Episode 9: Don't Do This in Your First Chapter

This episode is Part 2 of a multi-week discussion of first chapter dos and don'ts. In this podcast episode, Stephanie and Elizabeth discuss common pitfalls and challenges in writing the first chapter of a book. They emphasize the importance of avoiding an overly slow opening, generic or cliched beginnings, overwritten prose, excessive descriptive detail, backstory or info dumping, a list-like structure, too many characters and places, false beginnings or bait and switch tactics, and shifting points of view. The hosts provide insights and advice on each of these challenges, highlighting the significance of engaging the reader, showing instead of telling, and maintaining consistency with the genre. They caution against manipulating reader expectations and suggest the importance of establishing the author's unique voice in the first chapter. Elizabeth and Stephanie wrap up the discussion with conversation around the merits of a prologue, when it might be necessary, and how a writer will know if they need one or not.

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Transcript

0:01

Welcome fellow writers to the Inspired Writer Collective podcast, your go to hub for all things writing. We're your hosts, Elizabeth and Stephanie. Whether you're a seasoned wordsmith or just dipping your quill into the ink well of creativity, we're absolutely thrilled to have you with us. Drawing from our experience in publishing diverse writing genres and the daily grind of showing up for yourself, we're here to be your writing companions. Expect insightful discussions, expert tips, and a dash of inspiration as we navigate the twists and turns of the writing journey together. So whether you're listening on your commute, during your writing session, or just relaxing at home, get ready for an immersive experience that celebrates the art and joy of writing. Hi,

Elizabeth: 0:49

All right, everyone, we are back for part two about our discussion regarding first chapter challenges. So if you haven't already listened to us talk about the objectives of the first chapter, the two problem structure setup of the first chapter. Then please go back to the first episode. So our last week's episode and refresh on that because today we're going to just jump straight into the common pitfalls or things not to do in your first chapter. As well as a discussion on the merits of a prologue and a first chapter, or if you really just shouldn't have that thing as a prologue whether it's not needed, that sort of thing. So today, we will start with those pieces that And then we're going to talk about how the books relate to the challenges. So I'm going to just briefly list these and then we're going to go in and discuss each one. So these are common mistakes within the first chapter that will cause your reader to disengage or your your book to not be attractive. First is an overly slow opening. Two is generic or cliched beginning. Three is overwritten prose. Four is too much descriptive detail. Five is backstory or info dumping. Six is if it reads like a list, just like this portion of the podcast. Seven is too many characters and places. Eight is false beginnings or the feeling of a bait and switch, and nine is shifting points of view. So as we go over these, these are sort of the generalized rules regarding first chapters. As always, rules can be broken, but you must understand the rules fully before you decide to break them. So we're going to dig into each of these and have some discussions about the different parts of these. And then you can choose to break them if you feel like you have reason to and there's a clear yeah, clear purpose behind it.

Stephanie: 3:13

Absolutely. Well, I'll get started with going back to number one on the overly slow opening and this is often where it's coming before the event that's going to trigger a shift for the character as you continue your book. The biggest problem here is Oftentimes authors and writers try to fit in too much backstory right at the beginning. They try to fill in all of the pieces that they want you to know about the main character, where the main character is, what the main character looks like, all those pieces right out front and it can weigh down the flow of your narrative and just stop the reader right in their tracks and then the reader doesn't have anything. To learn as the, as the book goes on, because really all of the backstory and details about your main character and then subsequent characters, you want to piece that in as you go along, so that there's something new for the reader to learn as you move forward and really using specific scenes and dialogue and structuring the flow of your book so that you have very specific scenes that lead to next events will allow you to accomplish a more fluid flow to the story as opposed to trying to dump everything on the reader right from the beginning.

Elizabeth: 4:41

Right, because that backstory, that's not going to feel very relevant to the reader. When it's all coming at the beginning they don't understand yet you haven't presented any like action or reason in which they're getting curious about why this character is scared of the rain, you know, so it's like until you present a reason for why they should be interested in the backstory or present that sort of question in their mind about. Oh, I'm curious about that. Why, why is this character like that? Why did they choose this thing? Or, or whatnot. I mean, then, then the backstory just feels like unengaging parts of your narrative, as opposed to even backstory. Like, because the relevance of it isn't established yet for the reader.

Stephanie: 5:25

Exactly. And, establishing importance of your details is really critical because you want your reader to care about, especially your main character. If the reader doesn't care about your main character, they're not going to care throughout the book. You need to have them invested from the start. And that's where you need to pick and choose very particularly exactly what details are relevant for the beginning.

