This week I removed a page from my novel's opening chapter. I'd
worked on that page for two years, off and on, and workshopped that
chapter maybe a dozen times. It was as good as I could make it. But I
hadn't seen that there was material I didn't need, and I couldn't see
that in even the eleventh draft, just because the shape was still
evolving in my mind.
This
week, I had a new perspective, thanks to some feedback from an agent.
Opening chapters need to do two things, she said. Introduce the
character and put them into some immediate action. I had the action, no
problem. But I spent too long introducing the character. Now, what I've
omitted, makes room for more tension in the storyline.
