7 common first chapter mistakes to avoid in your novel
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- I've critiqued hundreds of first chapters in my life and these are some common mistakes beginning writers make. Actually, if I'm being honest, professionals still do a lot of these things too...we've just learned to go back in and clean up our messes a little better, that's all!
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the point about going back for a round of edits where you add intentional vibrant detail and interactions to replace all the mediocre ones you cut was eye-opening to me. I've gotten ruthless with cutting but struggle with the feeling of 'cutting too much' when this made me realise it's actually just not having enough worthy stuff to start. funny you mention Hill House too because I'm one of the many who find its actual opening paragraph gripping like nothing else.
In my first draft, I'm guilty of 'stage directions' but I always edit it out (hopefully). I have the first paragraph of Haunting of Hill House memorized. Just a book nerd party trick🤣Look forward to your critiques of opening chapters of famous books!
I still haven't actually read Hill House! I got it after being so impressed with We Have Always Lived in the Castle but haven't gotten around to it yet. But it was in my TBR pile and I just had a feeling Shirley Jackson would deliver me an excellently written example of telling. Which she did! That's a good writer party trick for sure.
I've never read The Haunting of Hill House, but you've made me order it immediately from the library.
As a person who has a lot of trouble remembering character names/descriptions in the first place, starting a first chapter with
"here's the 20 characters I want to introduce, name + surname, each with their +1 (who may or may not be important) and all their physical descriptions, their jobs, and (why not) here's their CVs... as well as their childhood pets' names"
is a surefire way to make me -throw your book out the window- put your book down
Same, and especially if the names are too similar!
Some of my favorite first pages/few chapters will always be from Fredrick Backman's books. He sets the tone and captures your attention so quickly.
Anxious people- (robber accidentally runs into an apartment being advertised, holds the prospective buyers hostage, when the police finally get inside the robber has disappeared) chapter 1- All about how sometimes really desperate people do really stupid things, like robbing a bank with a gun and no escape plan.
Chapter 2- (paraphrased) 10 years ago a man stood on a bridge. But the story isn't about him right now, so don't think about him. But that's like someone telling you not to think about cookies. Don't think about cookies!
10 years ago a man stood on a bridge, at the end of his life. But don't think about that right now. Think about cookies.
And then he moves on. Like I'm SORRY?!? What?!
Beartown (hockey town on the edge of economic collapse, the finals might fix it, I promise you don't have to like hockey the book is amazing)- Chapter 1- Late one evening [...] a teenager picked up a [gun], walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else's forehead, and pulled the trigger. [...] This is the story of how we got there.
And then chapter 2 does an insane job of playing with readers' assumptions.
A Man Called Ove (grumpy old man find happiness while still frowning)- this book doesn't exactly do anything crazy, but it shows you so clearly and immediately who the character is. It takes the grumpy old man stereotype we all know, and makes it almost funny with it's ridiculousness. And then of course Backman has to drop a bomb in an early chapter, but there's a lot more build up and hinting at it. His books are also quite funny (except Beartown, which is definitely more serious, tw for r@pe/SA), but will make you cry the next page. Amazing writer. His books are the ones I will be reading until they're yellow and falling apart at the spine.
Bonus- they have well written POC, body type, and LGBTQ+ representation. His books in general feel so natural and easy to read. It has simpler prose, but the character's feel so real. (Also he's insanely good at backstory, I will never stop singing this man's praises)
I usually don't get a lot from these kind of videos but this was really helpful. thank you!
Same! Usually people who make these types of videos just reiterate the same basic ideas but this one actually has genuinely helpful and unique points
Bedraggled: adding to my vocabulary
😂
Excellent advice.
Having other people (who aren't family) read your work and give you honest feedback is one of two things that will improve your work the most. (The other is butt in chair. Time spent writing.)
the haunting of hill house, along with "we have always lived in the castle", should be required reading for new authors tbh. I've read both like seventeen times and they never get old. shirley was a genius.
Castle is actually the only one of her novels I've read yet...but it was perfection. I had a gut feeling pulling Hill House off my TBR would give me a good sample (since I'd already passed Castle along, though I really should get a permanent copy).
Just went and edited the first chapter of my story 😅 These tips are great.
Solid advice!
This is SOOO helpful. I love craft chats!
These were 18 very insightful minutes. I recall my biggest lesson early on, was allowing the reader to infer, which you covered here.
