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mr. Fury's opening chapters are kind of like an exam for a writer they're insanely difficult but vital to your work and they're really where people get to see if you have the skills you get to introduce your main characters and convince your audience like some stranger on the internet just did that you've got something to say and that it will be interesting but how do you write them if you're smashing your head on the disk and response to that question then that's okay that's perfectly normal I've spent the last while trawling through the first chapters of a bunch of books so today's discussion will involve a close breakdown of why these opening chapters works so well we'll be breaking this down into four parts the mini 3x structure opening lines tone into the hook and I'll mostly be excluding prologues in this discussion they really deserve a video of their own but first I want to thank today's video sponsor audible of course you guys know that I am a huge fan of storytelling and you know where stories come from books and if you want to know how to write then and I cannot emphasize this enough reading is about the most important thing that you can do and guess what with audible you can listen to books use my link at audible.com slash hello future me or text hello future me to 500 500 to get a free audiobook and a 30-day trial and stick around till the end of the video to find out which book I recommend but for now ladies and gentlemen on to the video the best way to start your book will vary depending on your genre style and legitimate personal creative choices but there are a number of setups that work better than others so firstly the mini three act structure most writers are somewhat familiar with the three act structure which comes in all shapes and sizes depending on who you ask but a very simple form of it can be useful to structure your opening chapter the basic form being one the introduction of a problem to the exploration of their problem and three the resolution of that problem for example in philip reeves the mortal engines the problem is introduced the protagonist tom isn't allowed to see the city of london chase the town of salt Hook the problems explored tom argues with his mentor and thinks about why he wants to see it so much and the problem is resolved tom sneaks away to see the spectacle in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the lightning thief there is a problem his teacher is actually a monster trying to kill him it is explored he finds the monster ended as resolved he kills the monster by accident the reason the mini three-act structure works so well is because it does more than create an interesting conflict for the writer to explore in their first chapter it allows the writer to show a what kind of conflict of the reader can expect in your story and be how the main character deals with conflicts making your main character seem proactive rather than passive from the beginning which is always more interesting though it is important to note that these problems can be internal or external personal or physical the problem you choose should naturally arise from your world building what kind of problems does this world keeps it your story and create in the mortal engines the first chapter immediately establishes that the lack of resources is a massive source of conflict in the story with cities attacking one another for them in this in turn establishes setting something of a barren wasteland reordan Zopa nning problem immediately establishes that Percy fighting monsters from Greek myth will be the sort of conflicts that the reader can expect which in turn establishes genre a fantasy adventure if the opening chapter problem is about them suffering from a crippling lack of motivation after 5 years of university that has just become mind-numbing by this point then the reader will expect school-based conflict to arise either that or it's probably my biography I just want to be done into this meet that also allows you to introduce how characters approach problems whether they're full of self-doubt overconfidence physically adept or they trick their enemies and this can help introduce aspects of your character especially if they have quirks or a unique perspective on the world then makes them interesting in Artemis Fowl we learned that animist Rex's enemies is relatively utilitarian and ultra intelligent as he tricks the fairy in the opening scene showing the reader how your character solves problems should be a real insight into who they are the mini 3x structure allows the author to go through the who the what the wind the where the why and the how without it feeling like a laundry list of exposition at the beginning though it is worthy of note that many authors use the opening chapter problem as their inciting incident the thing that really launches your main character into the story and that's perfectly fine but in that case the resolution part of the opening chapter doesn't need to mean that they solve the problem it could end in disaster like in the way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson or it could simply be that the main character resolves to fix the problem and so their quest begins it's also interesting to note that as the authors in both Percy Jackson and in the mortal engine stood the opening chapter problem is often used as a form of foreshadowing called a pre scene this is where an earlier plot a phantom omix a much larger version of that event that will appear later on in the story and if you want to know more