forum What do you want from a first chapter?

Started July 25, 2018 by @Paperok

tune

??

From a first chapter, I want a solid connection to a well-developed character, preferably the main character but it doesn’t have to be. I’m also a sucker for rich worldbuilding, so that sort of thing (shown in small snippets of relevant detail, not an infodump) is likely to pull me in.

I try to give the books I read a chance, so I don’t often put them down after just one chapter, but these are the things that discourage me from reading further:

• Too many characters introduced
• Starting with the history of the world and naming fifteen battles between four different countries over 2000 years with a succession of 17 kings. Plz no.
• The focus character having a personality or values that are implausibly out of place for the world they live in. E.g. Medieval princesses swearing off dresses
• The author aggressively pushing values I don’t hold. (Different values are fine. The narrative basically yelling, “Eating only cheese is NORMAL and actually BETTER and there are NO DOWNSIDES and if you eat things other than cheese you are a STUPID FOODIST NEANDERTHAL” is not.)
• The book’s just not my genre. This is not the author’s fault, but sometimes a cover that looks fantasy-inspired is wrapped around a grimdark/horror story, and I know my limits so I put it down.

On top of everything that @Riorlyne has said, I really love books with a lot of action so I'd like for interesting things to be happening. Your story doesn't necessarily have to start in the middle of a battlefield, or anything super intense like that, but don't start your story off by taking the reader through your character's morning routine if nothing interesting is going to happen (and so many people do this!)