First Chapter Fizzlers

Jennifer's struggling with her first chapter...

My WIP has a horrible first chapter. Actually, I’m hoping to improve it so that it’s only horrible. Because then maybe at that point, I can fix it so that it’s actually readable.

You know the phrase, “too many cooks in the kitchen”? Well, I think that might apply to having too many people look at it and give me feedback. Now, before you think I’m trashing anyone but me, believe me, I’m not. In order for it to get to it’s beyond-horrible status, I had to write a pretty bad first chapter.

Actually, I love where I started the story originally. Unfortunately, no one else, including a panel of editors and agents who read it anonymously at a conference and then gave their feedback to the crowd, did. So I changed it. My two critique partners liked it better, and gave their feedback and I changed it again. Then I joined a critique group and the three writers tore it apart. So I listened to them too.

And I ended up with mush.

First chapters are notoriously difficult to write because it’s where you start writing your book, but it’s not necessarily where you should actually start your story. Usually, first chapters require a lot of rewriting and reworking, quite often after you’ve written the rest of the book.

So I’m going to rewrite it.

This past weekend when I was at my writer’s conference, I was very excited to attend a workshop on improving your first chapter. Donna MacMeans gave lots of great ideas, but one of the things I liked the most was her insistence on a “rooting interest.”

Rooting interests are traits that get the reader to “root” for the characters. She analyzed a large number of romances and all the best sellers included rooting interests on every page in the first chapter and then throughout the rest of the book. She broke down rooting interests into three categories: empathy, admiration and humanistic traits.

Her theory is that we care about characters we feel sorry for, we like characters with humanistic traits and we like to admire our characters as well. With a variety of these three types of rooting interests, you can draw readers into your book and make them not want to put it down until the end.

There are many other things a first chapter needs, and I’m going to have to work on all of them. But it’s a start. And once I have it written down, I’ll send it around to all of my critique partners, because, honestly, I really value their opinions. But hopefully, not only will what I write be good, but I’ll be a little better at figuring out what to listen to and what to ignore.

The Waiting Game Begins

Debra shares the beginning of a manuscript.

I'm a bit pressed for time today, so I'm going to share the elevator pitch and the first page or so of the manuscript that is in my editor's hands right now.


Title:

"Family Secrets"

Pitch:

A young play-by-the-rules widow falls for her commitment shy ex-brother-in-law and discovers breaking those rules can be exhilarating, until getting caught threatens to cost her the only family she's ever known.

Beginning:

Chapter One
“Why didn’t you call me?”
The bold words took Erika Garrett by surprise. But no more so than the man standing on her doorstep who had uttered them. She gazed up at him. An errant lock of dark hair fell over one eyebrow, daring her to reach up and brush it back. His chiseled features bore a dark, even tan, evidence of his outside work in the summer. A hint of stubble shadowed his jaw and made him look sexy as hell. Warm brown eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled.
Chase Stewart was as gorgeous as ever.
“Hello, Erika.” Once again the deep timbre of his familiar voice washed over her, and she stared, caught up in the penetrating gaze of the man who evoked such powerful memories.
“Chase. What are you doing here?” She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him. What was he doing on her doorstep?
Instead of answering the question, he asked one of his own. “It’s hot as blazes out here today. May I come in?”
She hesitated. But then, as if to underscore his words, a blast of hot air hit her like the heat from an open oven. The scorching heat from the afternoon sun poured into the house. Nothing like a Midwest summer to make you feel like a fried egg. It had been so hot this year, the evening news had done a story on kids literally frying them on the sidewalk. And it was only June.
“Well, I guess there’s no use cooling the outside.” The air conditioning bill would be high enough anyway. She stepped back and opened the door wider.
Chase stood in the foyer of the historic row home and studied her as she closed the door. “You look terrific.”
“Thanks.” She self-consciously touched the curling locks she’d pinned to the top of her head in an effort to control the humidity’s effect on them. She adjusted the slim strap of her tank top, and then smoothed her palms over her shorts.
He looked terrific, too. But, then again, he always did. Had she always been turned on by men in jeans and work boots? Not to mention white T-shirts that drew attention to the muscles beneath. A blush heated her cheeks and she looked away. Had he noticed her staring?



So now it's a waiting game. My editor read the synopsis I sent, requested the full, and the fate of this book is in her hands. Wish me luck!

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com