about how to foreshadow and the different types of foreshadowing then go check out my video on just how to do that secondly opening lines there are very few things more difficult to write than opening chapters in a book but one of them is definitely opening lines these lines can emphasize sitting tone character voice mood conflict tension drama genre theme mystery or the faith that mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell which I'm sure you didn't know it could be on any element of your story and which you choose will be dependent on the kind of story that you want to write but let's break down some individual fantastic opening lines George Orwell wrote one of my favorite opening lines in his dystopian novel 1984 it was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking 13 with this the reader becomes curious because none of this makes sense April was springtime for his audience suggesting hope and life but it's described as cold and the fact the clocks are striking 13 immediately tells the reader something went wrong with this place before he uses this juxtaposition of wither and season effect infection to introduce the theme that just as the characters should the reader should question everything in the world he has built for another example one of the best opening lines that I've read recently comes from the mortal engines it was a dark blustery afternoon in spring and the City of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried out bit of the old North Sea Reeves uses his opening line to establish sitting primarily and from the beginning the withered lifeless world of his dystopian future is established with the mention of a dried-up sea because we immediately associate life with water and the reader becomes interested because this world has led to cities moving even chasing one another introducing the reader to the premise which essentially dictates the whole conflict of the story to come it's an action scene but unlike one we have ever seen before the most persuasive opening lines are seeing and not superfluous to do this it can be effective to not have more than one central idea to your opening line like 1984 chooses to set up its thematic question and it can be tempting to bring in as many intriguing elements of your story as you can because you have so much to say and you want to bring the reader in but picking one central element for that opening line allows the author to narrow the readers focus on something that makes your story stand out this doesn't need to be the most important element of your story but it should be an interesting central element that you focus on in 1984 it primarily works to set up a powerful theme that all well wanted to discuss in the mortal engines the city chase sets up the unique setting of his world and in Kings the gunslinger he opens with the man and blank fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed introducing the conflicts between as protagonist and antagonist for the record when I used the terminology opening line this can include the first paragraph also the same rules still apply in cornelia funke sin cart he takes two paragraphs to establish his central idea that books are magical I could spend all day talking about the opening lines of these famous stories and why they work so well part of the difficulty in picking an opening line that has possess shock factor intrigue and ultimately reflux your story in just one line makes it tempting to write bizarre openers that don't actually set up the story my personal pet peeve example of this you can see in the opening to the Doctor Who episode doomsday we have roast Tyler says the problem with this opening line is that it sets up a central point of tension that doesn't actually happen in any meaningful way it feels more like clickbait read this book now to find out how she died hashtag doctors hate exaggerating a story element to make it more intriguing for the opening line creates an unsatisfactory experience for the reader when the reality is revealed either falsely building tension or creating a misleading basis for your story thirdly sitting the tone ellen brock and either to who has spoken a lot about writing herself and noted that the best thing that you can do for your book is make sure the first chapter adequately represents the tone of the rest of the chapters so the book as a whole seems cohesive in John Green's The Fault in Our Stars the opening chapter introduces the feeling of death hanging over Hazel's head but it's written in a relatively funny and cynical way the reader can tell from how Greene writes about these topics that it's going to be a story that deals with heavy issues sitting a somber tone that will be told with an amusing narrator and it matches the rest of the story now this doesn't mean that if you have a tragic twist - later on that you can't have a happy beginning twists are often accompanied by drastic changes in tone however it does mean that it can be jarring for the reader if the opening chapter problem is what should be a traumatic experience and then chapter 2 is upbeat and comedic this is partly why in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone the first chapter which is technically more of a prologue but it is called chapter 1 skips the traumatic scene of depicting the death of Harry's parents and goes straight to the celebrations of Baltimore's fall and the whimsical Dumbledore it's more consistent with the tone of the rest of the story now this isn't a video on building tones so we won't go too in depth on it but we will touch on it because it's