The mountain of crumpled
paper is gone, and gone with it is the fog that had enveloped your brain. The
first sentence of your story is shooting fireworks off the page, and excitement
is bubbling up inside you as you write the rest of the first paragraph. Your
fingers are vigorously tapping the keys on your computer while words
practically tumble from your ears.
Good! Because just as
important as the first sentence is the content that follows it to create the
first chapter.
Don’t skimp on the first
chapter if you wrote a prologue. The first chapter is still critical even if
content came before it. You don’t want your readers to be fascinated by your
prologue but completely bored with Chapter One.
Personally, I absolutely
deplore a book that doesn’t cut to the chase and start telling an interesting
story right from the first few pages. I like books that are exciting from the
first sentence, the first page, the first chapter, and doesn’t let up for a
single second.
The worst thing that can
happen is for a reader to pick up your book only to it put it down after
reading a few pages. Therefore, you must create pages that sparkle to follow
that masterpiece of a first sentence.
All of the writing that you
do for your book should always be your best, but the first chapter (and
prologue) has to be even better in order for you to draw your readers in.
Now what are you waiting
for? START WRITING!
QUESTION: Do
you like fast-paced books or books that are slower-paced?
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