We all know how important a good beginning is. Us writers are told over and over that it’s critical to hook our readers in those first few sentences - and with so many other forms of entertainment competing for readers’ attention, the pressure is on! How easy would it be for our readers to close the book and switch on Netflix or start scrolling on Instagram?
But forget all that for a minute. You can worry about creating a snappy first line and hooking your reader once you’ve worked out where exactly your story is supposed to begin. If you’re anything like me, you will have rewritten the start of your novel several times, deleted it, chosen a new scene for it, deleted that, spent countless hours looking for an older draft with the original beginning, then finally given up and scrapped the whole first chapter. 🤪
Hint: it’s all about your character’s arc. Read on to understand why.
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