Elizabeth: 5:51

And also another piece of that, too, is that if you have all that back story in the beginning because it doesn't feel relevant to the reader yet when it actually is important later on for the reader to remember, they're not going to remember because it was so insignificant at the time that it was presented that they're not going to recall. Oh, yeah, this thing happened to her when she was a little kid. And that's why she has a fear of dogs. I mean, I'm using like phobias and all my examples, but you know, just whatever, whatever sort of backstory, you know, is relevant. Oh, they moved all the time growing up. Okay, so that makes sense. you know, why they keep moving boxes stored in the closet, but that if you have the backstory, like all in the beginning, instead of sprinkled in at the time where it's relevant for explaining what the character is currently doing or thinking or feeling, then it's, the reader is going to miss that and think that you then as the author, haven't provided that information. Even if you have you just not put it in the spot to where the reader can recognize the significance

Stephanie: 7:02

well, and that's a great lead in to number two with the generic and cliched beginning where a Common one that authors and writers have used is you know, the characters waking up in the morning. You don't have to start at the very beginning of your main character's day. It's not very interesting. It's forgettable. You don't have to say they're sitting there drinking a cup of coffee. That's forgettable. Or start with a description of the character. That's not going to be relevant because you haven't given the reader anything to invest in with your character. So, It sounds kind of interesting to think this way, but if it's too normal, it's forgettable. And you would almost think, like, oh, if I start something in a, just a normal way and everybody can relate to it. But really, readers are looking for something interesting about the character. Some way that they can, they themselves can connect with the character. It's not really interesting if the character is Waking up from a nap or waking up from a dream because even that's not that interesting for us in our everyday life. It's not that interesting when we wake up for a nap or we wake up from a dream. And so you want to include something that's going to create some kind of conflict or the, is raising a question for your character to make the reader care.

Elizabeth: 8:27

Yeah, unless we immediately find out in the next sentence that this character is bound and gagged and woke up in a strange place, now that might be a reason to use, you know, to break this quote unquote rule about this, this cliché opening, but you've just presented the whole reason why, you know, why you're using this cliché, so you justified why you've broken the rule and you've presented something that is very intriguing and now all your readers are wondering, oh my gosh, Bye. Bye. Bye. How, how did they get here? They're new finding this. The character is finding this information out as the reader is finding this information out. So, you know, it's new. And this is how you might have to present the scenario in your book. But you, you have to have justification if you're, if you're going to break that rule. The other thing I wanted to say too about like a physical description, I've seen plenty of like TikTok videos or Instagram reels of people, you know, readers that get irritated because it's like what? I was imagining, you know, X, Y, Z stereotype of my ideal man or woman as the love interest and here you go telling me that they have red hair and they, you know, are And I was imagining this, like, brunette and, you know, these features for my own, like, reader enjoyment. If the description is not relevant to your storyline, you might be better off just letting the reader imagine what they will. Because they are going to imagine

Stephanie: 10:10

And that's the magic of reading for so many people is that they want to create the movies. It's like when a, it's, you know, the common argument around, well, the book is better than the movie because everybody's like, well, this is how I imagined it. I didn't imagine, you know, that person playing that character or I didn't imagine it that way. And so. I mean that's really what makes books so wonderful for readers is when they can create the movie for themselves as opposed to having it all spelled out for them. And it goes back to, you know, the Stephen King quote that we had about, leaving some of the details up to The reader to determine that you can put in little bits about an appearance, you know, maybe how a character has their hair or, you know, they wear their hair in a particular style, but they're not telling you that, you know, it's blonde and that they wear a certain. Color eyeshadow and that they always have this, you know, type of lipstick on or whatever it might be in their appearance and so that really is where you have to decide for yourself Is it really important, or is it just details for you as the writer as you've created your character description so that you know who you're talking about, but is that really relevant to the reader? That's something important to decide, especially right up in the beginning. In the first chapter. I

Elizabeth: 11:43

remember when I was younger and the Harry Potter books came out like while I was at that like reading level so you know we were anticipating the next book and the next book and then the movie started coming out and I remember having this certain view of Hermione before I ever saw the movies and it it was in contrast to Emma Watson and so that was a little bit jarring and of course like The books continued to come out after the first movie, you know, so then I would read the books with sort of like the, the actors in the place of the characters, but that was not how I originally imagined some of those characters to look. If I remember correctly, I think I imagined her as like a redhead, like and I remember not being the only one like I remember that being part of the discussion about the movie is like, Oh, these characters aren't quite how I imagined, but then, you know, Hagrid was exactly how I imagined and Dumbledore seemed, you know, on point. And but yeah, that can be, you know, a little bit jarring for your readers if you're painting a very specific physical description. Instead, you may want to find some aspects that speak more to personality. So maybe, like you said, in hairstyles, maybe it's, it's in a messy bun, which kind of indicates this character's level of, you know, either disheveled or busyness or, you know, lack of, like, time for self care. Maybe they've got, you know, they discover they have gum stuck to their shoe, you know, different, like, Traits of the character that maybe are somewhat rooted in a physical description, but that lend themselves not to the specificity of how they physically appear, but something about their nature that hints at their personality, or their, the situation they're in, or their current temperament. Well,

Stephanie: 13:33

and it's interesting, speaking of aspects of character description, I notice when I'm reading romance, generally the color of eyes can be a specific detail, but other than that, there aren't always specific details about the character. So it does allow you to have, you know, some ability to create the character, but then there, there is, there are authors who play with that eye color component.

