How to Write Brilliant Beginnings: Crafting Your Novel's Opening Chapters Made Easy: Write Better Fiction, #1

By Shane Millar

Struggling with how to start your novel?

 

Discover a simple, 9-step system for writing brilliant beginnings that will hook readers and convince them to buy your books!

 

Are you a new author writing your first novel, but don't know where to start? Perhaps you're an experienced author who's hit a writing block a few chapters in, and can't figure out how to get past it? Maybe you need to sell more books, and you're worried your sample pages aren't pulling their weight?

 

Packed to the brim with useful tips and examples from fiction, How to Write Brilliant Beginnings introduces you to 9 Building Blocks that will help you write sensational starts that hook readers and keep them flipping pages into the early hours.

 

In How to Write Brilliant Beginnings, you'll discover:

 

• How to construct an opening sentence readers can't resist
• Why you need to create a page-worthy main character readers can relate to
• How to breathe life into a realistic villain
• Why tension and conflict are non-negotiable for sensational starts
• How to deploy a literary grenade with devastating effect
• And more…

 

How to Write Brilliant Beginnings is the tool you need to kick your novels off with a bang and keep readers engaged in your stories.

 

If you like practical advice, real-world examples, and a sprinkling of cheeky humour in your writing guides, then you'll love this powerful book for writing intriguing openings guaranteed to delight readers.

 

Scroll up and click buy now to write brilliant beginnings today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tagline Publishing
• Release date: May 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781915192110

Book preview

Also By Shane Millar

Write Better Fiction

The Write Better Fiction Key Beats #0.5

How to Write Brilliant Beginnings #1

How to Plot Your Novel #2

How to Write Novels Fast #3

How to Edit Your Novel #4

How to Publish Your Book #5

More Write Better Fiction coming soon...

Copyright

Copyright © 2022 by Shane Millar

All rights reserved

Published by Tagline Publishing

https://writebetterfiction.com

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-915192-11-0

ISBN (Paperback): 978-1-915192-22-6

Cover designed using Canva

Formatted using Atticus

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations.

Dedication

To all the authors who have mentored me over the years. Without you, I would never have written this book. You know who you are. Thank you.

Epigraph

The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish.—Quote attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson

Introduction

What is a Brilliant Beginning, and Why is it so Damn Important?

Brilliant beginnings are important because the way people buy books has changed.

When was the last time you went into a brick-and-mortar bookstore and spent hours browsing the shelves for your next read?

That’s probably the wrong question to ask you.

You’re a fiction writer.

At least, I hope you are, because you’ve picked up this writing guide all about crafting brilliant beginnings.

So—like me—you’re probably still addicted to bookshops.

I’ll rephrase the question.

When was the last time the average reader went into a brick-and-mortar bookstore and spent hours browsing the shelves for their next read?

It’s no secret that foot traffic in physical bookstores has waned over the past decade, thanks in part to digital reading.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against digital reading. Far from it. I own an e-reader, and I reckon I read digitally about 95% of the time.

Why?

I can take my entire library with me wherever I go.

It’s a space-saver.

I read a ton of fantasy, and my e-reader isn’t as heavy as an epic 800-page paperback.

I love e-reading.

But...

The rise of digital reading and online bookstores means only one thing.

Free samples!

You can go to pretty much any digital bookstore right now and grab a bucket load of samples without ever dipping your hand into your wallet—all while chilling in your PJs and never leaving the house.

A free sample (also referred to in this book as your novel’s opening chapters) is the first 10% of your novel (the beginning), and readers make split-second buying decisions based on the content and quality of these opening chapters. This is an extreme example, but a fellow author (who will remain nameless) only reads the first three pages of a free sample before deciding whether to buy or bin a book.

Harsh, or what?

That’s why writing brilliant beginnings is vital if you want to sell more books.

You have to pass the free sample test.

What does a brilliant beginning look like?

Here are a few questions to consider:

●  Is the beginning of your novel attention grabbing?

●  Is your protagonist story-worthy (are they someone readers will want to spend hundreds of pages with)?

●  Would you buy your book based on your sample pages?

Whether you’ve written a novel—or several—or you’re working on your very first manuscript, my goal is to teach you the strategies that will compel readers to buy your book after speeding through its opening chapters.

And your next book.

And the one after that.

Brilliant beginnings are attention grabbing. They glue reader’s eyes (or ears—can’t forget our audio readers) to your novel, and keep them flipping pages until long after they should’ve gone to bed.

If your book’s beginning is dull and lacklustre, your precious readers are going to set your novel to one side, and never pick it up again.

You don’t want that. I don’t want that. Nobody wants that.

But, wait!

I know what you’re thinking...

Who in the Name of the Literary Gods is this Guy...

...And Why the Hell Should I Listen to Him?

Hold your horses and drop your sword there, Zorro. Who in the name of the literary gods are you... and why the hell should I listen?

Damn, you’re good at asking questions!

It’s a valid one, though.

I’m Shane, and in 2019, I stopped thinking/talking/internally obsessing about becoming an author and actually did it. In 2022, I published the first four novels in my urban fantasy thriller series, Myth & Magic, under the pen name S. W. Millar. As well as being a writer, I’m a Fictionary Certified StoryCoach, a developmental editor, and an unapologetically nerdy writing craft junkie.

Why this book, and why now?

It took me a long time to write and publish my first novel... too long.

Hang on. Three years isn’t that long, though, and you just said you’ve published four books.

True.

If that were the entire story, I’d agree with you.

Let me take you back to 2010, my writerly friend.

Twelve years ago, I wrote a truly awful vampire urban fantasy novel that will never, EVER, see the light of day (without a ton of re-writing), then I did what 99.9% of writers do. I stuck it in a drawer, let it gather dust, and fell into a sensible corporate job.

In late 2018, I found that book. I skimmed it. I was promptly sick in my mouth.

It was so bad.

Want to know what struck me?

I couldn’t get past the first ten pages.

The beginning sucked!

I’d written the kind of opening chapters—dull, dull, dull—I want to help you avoid.

I had to do better, but I didn’t know how.

Over the next two years, I did what any self-respecting writing nerd would do.

I studied.

A lot.

I consumed every writing craft book I could get my hands on, bought all the courses, and was lucky enough to meet some fantastic author mentors who have been extremely generous with their time and expertise. For the latter, I will be eternally grateful... but...

It