I’ve seen a lot of social media posts recently lamenting authors who info dump at the start of their book. “The first chapter is not about this!” or “Start the first chapter on something exciting”…
The First Chapter of Your Book
I am assuming these posts are referring to drafts, rather than complaining about published books. I don’t disagree with the overall information these posts sharing. I know they are trying to provide tips.
What I feel is missing is the writing craft tip.
You CAN info dump.
Dump all you want!
Get your story working in YOUR head.
Then you can pare out the information to create a hookingly interesting first chapter.
The other stuff you wrote? Could be a prequel, a pre-novella, a lead magnet for your book – it won’t go to waste, it just might end up somewhere slightly different than in your first chapter.
I agree! Whether that info dump is in the manuscript itself or in a plan, put it somewhere. Call it a pre-chapter. Whatever works to get the story flowing all the way to edit stage.
Yep, you need to start somewhere before it will make sense.
Everyone needs to start somewhere, right? I agree that a good brain dump can really reel the reader in.
Yes. That. I totally agree. My first chapters rarely end up looking anything like the way they began life.
Everything of mine is a dump…well not so much all the blog posts but sometimes you just have to get it out.
I started my memoirs of Telling My Story one way and hated it and it wasn’t until Rebecca Bowyer offered advice apparently Kayte at Woogsworld used…do each chapter one blog post at a time.
That made it much easier to organise my thoughts and memories as I am a timeline person.
Thank you for sharing your post for the link up #lifethisweek Next Week, the optional prompt is #selfcare. Come on over and join in with a post old or new. Warm wishes, Denyse.