Novel drafting rule #1: Write the first chapter of your novel last

Hopefully, your novel will have lots of “best parts,” but one of the most important parts of your novel will be the first chapter (also referred to as the “introduction” when discussing the basic steps of the writing process.) One of the most efficient and effective ways to write a five-paragraph essay is to write your three body paragraphs first and then write the introduction and conclusion paragraphs last. The same is often true when writing a novel.

The first chapter of a novel plays a crucial role in capturing the reader’s attention, introducing key elements of the story, and setting the stage for the narrative to come. It is the author’s opportunity to make a strong first impression and entice readers to delve further into the book. However, the author—you—often doesn’t know what the key elements of the story will be until after the majority of the first draft has been written. How can you possibly introduce those elements in your first chapter when you don’t know yet what they are?

Additionally, you may think you’ve already written your first chapter from the start, but it’s common to get to the end of writing the first draft of a novel only to realize that your story doesn’t actually begin exactly where you thought it did when you first started writing. You may realize that you need to write a new first chapter once the rest of the draft is complete, and that’s okay.

You will be better equipped to write an effective first chapter after you have figured your story out and put the majority of it on the page. So don’t let yourself get hung up on trying to figure out where to start your novel. The important thing is to just start writing – anything – and don’t stop until the draft is complete!

A lot of writing time can be wasted on trying to figure out the best possible place to begin a story that hasn’t been written yet—especially when there’s a good chance that you’ll decide to change it later. So don’t even bother. In fact, don’t bother thinking too much about anything during the drafting process. Just get the bones of your story on the page and worry about the rest later.