Elizabeth: 14:01

That makes so much sense for that genre too, though, because how in the world are you going to write a romance if you're not talking about eye contact? And how in the world are you going to write about eye contact and just ignore the character's eye color? Like, what is it you're, like, what is it you're actually seeing if you're not, you know Falling into these pools of blue or, you know, like the hazelnut of this and, you know, I can't imagine. Yeah, you doing anything like to the contrary, but that's a good point that yes, there are some features and, and part of that is understanding as a writer, the genre that you're writing for to, to understand like what your audience is going to, what your readers are going to expect. The next point. Go ahead. Is the overwritten prose. So that would be something that's really flowery or especially literary in nature. A lot of times this happens because of a writer spending so much effort and time and energy into their first chapter because of the inherent significance of it. But unfortunately, what usually ends up happening is that that tone, that style of writing is not true to you as the writer, so it quickly gets Like shifts to your own more natural tone for the remaining book. So it doesn't give the reader a really true sense of, of your narrative tone, of your storytelling style. While when you look at the quote unquote classics they're written, you know, with a lot more of this like prose and flowery language. I mean, the first sentence of Tale of Two Cities takes up like the whole first page, right? It was the best of times. It was the worst of it was the age, you know? And that, that was, you know, expected by the reader back in that era, but that is not something that you would expect to see today. That's not something that most readers are looking for. And it's just not true, most likely to your own voice as a writer. And it's important in the first chapter to establish what your voice

Stephanie: 16:17

is. Exactly. You want to connect with your reader, and if you're trying too hard with giving way too much detail, which this leads into number four of too much descriptive detail, which is similar to overwritten prose. They kind of, they go hand in hand. You're going to overwhelm your reader with so much information. If there's so much that the reader has to remember up front, they're going to forget it later. And then you've lost them on your path. And they're more likely to abandon the book and pick up something else and say, okay, well this doesn't work for me. And the challenge, of course, in the era that we're in right now is that There are a lot of short attention spans amongst readers, and they're expecting a certain type of hook and engagement, and you want to encourage readers to pick up your books. You want them to say, oh wow, and you want it fast paced, you want it to be a page turner, and there's, a place for your details, but it doesn't have to be all up front right away and trying too hard to prove yourself in your first chapter. That's not the purpose of the first chapter at all.

Elizabeth: 17:33

This makes me think of when you go online to find a recipe and you like click on the link and then you immediately click on the jump to recipe link that's at the top of the page because otherwise, if you start scrolling, you're going to get this whole back story about where this recipe originated from and the different alterations you can make to the recipe. Before you ever get to see what the actual recipe is. I feel like that's a great analogy for what this feels like to your reader. If you put so much descriptive detail ahead of the actual action of your story. Again, it's like. Why is this relevant? Now, if I get to the recipe, and I'm curious, like, oh, can I use frozen chicken? Or how would I alter if I did this? Or has the, you know, the creator of the recipe tried this or that? Or, you know, what, what other alterations could I make, or? Setups does this work in an air fryer instead, then I can go look for that information or then that information can be presented at a time that I'm able to actually consume it and hold on to it and find it relevant. But otherwise, it's just a whole bunch of stuff that your reader is not yet interested in.

Stephanie: 18:44

I love, I love that connection to recipes because I find myself doing that all the time because I get so frustrated by the, you know. 20 different pictures of different angles of the same step in the recipe and then the ads that pop up and then you know all the other things that just keep coming at you and I'm thinking I just want to know what the recipe is and You know, and then like you said you can go back but when you're picking up a book You don't want to have to keep going back and trying to remember specific details, and you don't want to have to wade through the, what can start to feel like mud and just slogging through all the details just to find out what's happening and so That leads into number five with the backstory or information dumping when you're, there's so much going on right up front with the character and you're just continuously giving more details and more information or you're in the character's head and you're having, you know, a psychoanalysis of some moment that just happened, but it's not even relevant to the reader about why this character is thinking this. Why they're thinking about doing something next and sometimes it can make the reader feel like they're being preached to like that as if they couldn't figure out for themselves about the character when you should be using actions in the scene and the dialogue to move that forward so that the reader is making the conclusions for themselves as opposed to relying on you as the writer to give them all the information readers Don't need all of the information. Well, that's

Elizabeth: 20:27

a good point, too. And I've, I've seen this before, and I find this to be very true, that readers want to feel smart. You know, so it's like, they want you to give them just enough, you know, context clues that, that they know they're on the right track, or they're not feeling uncertain if they're interpreting what you're trying to convey correctly or not. But they don't want you to just straight out tell them either, at least not until later. You can confirm it for them later, but they, they want to feel like they figured it out. Like they understand what's going on. They want to feel smart.

