-
Find Your Novel Opening: Quickly, Efficiently–and with MORE Creativity
I’ve been fiddling with the opening of the second book of a trilogy, Blue Planets, for several weeks, trying to plot, trying to think of new and exciting ways to tell the story. I KNOW the story. It’s bringing it down to specifics that’s hard. Part of my problem is that Book 1 in this…
-
Lessons from a Master: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Opening a novel in an interesting way is crucial. I often see stories-in-progress with weak openings. This week, I happened to pick up a copy of the classic Jurassic Park, and I was stopped on the first page with the economy of language. In two brief paragraphs, Crichton sets a scene, introduces a character, puts…
-
START YOUR NOVEL: A Fiction Notes book
My latest Fiction Notes book is now available! Six Winning Steps Toward a Compelling Opening Line, Scene and Chapter You want to write a novel, but you don’t know where to start. You have a great idea and—well, that’s all. This book explains the writing process of starting a novel in six winning steps. CHAPTERS…
-
Study First Chapters with Samplers
We all know the importance of the first chapter. It must hook the editor and ultimately, the reader, or all is lost. If you don’t pull the reader in with a stunning first chapter, you are sunk. You can, of course, get thee to a library, where you can sit for lovely hours and read…
-
Trying 12 Opening Lines
Today, I am working on rewriting the opening chapter of my story. Many authors say they must go back and rewrite the first chapter because they didn’t know what it needed until it the last chapter was written. The last chapter must be set up in the opening chapter, it must be the inevitable result…
-
Opening Lines, Scenes, Chapters: Best, Worst, Fix Them, Write Them
Today is a compilation of previous posts on the topic of how to open a story or novel. These are among the most popular posts here on Fiction Notes, so I gathered them in one place for you. 12 Ways to Open Your Story: The Story in Miniature First Page: An Editor Discusses Why It…