It was so important for so many reasons. Releasing a tight control over the precision in which the reader interprets the text, results in a better story, due to the myriad possible ways that a reader's perception differs from another.
There is more respect shown for the reader, and their own capable intelligence.
Thanks for making this, Lydia.
The third aspect of advice makes so much sense to me. Your fourth level of advice also is super helpful. Thank you.
"Seveneves" by Neil Stephenson starts with a really good opening paragraph that establishes the premise. It goes on to be more tell-y for a bit, but it's following science fiction genre conventions of there being "one miracle" and being straight to the point about it.
0:00 intro + explaining too much
5:22 explaining too little
6:40 sloppy line editing
8:22 lack of a strong POV
10:05 beating the reader over the head with basic details and emotions
11:32 telling and not showing*
14:16 give the reader a hint of something special
More of these videos please! They are so helpful! I love it! Can you do a video about how to edit down useless words? Another video idea is a whole video dedicated to how to describe your characters in interesting ways, not the boring amateur way.
If you watch the video where I line edit reader's work: th-cam.com/video/vD1mfeW7wQE/w-d-xo.html
It has a lot of advice/examples about editing down extra words. I'm planning another one late this month. I probably will do a dedicated video at some point.
I will add the character one to the list too!
I love The Haunting of Hill House. The book and the movie creep me out equally.
in my novel I want to write from multiple POV, mostly one character but in the second half of my book there are two other important characters who I tried to switch to their POV to be in their heads. It has been recommended to me that I only write from one POV, and then, I guess, write the other people from third person, birds-eye view. ...
I've added additional POVs in later parts of a book before. I say, whatever serves the story. Do you mean that the main POV is first person POV and you would have the other POVs in third person? I've done this too, although more often I've kept all the POVs in the same style, whether it was first or close third. However, it really does depend on what you want to convey.
@@lidiyafoxgloveauthor Thanks. I wrote most of the novel in close personal third from one person's POV, and then in other chapters tried to write different scenes in that chapter from another character's close personal third person POV, but I am seeing now that this is confusing. So I know I need to write only whole chapters from one character's close personal third POV and not switch around, but I guess what I am struggling with is whichever person's head I am in during a chapter, stuff still happens and they still interact with the other characters n that chapter, so my problem is suddenly switching over within the chapter to omniscient third person to be able to tell what is happening in the scene, in general... if that makes any sense. Can you recommend any of your books where that happens???
I get it now, I tried to do it in the same chapter, and divide my different POVs by scene breaks. Thanks for your editing video, now I know I need to make it two chapters and make each one longer.
@@123gorainy It's hard to say exactly without seeing it, but it might just be that you're getting too caught up in needing to explain what everyone is thinking at that moment. What is happening that can't be conveyed through one POV per chapter? Like, of course in any book your POV character will interact with the other characters, but what is happening that we need their actual point of view right then and there?
Another super helpful video, thank you!
Bravo as usual!
I didn't know we could ask for your opinion on our stories. I would love to get your take on my chapters! All of the videos I have seen from you have been informative and I listened to your "Doll Girl Meets Dead Guy" videos which were delightful. I am writing a romance with psychological and supernatural elements so a romance author would be the best person to get advice from.
Is it something only available to people on Patreon?
I have two Patreon tiers with critique options: with the $5 tier, you get first dibs on your first page appearing in a public video. Currently this is almost a guarantee you'll get a critique, although that probably won't remain true for long.
For the $25 tier (pay for the tier once, then cancel) I will critique your first page and you get a private video that's usually 15-25 minutes long as opposed to the 5 minutes or so in the public video. The first page covers a lot of ground.
At this time I'm not doing full manuscripts, I just don't want to give up that much of my own writing time to do them and I also don't think I'm the most talented structural editor.
Very interesting, thanks.
❤ love your channel so much! Hope you have a great day
Great video idea ❤
You mentioned something at the end about doing line edits for manuscripts. Is that just for the 1st page or the whole manuscript?
The whole manuscript. It's very important.
Yes, definitely the whole manuscript.
@lidiyafoxgloveauthor Sorry I miss wrote my question. I had meant to ask if you did line edits for the whole manuscript or just the first page. But I heard you say in another video that first pages were more your thing than a whole manuscript. So, my question to you is, when is the right time to have your first few pages looked at for a line edit?
Love you❤