First Chapters

First Chapters

By Roy Hayward

I like first chapters.  I have to confess that I have read many more first chapters than I have last chapters.  Many many more.  As an aspiring writer, I also write first chapters.  Again, I write many more first chapters than last chapters.  This is because I often end up re-writing first chapters after I get to the last chapter, and because I have started more stories than I have finished.

A first chapter is just like the opening line, it needs to capture the reader and make him or her want to read more, want to read the second chapter, and hopefully the last.

This is something to think about if you are writing.  Recently, I wrote a first chapter.  Here it is, please tell me if it makes you want to read more.

Writer Wednesday: Editing Mule Backwards

So as I approach my final days before the release of Glazier it has not been without turmoil. Made it through the content edit now on to the copy/line edits. It seems this is the hardest part. However, this will be the only novel I expect to be this hard since my writing had evolved tremendously since Glazier's initial draft.

When editing I tend to find myself facing several issues with a novel I've been intimate with four years now. For the following reasons...