“If you don’t see the book you want on the shelves, write it.”
— Beverly Cleary
First chapters are daunting. Some people say haunting. Writers agonize over the major elements to include in one chapter (or about 2,500 words) – an engaging opening paragraph, a cool, compelling character, a strong voice, the perfect starting point, the setting/place/decade, a hint at the inciting incident, a hook to keep us reading, and, last the kitchen sink. So, to help writers, I am going to summarize some first chapters in various genres. Please note that I am not recommending you copy these. Use them as examples to inspire your editing. Many are available in Preview mode on Goodreads if you’d like to peruse them.
- Historical Fiction – The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell, Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim, The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor, Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton, and The Second Life of Mirielle West by Amanda Skenandore
- Young Adult – Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee, Blood Sugar by Sasha Rothchild, and The Applicant by Nazli Koca.
- Action – Farhenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Fantasy – The Weatherman by Michael Bergman, 96 Miles by J.L. Esplin, Magical Midlife Madness: A Paranormal Women’s Fiction Novel by K.F. Breene, and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
- Young Adult Fantasy – Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
- Women’s Fiction – In Five Years by Rebecca Serle, Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty and Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister, A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson
- Drama/Thriller – Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
- Historical Fiction/Mystery – The Curious Case of Florence Winters by May Bridges and Ashes in Winter by K.M. Cannon
- Biographical Retelling – Runaway at Sea by Margreit Maitland
- Third Person – Bell Hammers: The True Folk Tale of Little Egypt, Illinois by Lancelot Schaubert
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