Stephanie: 21:05

Exactly. That's why, and that's why you wanna make sure that you are taking your time and carefully selecting the details that you wanna include. And again, as I mentioned before, you know the backstory and a lot of information is great for you as the writer. Maybe you have tons of notes, you know, in your Scrivener or wherever you're writing, you know, in the margins of you know, your Word document or whatever it might. It'd be notes to yourself but it doesn't all have to go to the reader themselves.

Elizabeth: 21:42

Right. And ultimately you, number six, you don't want it to read like a list, which is what can happen, especially if you are heavy on the backstory, the info dumping, the descriptions, it, those are the kinds of things that tend to be. Conveyed in a list format, right? Like all these physical characteristics or multiple sentences in a row that describe the setting. Instead, you want to use that ABA format or action, backstory, action.

Stephanie: 22:15

Exactly. Well, and that can be driven, too, by dialogue. That the, you know, the action can be dialogue that is moving the story forward. And then, It allows the reader to come to their own conclusions as opposed to you giving them this is the setting, this is where they are, this is what it looks like, this is what the character is doing, this is what the character looks like, and all of those pieces. You don't have to, again, you don't have to spell it out for the reader. You want to leave, enough. That the reader is wanting to know more, and so they read on in order to learn more, whether it's about the character or whether it's about what's going to happen next. And that brings us to number seven with if you have too many characters or places that you're trying to bring in all at once at the beginning. You want your first chapter to be about your main character because you want your reader to care about your main character. You want, if there are too many voices that are starting at the beginning of the book, you're going to confuse. It's going to go back to what we've already talked about. There, you know, there are too many cooks in the kitchen, essentially, you know, there, there are too many people jumping in and being a part of the scene that the reader isn't sure. So, you know, you don't want to be having a family reunion in the first chapter where you're introducing your main character and all of their, oh, this is their cousin Joe, and then this is their mother, Alice, and this is, you know, and then going on and on and on because the reader will definitely abandon the book. At least I know I, as a reader, would abandon the book if I'm having to learn too much too fast. Right,

Elizabeth: 23:56

and if you're really going to have a huge cast of characters that require being named, a. k. a. they're characters that continue to return, you know, if it's just the barista and that's the only scene she appears in, like, you Or she doesn't, you know, appear in any significant role, she's just taking money and handing out coffee, you don't have to name her. But if you do have, like, you know, this entire, like, small town, and it's all pivotal, and all these, you know, interconnected relationships, especially because you're writing a series, where some people are more significant in one book versus another. You may need a character list somewhere, you know, at the back of your book for, for reference purposes, if you really are going to have that many named characters in your book. But you're right, Stephanie, and not picking the, like, opening action scene, like, pick something else that, You know, gives us a little bit of an ease and maybe the ride to the family reunion. So we meet a couple of the characters first and then there's not as many new characters when we get to the family reunion scene. And a cousin can just be a cousin if, you know, they don't hold a significant role in like the storyline. The other thing, and this kind of, it goes along with these characters, but also kind of jumps back a little bit into the, like, backstory and, or background and info dumping piece. The other caution there is to show instead of tell, so instead of just giving that description or, or giving that backstory just in a It's a telling way in a narrative way. Instead, try to show it. So referencing another inspirational quote that we used in the community this week comes from Anton Chekhov of don't tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of light on broken glass. So, I mean, very talented author, so I don't know that I'm going to come up with that to translate. But that's a great demonstration of the show versus telling aspect, you know, and to set the scene instead of just saying the, the more basic truth, try to find a way to work it in where. It's a little, it's more showing where you're, you're, you're describing an ambiance or not saying necessarily what the character is thinking, but instead describing their actions that lend the reader to believe that they're nervous instead of saying they're nervous, you know, you can describe how they're like fidgeting with their hair. They keep looking, you know, down or they're. You know, bumbling their keys, whatever is relevant to, to the story, but it just makes it a lot more dynamic when you, when you do, when you show it instead of tell it, there are times and places for telling. So that doesn't mean like, take that all away. The reader does want insight sometimes, but where you can, showing usually leaves a stronger impression. Well,

Stephanie: 26:59

exactly. And showing also goes back to what we were talking earlier about the ability of the reader to create the movie in their mind. When, when you show aspects of a scene to the reader, the reader can then Feel like they're right there in the scene as opposed to having it explained to them. You know, the idea of the glint on, you know, of light on glass. I mean, that just automatically allows you to picture what that experience is of the moonlight as opposed to, well, the moon was shining well. Okay, great. That doesn't really, I mean. Everybody has a different image of that, but when you really create a whole scene around the description, it's much more vivid for the reader and brings the reader right into that moment, where they feel like they're experiencing that same moment as the character, as opposed to just being told, Well, the moon was shining and, you know, the man was walking down the street. I mean, that doesn't tell me anything.

