I'm currently planning an entry for a competition which involves writing the first chapter of a book, accompanied by a synopsis of the rest of the plot. Obviously, the first chapter needs to be as interesting as possible to get the judges' attention, but I'm worried that if I open the book at the beginning of the action of my plot, the all-important 1500 words, which isn't much, won't be arresting. If, however, I start after the main action, it can make references that would hopefully make people want to read the rest.
My worry is this: would starting in this manner be too much of a cliché, and too similar to a prologue? I know that prologues aren't everybody's cup of tea. If I were planning on writing the entire novel before submitting it to an agent, I would probably do it in chronological order - but I need to make a good impression. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice?
Thank you - and sorry for the lengthy and rather badly-put question!
That's a good idea, Victoria. I'm a little short of time and seem to have spent most of my time writing rather than revising recently, so maybe I'll plan them both instead and write down phrases or descriptions that come to mind.
I tend to prefer chronology too, so maybe I'll think of a different part of the story I could start at, and trim the introduction I had planned.
Your opening should be dramatic, straight Into the action. This is your big chance to grab the judges attention.
Introduce your protagonist at the beginning. What motivates him/her? Use dialogue or streams of thought to define your protagonist, and his/her sensory perceptions to describe the setting. do not add to many lines of back story, as it is a 1500 hundred word competition. Keep your sentences, paragraphs and vivid descriptions short. That will add pace to your story.
I hope that helps.
Good luck.
I know it's a lot of work but to really judge it I would have to write both. No doubt you'd end up using both somewhere in the book anyway and I think it would be difficult to see which is best without actually doing both.
I prefer chronology, though, and many others will have had the same idea to jump to the action. Is there really no action at the beginning of your story worthy of the judges' attention?