The three crucial elements of opening chapters

In the work I do as a creative writing tutor, mentor, editor and indie publisher I read a lot of novel openings. At Retreat West I run an annual First Chapter competition and lots of writers submitting to this haven’t nailed the crucial three elements that novels need in this chapter where you have to reel your readers in and compel them on. 

The three elements that you really need to nail in your opening chapters are:

• voice
• hook
• conflict

Now this isn’t something that you will always get right straight away and, in fact, when Sophie Jonas-Hill first sent me the manuscript of her novel Unprotected, which I published at Retreat West Books in November 2019, her original opening chapter became chapter two when we edited the manuscript, and the second chapter was moved into first place.

But what both chapters had in common were that they had all the elements you need to make your novel opening stand out.

Voice

Voice is what literary agents, publishers and readers say really makes a book work for them and it really is true. Your opening chapter has to connect the reader with your narrator instantly and it needs to do it in their voice, not yours as the author.

So take time to really find your main character’s distinctive and unique voice as that’s what’s going to make your novel noticeable. Here’s the opening lines from Unprotected so you can see how Lydia’s voice is very strong right from the get-go and really gives you a good idea of her character straight away:

My glass explodes against the wall. Max ducks, though I don’t throw it anywhere near him, the nice drink he made me before we had a nice chat about everything. ‘Don’t I deserve a better line than that?’

In order to find your narrator’s unique voice do lots of writing exercises and interview your characters. Write the responses to your interview questions in the character’s first person voice even if you’re writing the novel in third. It will really help it to shine through.

Hook

This is how you reel the reader into your story and ensure they want to read on. It needs to be there right in the opening pages setting up a narrative drive that will compel the story forward. In my latest novel, Remember Tomorrow, the hook was that my narrator’s life was in danger and she had until the next full moon to save herself. I set the threat up, and the world she was living in, from the very first lines:

My grandson means to kill me. His name is Jonah and he has the glint of the zealot in his eyes. The people here follow him like sheep. Not that there are any sheep anymore, but they used to be known for following where anybody led.

I also used the stages of the moon in each chapter heading showing it steadily moving towards full, in order to ratchet up the tension. 

Conflict

Setting up conflict for your narrator is vital. To get the reader invested in them and their story start by laying out clear wants and needs for your main character so that questions are posed straight away in the reader’s mind as to whether they’ll achieve them. The conflict doesn’t have to be huge but it has to be there, both in the external world of the storyline and in their internal world too.

Using Unprotected as an example again, in the first chapter Lydia’s long-term lover leaves her and she wants him back so there’s your external conflict and a clear want and need laid out. Through her internal monologue we see the internal conflict of her character, which is not showing how she really feels but instead upholding her savvy, street-smart and sarcastic persona even though she’s really hurting.

These three elements are what you need to get right in your opening chapter. And in all the chapters that follow to keep the pace and tension going so that your reader can’t put the book down.

But remember too that the story you’re telling has to come from your heart as that’s the other way you make it stand out. By telling the stories that burn inside you, rather than trying to write what you think the agents and publishers might want, you’ll find these vital elements start to come through naturally.

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Amanda Saint is the author of two novels, As If I Were A River (2016) and Remember Tomorrow (2019). She’s a tutor on our Ultimate Novel Writing Course, which she co-designed with CM Taylor. Amanda founded and runs Retreat West, providing writing competitions, retreats and flash fiction courses. In 2017 she expanded to include Retreat West Books indie press, which publishes short fiction, novels and memoirs and was shortlisted for Most Innovative Publisher at the 2019 Saboteur Awards. Amanda has been working as a creative writing tutor, mentor and editor for many years and has helped hundreds of writers develop their novels, memoirs and short fiction.

The Ultimate Novel Writing Course is currently open for applications.