Beginners Guide: Writing First Five Pages of Your Novel
There are a lot of tips and tricks on how to right the first chapter of your book. There is a certain fear that comes along with the writing process. Many writers, publishers and readers put a lot of importance in the beginning of the first chapter.
A book’s first chapter will always be the most important part of your book, this will determine if the reader will be interested in your book or would leave it behind in a shelf somewhere to collect dust.
Despite the fact that the first chapter has its importance, you should know that you do not have to have an amazing first chapter or stress on that fact for two much.
The first five pages of your novel would be the most important ones. Most readers read the first to five pages, this is why the first pages are so important, with this in mind let’s talk about what needs to be included into your first five pages.
The Hook
This is the holy grail of keeping your readers. Your novel should start with something that attracts the reader and keeps them interested in your book. The one thing that makes a reader disinterested in your story is when there is nothing that excites them. A hook does not necessarily mean you’d need something unique and shocking to grab the reader’s attention, but it should be like a promise of what’s to come in the next chapter.
You need to make the reader want to know more, peek the person curiosity to the point they keep asking what’s next.
A Really Good Opening Line.
This is the beginning of it all. Every great fairy tale always begins with a once upon a time and so should a novel. When I mean once upon a time I do not mean the actual words but the symbology behind it. The first words of your book should peek the reader’s interest. This is not limited to the first sentence but it can be used in like a paragraph.
Take the example of the first words of the first chapter of the famous book the Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien. (You would have to look for the book or goggle it because of copy right but let’s continue.)As you can see despite it being a fantasy book he captured the reader’s attention by describing the home of a mythical creature in a way that the reader would ask what does that even mean, making the reader want to read more to understand what is a hobbit and why the story starts in a hole in the ground.
The for example of the first paragraph of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins a dystopian fantasy. (Again, you would have to look for the book or goggle it because of copy right but let’s continue.)If you take a look at it carefully you’d realize that it can be considered normal in some cases almost plain. But it does make you wonder who is prim, why should she sleep next to this person and why does she have nightmares.
Something so simple can peak a readers curiosity.
Who Your Main Character is.
There is no one more important than your main character. It is through them that the whole story exists in the first place. Readers as much as they love to route for the underdog they simply cannot relate to a character that is perfect.
Your character needs to be relatable, there are so many writers who struggle to make their character so likable that they miss the most important thing, the character above all else should be relatable.
Have you ever read a book and you found yourself loving a villain more than the main character? It is a rare occurrence but once it happens to you would understand the important of flaws in a character. That’s what makes a person relatable. The trials and problems that a character goes through should be a way to develop your character.
You do not have to clear a characters intentions of the bat, we need to go through a way of discovery, slowly find out the characters morals, their desires why they do what they do.
Show the Life and Journey.
I have touched on this in the above point. An important part of writing a good character and a story in general is the journey, there should be a significant contrast between what has happened and what will happen and how it will all end.
The character should have a jumping point, the past is almost as important as the future, if the main character is always shy, what happened to make her like that. If a character is introduced as living in poverty, then why is that what happened in the past to make it happen. In a romantic novel the background and relationships the main character has in the past is always in not often the thing that drives the characters choices which in a way makes the plot advance.