Elizabeth: 28:07

That puts you more in the gaze of the character versus just some arbitrary other person in the scene, you're right. That does put you like more in their shoes when you're, when you're describing it that way.

Stephanie: 28:21

Yeah. And so going on to number eight, false beginnings or bait and switches where the. You're killing off a character too soon, or you meet someone and there's a whole event that happens, but then it moves on to something else, and this goes back to what we were talking before about, you know, to try not to have your character waking up from a dream, because the dream might not be relevant at all to the storyline, and you could be spending all this time describing this dream that the character has, and then all of a sudden, the scene switches and you're someplace else, and then the reader you're. is left wondering, okay, well, what was the relevance of that, and again, it goes back to allowing the reader to connect with your character. If the dream sequence, or all of a sudden the character is not there anymore, You've lost your reader,

Elizabeth: 29:17

right? And it's not necessarily that you can't, your character can't dream at anywhere in your story, but just know that in your first chapter, your reader is deciding whether they buy into wanting to continue the story. So if it's a temporary story, because it's a dream scene, you're not giving your reader that opportunity and they may not like the dream scene, but they could like the whole rest of the book. But if they shut it after reading that dream scene, then you've already lost them. The other thing, you know, with the killing off the characters, like you don't want your reader to become emotionally invested in a character, typically in a character that you're going to then just kill off in the next chapter. The the reader knows or expects that you're going to introduce the characters that you want them to attach to. Immediately in that first chapter. So they are taking it at face value that you want them to get attached and then for you to You know immediately kill off this character. You're kind of abusing your reader you're taking advantage of the fact that you know that they're going to get attached because that's the Expectation that the writer has with the reader in a general, you know scape and so Then you're kind of playing off of their expectation to Dramatize the death, and it's not really fair. Like, it's kind of a cheap shot, right? Versus, like, actually building in the intrigue through Literary means versus kind of abusing your reader's expectations of you. Yes,

Stephanie: 30:57

and I think going along with this whole notion but I was reading a advanced reader copy of a book recently, which goes into number nine with the shifting point of view, because that makes it, That, for me, as a reader, was very similar to this idea of the, sort of, the false beginnings, is, in a first chapter, as a reader and as a writer, I'm thinking that, there has to be this engagement with the main character, but then when you're all of a sudden shifting to somebody else's point of view halfway through the chapter, it's, it's a struggle point. You want to be very careful about the shifting point of view because, again, it goes back to this idea of having your reader invest in the main character, really solidifying that foundation for the rest of your book, because your first chapter does set up the momentum for where you're going, and it's why we're having this conversation about how challenging it is, because it is challenging. You know, I'm still facing challenges with my first chapter, which is why I've left it behind and moved on, because if I sit there with my first chapter and try to make it perfect, I'm never going to get past it for right now. And I know that I need to go further in before I can really go back and rework that. But I have a start, but I, again, the shifting point of view, that's a For me from a writing standpoint, I wouldn't do it. And from a reader standpoint, it's very jarring to have that shifting point of view in the first chapter.

Elizabeth: 32:31

Not, consistent with the genre either. And I can get where it's Jarring. Where you're trying to invest in this character. You're typically within a romance meeting both of the like the love interest, right? The main character and then the love interest. So you already are meeting like the important people, but to suddenly have the point of view shift and suddenly you're getting. You're being told to get invested in this, this other person's point of view. Whereas the standard practice is to alternate POVs between chapters if you're going to have multiple POVs. I get why that would seem, you know, really sudden and out of, out of left field to be in the middle of a chapter and all of a sudden a new paragraph shifts and now you're suddenly in someone else's head.

Stephanie: 33:27

Yeah. It is startling, so not recommended.