clearly relevant to the discussion it can be built in the first chapter in any number of ways it can be established with the focus of your imagery focusing on how the wind and the rain is tearing the leaves off trees establishes a pessimistic tone while focusing on how one beautiful flower survives the wind and rain establishes an optimistic tone it can be established by using the stakes of the opening problem in the opening scene of Shakespeare's King Lear the opening problem that Cordelia faces is needing to prove how much she loves her father the King and almost everything in her inheritance is at stake here establishing a far more serious tone to the story fun to me though tone is the lease about what happens and more about how you say it it's about the feelings that you invoke in the reader with imagery diction characterization and emphasis and finally the hook one of the biggest misunderstandings that people seem to have is that they can fight to the inciting incident with the hook the inciting incident is the thing that launches your character into their quest whatever it is while the hook on the other hand is the very first moment in your story that intrigues the reader and makes them want to know more a great example of this is in The Last Airbender and ha you thought I wasn't gonna mention my favorite show ever that I could go one episode without referencing this fantastic series you would be wrong in the opening episode of The Last Airbender the inciting incident is soccer and Katara chanting across the frozen avatar aang a few people have suggested that the hook is Katara using waterbending because it makes people want to know more about this world but it's actually far earlier than that it's this moment immediately the viewers left asking why did the avatar vanish where did they go in most cases the hook does one of two things either it causes the reader to ask a question that they wish to know more about or it sets up a controversial statement that they may or may not agree with the most famous example of this is Pride and Prejudice it is a truth universally acknowledged that a young man in position of a large fortune must be in want of a wife of course my response to this is why have a wife when you can have cats it should be noted here that not every first chapter needs an inciting incident they often happen in the first chapter but they also often happen in the second or third chapters - all first chapters do however need a hook I want to be clear there are an infinite number of things that we could discuss on the first chapter as the first chapter can be done in an infinite number of ways but most writers know that they have to introduce characters set the tone setting and so on but that advice isn't all that helpful unless you learn how to do those things this was a close look at some essential often overlooked elements of the first chapter that might give you a structure to sort of do those other things that you already know you need and of course I'd like to thank today's sponsor audible to quote John Green reading is just as important as writing when you're trying to be a writer because it's the only apprenticeship we have something that I truly and wholeheartedly believe in and audibles unmatched selection is one way to make experiencing inspiring stories super easy and convenient because one of the biggest problems is making time to read with audible you can listen to books in the car while you're spending time outdoors hiking biking exercising or while you're worshipping supreme leader Mishka one such book that you should give a listen to is one we've already discussed a lot today the mortal engines by philip reeves it's actually pretty short and there's a movie coming out soon so you should do what i'm doing and listen to the book before i see it on the big screen really recommend it go to audible.com slash hello fee to me or takes hello fee to me in - 500 500 where you can get the mortal engines for free plus a 30-day free trial then drop me a comment to let me know what you think of it also really helps the channel guys so thank you to those of you who do so what have we discussed today about writing the first chapter firstly using the mini 3x structure gives you the opportunity to introduce your setting and characters in interesting ways as you show what kind of problems arise in your world and how your character approaches them secondly effective opening lines tend to be succinct and not superfluous to do this introduce only one central element to your story that makes it interesting the conflicts the setting the theme or otherwise however don't exaggerate these ideas for a victory to reveal them as an ordinary late thirdly first chapters tend to work when their tone is consistent with the rest of the story this can be done with stakes imagery diction emphasis and many other tools fourthly the hook and the inciting incident are two different story elements but a first chapter must have a hook this usually takes the form of a question that makes the reader want to know more or a statement of eternal principle and if you enjoyed this then we have a patreon only discord for those of you who want to support me in the community we have a writing tab which allows us to talk about our stories and how to build them otherwise I would love for you to come follow me over on Twitter or Facebook email me stuff you have me and the address and links in the description below keep worshiping supreme leader Mishka and good luck with all of your writing endeavors stay nerdy sub-areas and I will see you in the future