Must-Have's of First and Last Chapters

Stellar first chapters are a bear to write. They are also essential if you want to sell your book to a publisher. Most "samples" of manuscripts include the first chapter.

Equally important are ending chapters. But for a different reason: your reader. If a reader is swept away by the last pages, they are more likely to (1) read the book again and (2) recommend it to a friend. Both huge compliments and great ways to get your book read by a lot of people.

Best way to learn how to write these two most-difficult parts of a book? For me, it's by reading and studying other writers. And by allowing the beginning and ending of your own book to evolve slowly--possibly out of step with the rest of the manuscript.

I also learned via two other methods.

I was a newspaper columnist for twelve years. Each week I wrote a 600-word column that was syndicated by the LA Times and sent to 86 newspapers in the US and Canada. Each week, I had to come up with a great lede (beginning) and a satisfying ending.

I wrote some pretty poor ledes and endings. I guess the columns had enough meat, or my contract was solid enough, that they ran anyway. But all that practice (52 weeks times 12 years) taught me a ton about opening and closing a piece of writing.

Another way I learned: by reading short short stories, either memoir or fiction. Taking a piece that's limited to 50 or 100 or 500 words and seeing how the writer began and ended shows you a lot about what kind of tension you need to consider for your book.

(If you'd like to test this out, get a copy of Going Short by Nancy Stohlman or Heating and Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly--the first is fiction, the second is memoir--and read about how always-limited-in-word-count writers do this.)

I came up with these notes, after all these years, so I hope they will be useful to you as well.

Your First Chapter Must . . .

1. Introduce the main players that you want the reader to care about, ideally
2. Introduce the main dilemma or conflict (fiction and memoir) or main questions or need (nonfiction) that the book will answer
3. Place the reader in a relevant container (physical and emotional and cultural setting) that will echo throughout the book

Most important: the first chapter asks a question that will be answered (or at least fully addressed) by the last chapter. The pending question is what creates a tension cord, a thread that' continually tightens as we read into the second, third, fourth chapters, and on, causing things to get more complicated.

Danger of first chapters: When the writer wants to give everything away. Don't do it. Not yet. Just create a triggering event that provides a reason for the rest of the book, an engaging place and time for the story you're going to tell, and some worrisome people to follow.

From all my journalism years, I usually write the first chapter last, after the rest of the book is organized. I'll sketch in what I want from that chapter but if I spend all my time refining it now, I may have to redo as I write more and learn more. Even with a great outline or storyboard, this holds true.

So don't sweat the first chapter in early drafts. Save that sweat for later.

Your Last Chapter Must . . .

Not necessarily wrap everything up. Or, not neatly. In fact, you can leave the reader with hunger, unresolved emotion, longing to go back and read your book again. Something to think about, talk about it with friends.

Lining up all the ducks can be satisfying for you, boring for the reader.

Of course, this also depends on genre. Nonfiction can end with a call to action, putting the impetus in the reader's hands to take a next step. Memoir and fiction can end with questions unanswered, as well. But do, if you're writing a mystery, solve it. If there's a romance, take it to some happy or unhappy conclusion. Not a happily-ever-after, perhaps, but some answer to the question asked at the beginning of the story.

What else makes a good last chapter? Not introducing new dilemmas, or main conflicts. Way frustrating for the reader. It's really too late to do this. The reader will go, "Where'd that come from?"

So many times, when I was editing or coaching writers, I ran into this. New characters brought in, new problems. If your book is part of a series, you can get away with this--somewhat. You can hint at more trouble, if you're writing a sequel. But finish tying up those dilemma threads in the next-to-last (penultimate) chapter so the final chapter is a real goodbye.

What really needs attention in the last chapter are the main relationships. How did the narrator change? How did the method you're teaching shift your way of approaching life? How did the character realize something? Show us how the primary players changed, how something new was realized or achieved or lost. Demonstrate a new state of being and you'll have the reader hooked, hungry, and happy.

This Week's Exercise
Spend time with your first chapter, your last chapter, in whatever shape they might be. Craft them if you haven't already--brainstorm possible beginnings, possible endings. Then, using the notes above as a checklist, analyze the chapter drafts for what's missing and what's too much.

Any time you spend on your bookend chapters will teach you a lot about your writing in general.