Elizabeth: 33:30

And again, you know, there rules are rules and the whole point is to understand why they are there, what the consequences are for breaking them. And then ultimately you may choose it's in your best interest is in your story's best interest to break them. And that's your prerogative, but it's important to understand. The why behind the rules, because a lot of it has to do with reader expectations and reader enjoyment and as a writer trying to sell their books and get positive reviews on their books. Those are things that you have to keep in mind. It doesn't mean that you can't to break the rules, but you should know the consequences that may come with some of these rules. Exactly. This wasn't listed as one of the rules, but we want to take a minute to talk about prologue or first chapter. Stephanie just referenced some of the struggles she has been having with her first chapter, and I feel like my first chapter struggles are summarized really well in this discussion of prologue versus first chapter. Right now, my first chapter is, takes place with me on a mountain hike at the realization all of a sudden that I was really lonely and I didn't understand why I felt so deeply lonely given that I was building community in my new home that I seemed to have at least on paper. A lot of things going for me. And I just, I was surprised by the feeling. So there's a lot of Because I'm solo on this hike, there's a lot of, like, introspective stuff and not a lot of action. Now, this was definitely a pivotal moment in my understanding of my world, but it wasn't pivotal from, like, an action standpoint. And so, I've had some questions about Whether this is still really a first chapter, whether I need to pick a totally different moment as being the first chapter, something that has more action, maybe something that's a little bit later in the story. The other story I've thought about putting at the as the first chapter is my experience experience with last Mother's Day that was definitely a corner of a tipping point new realization of the current Status of my relationship and feeling like I wasn't acknowledged in my role as a mom So I've thought I've played with the idea of making that the first chapter instead and embedding I'm not sure if I'm going to put the hiking story back into the regular timeline or sequence of events because my memoir does follow a general like chronological timeline but then I'm also not sure what my transition then would be because the second chapter goes all the way back to, like, third grade, so whatever story I put first, if I'm going to put something, you know, out of order, it's then going to jump back to third grade, My other option is to just have the first chapter be the current second chapter, and just start it in third grade. But I don't think that story, while it's important for understanding my origins, I don't think that story adequately portrays to the reader what they can expect from the rest of the book. I think they'll understand the relevance once I present. You know, a chapter that shows where we're ultimately going, but I don't think that chapter, at least as currently written would do that. And then another option is to use the current 1st chapter about the mountain hike and the realization of the loneliness, which is what the whole book title is based off of is to use that as a prologue because it is more summary. Of where the rest of the book is going to go. It references leaving my career, it references my divorce, it references a lot of key moments that I'll dig into more detail throughout the narrative throughout the memoir. So I've been, I've been struggling with this same sort of question as a writer of Is this a first chapter? Is this a prologue? Or does this just not belong here?

Stephanie: 38:17

And you, you raise a lot of good questions for yourself as you're talking it through here about, you know, does it have enough action or is there a better story that provides the action that'll move, you know, the memoir along for the reader? And, as you say, what you currently have feels like it's a little bit more of almost laying a A foundation, a path for the reader for where you're going, and it's more of detail, just relevant details, and less of what was really happening in each moment that you're explaining, and so it'll be interesting to see what you decide. I know you're still you know, haven't landed in one place or another, but as we think about this idea between the prologue or first chapter, it does raise the question of, you know, Is it relevant to the structure of the book, whether it's memoir or fiction or, you know, I mean, nonfiction typically will often have a prologue to kind of give the reader an outline of what's coming in the chapters ahead. But then, you know, the. Pressure on the writer is using the prologue to really provide that outline for the reader and is, is it necessary? I don't know. I mean, it's, it'll be up to you to decide

Elizabeth: 39:37

so as I've tried to think through whether this is a first chapter or a prologue or whether a prologue is even necessary, I did a little bit of, you know, online research to figure out, like and so I thought, well, what, how will I know if I should have a prologue? How do I know if this is just a first chapter? And so I found a couple of reasons why you may want to include a prologue. So I want to share those in case there are other people that are in this same boat, trying to decide what to do. Some of those reasons I found were that there is vital information contained in that chapter. That doesn't really have any other place in the story. If it presents a different point of view than the rest of the story, which I would argue possibly that my first chapter does, because it's the, so I sort of have this interesting main character. So I have me, I'm the main character of my memoir, but in this First chapter potential prologue. I'm introducing a character called Lonely Girl and Lonely Girl is a part of me and I go into the internal family systems therapy model that talks about different parts and how they interact and how they interact with each other. It you could have an anxiety part and a caretaker part. Well, this is this is lonely girl And so this is sort of a character in and of herself and certainly one that i'm digging into through the rest of the book and potentially this you could view this as Her point of view which is going to be different than my point of view throughout the rest of the book So maybe it's a matter of tweaking it. So it Maybe I actually write it truly from her perspective instead of just referencing her and introducing her as sort of a sub character because she's a part of the main character. Maybe I write it completely from her point of view. Maybe I do still talk about, you know, The internal family system structure of understanding parts and self and the governing of all of that. The, the other reason to include a a prologue would be if you have some kind of action that grabs readers with a strong hook that just does not fit into your first chapter. Whether that's because of like the chronological storytelling style of the rest of the book or whatever else if it if it doesn't fit, but it's still vital information, then those are good reasons to keep a prologue if you find that you can just take out that information and the whole rest of the story makes sense, then it's probably. not your first chapter and should not be a prologue. For me personally, I don't know how I don't introduce Lonely Girl if I'm calling the book Lonely Girl and the whole, like, the bulk of the book is me wrestling with this idea of being lonely and how this part sort of nags at me. When I'm not making connections, or I'm showing up inauthentically, or I'm heavily leading with only one portion of my identity while neglecting something else. So I, I see reasons why this may be necessary to keep at some point in the book, but I may still need to do some tweaking. For that, that point of view,

