Write a Grabbing First Chapter

1. Write prologue if needed.

2. Introduce the heroine/hero's immediate situation in the first paragraph/scene.
   • Show the heroine/hero worried about the "story question.
   • Get into her/his POV immediately. Tell about her/his world and immediate surroundings from her/his POV to ground the reader.
   • Use the 'Rule of Three' when describing a character or location.
   • Tell what she/he's doing and tell what she/he's thinking about.
   • Include sensory details on each page throughout the book, but especially in descriptions.
   • Only describe the POV character from her/his own POV.
     Ex.: The breeze swept her long, pale gold hair across her face and she put up a slim, long-fingered hand to brush it away. She was quite lovely, but her hands were her special gift. [STAR-CROSSED by Saranne Dawson]
3. Tell the story goal.
4. Meet the romantic interest.
   • Give a description of the character using metaphors.
     Ex.: eyes that gleamed like Risian soul stones [ALL'S FAIR by Anne Avery]
   • Describe this character from the POV character's viewpoint.
     Ex.: His body was, well, perfect. Even now, five years later, she could remember how distractingly tempting it had been to run her fingers across his chest. [ALL'S FAIR by Anne Avery]
5. Tell about the world from the POV character's viewpoint.

   Ex.: Sindrakais, according to the computer records, was a successful agricultural world whose feudal society tied the bulk of the workers to the land and concentrated its wealth in the hands of a very few.

   It seemed to be an awful lot of wealth, however. Discreetly, Calista assessed the reception area where they'd been told to wait. [ALL'S FAIR by Anne Avery]

6. Introduce the antagonist.

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Copyright © 2007 Diane Dishman