder with writing than the dreaded Chapter One. So, this week we’re talking about some things that probably need to be considered right off the bat in your story.

Who Is Your Character and Who Are They Going to Become?

            It sounds a little obvious, but most stories typically start off with the main character. In an effective first chapter, the reader should be introduced to your main character and have a good idea about who they are. We’ve probably all heard the writing advice that you should start your character off in their “normal” everyday lives, then flip everything on its head into the extraordinary situation of the greater plot.

            Tell us who your character is, what their typical lives are like, and the stakes of what happens if things change. We need to get a feel for who they are and like them or, if you’re dealing with a character that shouldn’t be very likeable, we need to at least be able to understand and empathize with them. (See this blog on villains and how to tell their stories for more detail.)

            We’ve seen this a hundred times. In Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, we see Katniss go through her usual morning hunting routine with Gale, understand the struggle she has in District 12 and the consequences of the Reaping, which later in the day will entirely upturn her life. Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart begins with a normal night at home until Dustfinger’s unexpected visit to warn that Capricorn’s men are after Meggie and her father. Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief starts with Percy Jackson defending his friend Grover from a school bully on a field trip, thus getting in trouble and being forced to confront a monster disguised as his teacher which tips him off to the mythical world around him.

            See? All three books start in routine circumstances, although all introduce a mysterious element of the world they’re about to be forced into.

            One of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve ever heard is something I first read in Lajos Egri’s The Art of Dramatic Writing, which makes the point that you as a writer need to ensure that your characters, even if they undergo a radical shift of character development, need to express the potential to make that change from the very beginning. I’m not saying you need to know exactly where your character is going from the very first instance, but you need to have some idea at least in general of where you want to take them. For example, if you want to turn your timid farm boy into a dragon slayer by the end of the book, he’s got to show some instance of what’s needed to make that character shift at the beginning.

            Katniss eventually becomes the face of the rebellion and is offered the chance at rebellion in the first chapter when Gale asks her to skip the Reaping and run away. Meggie listens at the door to Mo and Dustfinger’s conversation to find out what’s going on even though her father clearly didn’t want her hearing. Meggie spends the next two books often going around her father’s attempts to protect her and finding her own path throughout the story. Percy stands up for Grover in Chapter One, at his own expense with a larger power, which he repeatedly does throughout the 15+ books that follow. Percy always defends those that need defending, no matter what it brings on him, because it’s right. But in all these cases, the larger movement these characters will go on is present in the very first chapter.

            There is also a scenario where your story might not begin with your main character, although in this instance, I think you have to weigh if this is something that needs to be a first chapter or a prologue of some sort. The main book I think of that specifically starts with Chapter One not focused straight into the main character’s journey through the book is J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which begins with Dumbledore and McGonagall bringing baby Harry to Privet Drive. Though the book is about Harry’s journey to Hogwarts as an eleven-year-old, this chapter does back up a bit and start him off as a baby, laying out the details of his parent’s deaths which is the inciting incident for the overarching series plot, while the inciting incident for The Sorcerer’s Stone comes later. Rowling had her purposes for backing up because she’s setting up two things.

Mood/General Theme of the Story

            Much like setting up the general theme of a character, you’re going to want to establish the general mood or theme of the story. Now don’t panic, once again, you don’t have to know everything right off the bat. Still, you need to have a basic idea of what you’re going for. If your story is dark and moody, then your first chapter cannot be sunshine and rainbows. It just doesn’t make sense unless you can find some wild way to pull that off. If your story is lighter and funny, then we need to see that kind of writing occurring in Chapter One.

Is Your Character Going About Things the Wrong Way?

            One of the points made in Jessica Brody’s famous writing advice book, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel is the fact that a lot of times characters don’t always go about fixing things in the right way. If the characters did everything right the first time, then you wouldn’t really have that much of a plot, would you?

            Brody’s technique includes having someone early on explicitly tell the main character that they’re going about things the wrong way, leading to them eventually having to grow and do things the correct way.

            Does your character refuse to take a specific piece of advice? Do they purposefully avoid doing something a specific way due to fear, pride, etc.? What will be the thing that eventually makes them take the supposed “correct” path?

Inciting Incident

            Almost perhaps as obvious as letting the reader start to vibe with your main character in Chapter One is setting up your inciting incident. This is the juicy bit- the thing that launches your story into action! Here’s the springboard moment where the normal routine of your everyday story gets obliterated and your character is thrust into a position where they can never go back to the way things were before.

            In The Hunger Games, Chapter One cliffhangs into the unthinkable drawing of Katniss’s sister Prim’s name even though it was only in the drawing once. (Do I need a spoiler alert for that? I feel like even if you’ve not seen or read The Hunger Games you probably know that happens.) This moment propels Katniss into volunteering to save her sister’s life even though it means almost certain death for herself. Boom. Stress.

            Inkheart sows seeds of doubt between Meggie and her father regarding his past and what he’s not telling her, along with the threat of the men chasing them. What’s he hiding? Why are they running? Mystery is set up.

            The Lightning Thief first chapter reveals the mythical world to Percy despite attempts to conceal it. His awareness of the world his mom has attempted to protect him from is the very thing that puts him in danger in the first place.

Putting It All Together

            If you’re feeling overwhelmed with all those things to think about when starting your story, just remember that there is no specific formula to writing. A lot of stories follow the same movements, which you should be aware of, but the execution of your story comes down to you and how you combine elements to make things work. You do not have to know everything right away, but you do need some general idea of what kind of story you’re aiming for.

            Take KrisKam Publishing’s upcoming novel, The Visionary, for example. We didn’t do a ton of planning right away, but after brainstorming, we had a general idea of an opening scene, inciting incident, and a general audience. This gave us a place to start and an idea of what our audience would be expecting if they fell within the YA category- probably nothing too violent or graphic, maybe more humorous, and dealing with themes popular to that group like identity, friendship, parents, or school.

            We knew that to write a story about powers, we needed to show that our main character, Jade, had abilities that weren’t common. We open the book with Jade’s abilities (as well as her lack of control over them) in her normal home setting, triggering circumstances that make her leave home and thus meet several other important characters. Meeting these characters not only launches the story, but the over-arching plot of the series as well.

            In the chapter before she leaves home, we see Jade’s powers at work, her family, her everyday life, and her attitudes about things. Jade, whose main character development deals with self-acceptance and trusting others, isn’t gelling well with her family and is actively avoiding making friends at her new school. Her mother points this out to Jade who, by the end of the book, will have to trust others and find her way back to her family.

            Still, in this chapter we see the corny humor present in the rest of the book, the struggle Jade will have to overcome by trusting others and her family, and the need for her to harness her powers. The general tone for the chapter is jokey while also kind of serious, which I’d say most of the rest of the book follows too, so you’re getting a pretty solid preview of what’s to come.

            Think about your characters and who they need to become. Think about your general mood and tone and audience. What do we need to know right off the bat and how can you really keep us hooked enough to go on to chapter two? Literally, there wasn’t any way somebody was stopping The Hunger Games after Prim gets called. Give us that moment.

            Got any other thoughts on things to consider in Chapter One or any other favorite reads will fantastic openers? Let us know!

            Thanks for reading! Write on.

            -Kamryn