Stephanie: 43:15

well, and actually you bring to mind when you're talking about introducing your, lonely girl and yourself that makes a good argument for why it would be relevant to have a prologue to present the points of view that are going to be coming through in your memoir so that the reader is set up for understanding what that's going to look like in the book. I know within the romance genre that it's not very common, but for authors who do put in a prologue, it's usually to set up some kind of detail that happened years before for the main character so that you have an idea of why they are who they are when you're starting into the first chapter. So you have a sense of like where you are in time and place. And I think it's important. By you framing for your memoir about Lonely Girl and yourself, it allows you to set up the stage so that you don't just launch into your first chapter and all of a sudden here's Lonely Girl and the reader is thinking, wait a minute, this. It doesn't make sense, like, where is this coming from? I'm not understanding this. And, and often, especially like more so, I think with memoir and nonfiction, when you're talking about, you know, actual people, as opposed to fictional people, that readers are often used to seeing prologues to give them a little bit of something before they start reading. And, you know, sometimes. There are readers who skip prologues and go right to the first chapter and then they'll go back to the prologue to say like, Oh yeah, the prologue will give me some information about this and then they'll go back and read or they'll read straight through from the prologue and move forward. But, you know, having it there allows for the reader to do with it as they please, because essentially the reader can decide that they don't want to read it in the same way that some readers don't like, you know, epilogues at the end, you know, they just. Or like, I'm done, I'm not interested in this, and they skip that too. So again, like, it'll be an interesting decision that, that you'll have to make,

Elizabeth: 45:30

and you bring up a good point, that that, that is the risk you take when you make it a prologue, is that there are going to be some readers that skip it. They're not going to skip it if it's a first chapter, but then it better be engaging. So it can be really tricky to decide, you know, which way to, to take, to take your, your story. It may or it probably will require some feedback for me from like beta readers. I might send out like a couple of different options to a couple of trusted writer friends of mine to see what, what option like seems to resonate the best. Or maybe as I try a couple of different things, something will just hit and I'll just know that that's the way I need to go. Yeah,

Stephanie: 46:16

exactly. Well, it'll be an interesting decision. So going to opening lines with the first chapter, this is another piece that is, Often up for debate, I think, in writing circles about how important the first line is. I know I've seen lots of commentary where there are camps of authors You know, and writers who say, well, your first line doesn't really matter, but the first paragraph, the first page, is what really matters, because oftentimes, readers don't decide based on the first line, they decide based on, where that first line takes them into the paragraph and the details, and so, really, the recommendation is to try not to overthink your first line And because if you let yourself, again, it goes back to what we've been talking about, if you let yourself get stuck, you're not going to finish, you're not going to start, you're going to be beating your head against the wall or whatever it is that, you might do as a writer to try to relieve stress as you're writing, and you don't want to let yourself get so stressed out. Right.

Elizabeth: 47:25

I'm going to share a couple. This is comes from the stylist magazine. It's a compilation of, you know, they asked famous people what the best 100 opening lines from books were. So these are just some examples. A lot of these are classic. So you may be familiar with some of these and pride and prejudice. By Jane Austin, the first the opening line is it is a truth universally universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. So that first sentence does a really good job of structuring the you know, underlying desire the the motivation behind the story that's going to unfold. Another comes from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. We referenced Harry Potter earlier by J. K. Rowling. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of No. 4 Privet Drive were proud to say that they were perfectly normal. Thank you very much. This kind of reminds me of that opening line from Eleanor Oliphant is perfectly fine. Because of that ending, thank you very much seems to imply that same sort of, like, irreverence. So from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Hayden. Oh yeah, that's a good one. It was seven minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs. Scheer's house. Its eyes were closed. And then here's from The Time Traveler's Wife, Claire. It's hard being left behind. I wait for Henry, not knowing where he is, wondering if he's okay. It's hard to be the one who stays. So already knowing just the title of the book, right? And then this, this opening, I guess it's technically three sentences. You're already engaging the reader. The reader is already wondering, you know, like, Oh, is he really leaving? He's time traveling. And what does this mean for their relationship when he just leaves? Like, you're already starting to ask questions and, and increase curiosity in the story. So from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, you will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise, which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. So I'm definitely already setting up that thriller aspect.

