Myth Busting: First Chapters
Posted By Vonna on November 23, 2009
Sorting through the abundance of advice on what agents and editors are looking for can be confusing, contradictory and disheartening. Sometimes the advice comes across as rules, but we (I) need to remember that most of this advice should be thought of as guidelines rather than rules.
The bit of advice that had me worrying this past week was this (paraphrased): Start with action on page one. Grab us by the throat and don’t let go.
I didn’t really want my novel to start with an action scene, or at least not a grab-you-by-the-throat kind of action. But I worried that if this really was the trend, I would hurt my novel’s chance of success if I chose not to follow this advice.
With this in mind, I decided to do a little research. I pulled out twenty-five recent MG and YA books and went through each to see what sort of scenes took place in the first chapters. While I was at it, I decided to check out a few other myths about book beginnings. So were the myths busted or confirmed? Here are the results of my findings.
(Disclaimer: twenty-five books is a small selection, and since my taste runs to MG fantasy, that represents most of the books I used for this exercise.)
MYTH 1: Agents and editors hate prologues. Lose it!
CONCLUSION: Busted! Nearly half the books had prologues. Only one was disguised as the first chapter, something else I have heard advised. However, many were not identified as prologues; they were simply untitled text placed before the first chapter. These were often decorated with some kind of frame.
MYTH 2: The first line should be the best line in the book.
CONCLUSION: Plausible. Almost all of them had catchy first lines, but a few had first lines that were totally forgettable. (I won’t give examples, because I hate bad reviews on something that someone has worked so hard to perfect.) With these books, it wasn’t about the first line, it was about the story set up, the overall mood of the first page.
MYTH 3: Nobody wants books written in third person omniscient or third person with multiple viewpoints.
CONCLUSION: Plausible. More true than false. Only four books had this kind of “head-hopping”. Most books written in third person limited the POV to the main character. More than half the books were written in third person overall.
MYTH 4: Start with action on the first page.
CONCLUSION: Busted! Only one-fifth started chapter one with an action scene. Two others had an action scene as the prologue. (And the prologue that was disguised as chapter one was one of the action-oriented first chapters.)
MYTH 5: The main character must do something heroic in the first chapter.
CONCLUSION: Plausible. Nearly half had heroic acts of some sort in the first chapter. Some, of course, were more heroic than others, but all sorts count if the action makes the reader have more sympathy for the MC.
MYTH 6: The first chapter should end with a cliffhanger.
CONCLUSION: CONFIRMED. Only one of the twenty-five did not end with a cliffhanger. This was a stand-alone companion novel to a mega series, so all bets are off on this sort of thing.
MYTH: The one thing every agent and editor looks for in a book is Voice.
CONCLUSION: CONFIRMED. If all the books I analyzed had one thing in common, it’s that they were all unique. VOICE CONQUERS ALL.
So here’s some advice from an as yet unagented and unpublished author: Find your voice and write the best story you can. It may not get you published, but it can help you stay sane while you try.
Oh, and get a great critique group.
Fascinating breakdown Vonna. The voice thing is always the biggest challenge for me.
I love that you turned to books published for your answers.
And Voice. Oh, Voice. That’s the hardest one of all!!!
Hi Vonna,
Did you by any chance record how many of the books were by debut novelists? Thanks for sharing your insights.
Varsha
Varsha, I make an effort to buy and read debuts so nearly half, eleven in fact, of the twenty-five novels were debuts.
This is actually a random selection. I had intended to analyze all of the books stacked on top of the chest of drawers in my bedroom, but after the first twenty-five, I’d figured I had enough examples to get a sense of the overall situation.
Beth, it’s nice to see you here. Thanks for stopping in.
Natalie and Beth are right, voice is probably the trickiest bit, even more so than coming up with a plot that doesn’t leak.
Vonna, I enjoyed reading the result of your research. I’m surprised so many books had prologues. As far as starting a story with action, I’ve had the experience of being told my beginnings were too abrupt when I started with action.
Great research, Vonna – thanks so much for sharing! I especially enjoyed the bit about not having to jump right into an action scene on the first page. I tend to introduce my characters more naturally, and I always worry if that’s okay. Thanks for reaffirming that it is!
Hi Linda, thanks for joining in. Sorry for the delay in posting your comment; I was away having turkey.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Well, I feel your scientific method leaves something to be desired.
After all, you didn’t account for variables (such as debut vs. seasoned author (you’ll often find that the reason agents/editors/etc. recommend chopping the prologue is that, most of the time, new writers don’t know how to use the prologue tool very effectively; when a prologue is done right, we love it)). And “nearly half” quantifies Myth 1 being busted, whereas it quantifies Myth 5 being plausible.
I think the thing that all writers need to keep in mind is that these aren’t so much rules as guidelines. They help many a beginner writer rethink their work, rather than pushing off with impulse, but they are not to be followed through absolutely.
And I would never say writers must start with action, but they do need to start with something out of the ordinary. Like The Demon’s Lexicon. That first page starts with fixing the plumbing. How is it out of the ordinary? Well, because Nick was peeved that the leaky pipe had been dripping on his favorite sword. That little, off-hand fact makes the reader sit up and go, “Oh, there’s something interesting going on here. I want to find out what.” That’s what writers need to start with.
Sorry for being so late to the discussion, but I was intrigued by your comment on Sarah Lewis Holmes’ blog. I think I’ll have to do my own myth busting sometime, particularly with prologues. I’d love to see how many debut novels have them vs. second, third, fourth. Like Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief series; the first two books, no prologue (and appropriately so), whereas the second two do have prologues (and extremely necessary prologues at that).
Thanks for bringing a professional viewpoint to the discussion, GK! You caught me on my poor science; I let personal opinion color my interpretation in both #1 and #5. I no longer have my notes on that post, but the fact that I found as many prologues as I did made an impression on me. I had always heard that prologues were entirely frowned upon. I’m glad to know that this is not a blanket rule, but that with the correct prologue and the correct book, a prologue can be a useful tool.