Here are my first chapter rules and perhaps (for my own writing; if they help you, great):
1. Create a mood as quickly as you can.
2. Don’t be boring. Seriously, don’t.
3. Not all quiet beginnings are boring, but many are; remember that.
4. Tell a story in your first scene.
5. You don’t have to have a bar fight in the first scene, but sometimes it helps.
6. Dialogue is NOT required in the first scene. In fact, sometimes, it detracts from setting the mood (see Rule 1 above).
7. If somebody has to die in the first chapter, it better mean something. It doesn’t need to be a main or supporting character, but it has to have bearing on the story that follows.
8. Don’t, don’t, DON’T fill your first scene with descriptions of your character(s)! Don’t, don’t, DON’T! “Her hair was like night, and the moonlight glistened off her deep blue eyes. The leather armor fit tightly on her lithe and supple body…” DON’T!
9. Set the hook. Deeply. Do this by referring to Rule 4.
10. When in doubt, refer to Rule 1. If you do nothing else, refer to Rule 1.
About Dennis Young
Dennis Young worked a normal job all his life, from high school to his retirement in 2015. But in 2005 he decided it was time to set the tales of Ardwel down on paper (or on the computer screen), and get these stories he’d carried for thirty years out of his head. So he wouldn’t go… out of his head. Actually it may have been too late.
So in thirteen years he wrote six novels and three compendiums, with four more companion pieces planned.
Learn more about him and his books at https://www.ardwel.com and https://www.authordennisyoung.com.