Stephanie: 50:12

Absolutely. Well, and the interesting thing is, is that as you're reading these first lines and, they're quite good, it makes me think about what we were just talking about, about how you still need more, like you need to keep going as the reader to get more out of it. And so, again, like not getting pressured to get I'm stuck on thinking that it has to be some literary, great literary moment as you're writing that first line.

Elizabeth: 50:47

Here's one that's really engaging with action. This is Charlotte's Web by E. B. White. Where's Papa going with that axe? Asked Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast. Oh yeah,

Stephanie: 50:59

That's always one that is very commonly referenced because I mean that just sets you up with a whole image of the farm and the axe

Elizabeth: 51:09

here's from, this is the last one I'll share, from Peter Pan by J. M. Berry. All children, except one, grow up. So not only does that capture the whole premise of the story, but it definitely sparks that curiosity of like, well, yeah, that's sort of a universal truth. All children grow up. What do you mean, except one? Like, why do you not grow

Stephanie: 51:35

up?

Elizabeth: 51:35

So, listener, if you've enjoyed this conversation, both this week and last week about these, the first chapter, even the discussion about the prologue, these are topics that we're going to include within each of our monthly book clubs. Looking at how the different authors we cover are addressing these own issues within their story, how effective we've found them to be as we read through the entire book. And I wanted to share with you guys a little bit about the stuff we're working on on the back side. And of course Yeah,

Stephanie: 52:12

so listener, if you're listening to us on our podcast go find us on YouTube to see the images that Elizabeth is about to share here and you'll be able to see exactly what this workbook and discussion guide looks like.

Elizabeth: 52:27

Right, so as Stephanie was saying, we've created a workbook and discussion guide to go along with the book club or read like a writer book club, which is held monthly. And so you can read along with us. And in this workbook, you'll be prompted to do a little bit of first impressions before you begin to read, looking at the cover art, the title, your expectations for the genre or the author, if you've had previous exposure to any of their works. And then there's specific questions regarding the prologue and the first chapter. And then we will dig into the The characteristics like world building, plot lines, tension and conflict, character development. And that sort of thing. But we wanted to give you a little sneak peek into that. Though that will be a part of our book club space within our community. So if you are already or want to become a member of the Inspired Writer Collective, that workbook and discussion guide will be You'll have access to that. By the beginning of February and for those of you who are not interested and perhaps the time to write sessions or the weekly journal prompts or the other aspects of the community that have to do with being a writer if you don't have a particular project in mind, or you don't consider yourself a writer, but like reading books analytically with this sort of I'm not sure if that's the right word. Lens as deciphering it from a writer's perspective. Of our community, so you'll find that link within the same community landing page. There's a slightly decreased Charge for just that exclusive space and that will give you access to all the discussion around book club The book club workbook and discussion guide as well as the week The monthly, excuse me, the monthly live meetings for the book club book discussions. So again, if that's something you're interested in, we welcome you to join the full community as a writer. But if you are just interested in the book club piece, if you already have a community to write in and don't feel like you need that portion, We absolutely welcome you to join us for the book club. We would love to have your insights. We enjoy looking at these works analytically. We're getting so much already as we get ready to have the January meeting in regards to the pick your own genre for this month. And there's going to be a lot of good insight that comes out of these readings that help us develop more as writers. Stephanie and I are working on handouts and other little mini courses that help you find those resources. Again, those will be in the broader community.

Stephanie: 55:23

Well, and again, as we've talked so often, is there's so much benefit from being part of a community. I know I was thinking about it today, thinking about how, I wasn't feeling motivated. Then I was thinking about all the opportunities that are available inside the community to keep me on my toes and moving forward with my writing. And so we really hope you'll join us. And again, we really hope you'll dive into thinking about this first chapter with this two part series that we've done with podcast episode eight and now this one podcast episode nine. And we hope you have. A great day and happy writing!

56:05

Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the Inspired Writer Collective podcast. We hope you found inspiration, insights, and connection to yourself as a writer. If you enjoyed this episode, please share, subscribe, and leave us a 5 star review. Remember, the power of storytelling lies within each of us, and by supporting one another, we can make a difference. We can amplify our voices and craft narratives that resonate with the world. We're not just about words on a page. We're passionate about the craft, the process, and building a supportive community. Become a part of our community by connecting with us on social media. You can find us on Instagram and YouTube at inspired writer collective on Tik TOK at inspired writer LLC by joining our writing community online at inspired dash writer. Dash collective.mn.co and let's continue this writing journey Together, you can find links in the show notes. Until next time, fellow writers may your pens be mighty and your stories captivating. Happy writing.