Wednesday, July 07, 2010

First Chapters

I am struggling right now with mine. I've had several crit partners remark about my heroine which made me wonder if I should maybe begin the story in the hero POV. So I spent yesterday tearing apart my chapter to see if I could make it stronger. And AHHHHHHHHH! I want to just tear my hair out today. Good thing I saved the original. But I wrote 4 new pages to begin in the hero POV. I think I'll add a couple more and play with the ending again including the heroine material I had in previously. It has been easy to take the kiddo out of it as requested, but the hero didn't make an appearance until the last part of chapter one. From the books in the line that I've read...the hero usually makes his debut up front and BOLD.

Do you struggle with your beginnings? When you read--what catches your eye? Dialogue or action?

9 comments:

Susan R. Mills said...

Beginnings are so hard. I've rewritten the one for my current WIP at least a dozen times. I'm getting closer, but I'm still not sure I'm satisfied.

PatriciaW said...

I've found beginnings to be hard when I don't know where I want the story to go or when I haven't fully fleshed out my characters. Then new beginnings keep popping into my head, usually because they introduce an element I haven't already considered.

Diane said...

Love your blog makeover and new header! :O)

Chelle Sandell said...

Thanks, girl! Can you tell I get bored easily?! :D

Jennifer Shirk said...

Beginnings are the toughest for me too.
Hang in there, girl.

Chicki Brown said...

Actually, endings are harder for me, but I've always read that the opening paragraphs should begin with action of some kind. The "experts" say to begin where a major change is happening for your main character.

Hope you get it worked out. Have a great weekend!

Gina Ardito aka Katherine Brandon said...

I'm usually good until Chapter 4 or so. Then I start to panic and think I don't have enough "story" for a full story! But I muddle through and it usually comes together.

Good luck figuring out which way will work best for you!

R.M.Gilbert said...

I try not to stress over beginnings too much because my beginnings always get dissected and rewritten and/or cut by the time I get through edits.

I don't care so much 'what' the book starts off with as long as it makes sense to the story.

Vanessa said...

Beginnings are always the worst. I usually end up writing a beginning and then cutting the first couple pages off. Hopefully you've gotten it all straight for now. When in doubt, just keep LOTS of versions saved!

:) Hope it goes more smoothly from now on!