Have you finally decided to work on your fantasy novel? If yes, then you should try to get the starting right. One of the most important things that you will do for your book is to get the start of your fantasy novel right.
The best way to ensure that you have a great opening is by avoiding a few mistakes. Also, if you have already started, then you have nothing to worry about, as you can always edit and re-edit your opening chapter as many times as you need.
Here is the list of mistakes to avoid if you want an attractive start.
Contents
- 1 The Mistake of Not Starting Right Away
- 2 Pro Tip: Introduce the Conflict Right Away
- 3 The Mistake of Not Creating Conflict
- 4 The Mistake of Introducing Too Many Characters
- 5 Pro Tip: Draw Relatable Characters
- 6 The Mistake of Not Introducing Your Main Character
- 7 Pro Tip: Introduce the Main Character on the First Page
The Mistake of Not Starting Right Away
One of the most common mistakes that newbie writers make is to write at least ten pages before they actually get to the beginning of the fantasy novel. They normally do so to sort of “settle” into the story to get a sense of the characters and the plot as well as the information about the world.
They might be doing everything else but not starting the actual story. Your deal is to jump right into the story and get straight to the point where your character encounters their bog problem. You cannot make the mistake of withholding that good stuff. You want your conflict on the first page of your opening so that your readers can get hooked and actually develop interest.
Pro Tip: Introduce the Conflict Right Away
The worst that you can do is to wait seven or ten pages to bring us the conflict. On that note, if this is your first attempt at writing a fantasy novel, you might put your writing project on pause and do some more digging into the tips for writing a fantasy novel so that you know what your ideal readers are expecting from you and so that you can deliver a book that readers will actually want to read.
Even if you have already written the first chapter, you might want to complete your draft. After completing your first draft, you should get back to your first chapter and brutally assess what you can cut from the beginning. You might have to cut out the first four pages so that you can start the novel right from the action to make the reader care about the character. Subsequently, you can make your readers catch up on the story and magic world later in your novel.
The Mistake of Not Creating Conflict
We cannot stress enough the importance of having some conflict on the first page of your fantasy novel. Here is the thing: when your readers are picking up your fantasy novel, they secretly hope to latch onto some mystery, danger, or tension. If they cannot latch onto any of these, they certainly don’t want to continue reading.
You should know that there are thousands of fantasy novels to read in the world. So, you must give your ideal readers a good reason to read your book and not “theirs.” So, if you write the first chapter of your fantasy novel that is deprived of some tension or mystery on the very first page, you have a bad novel opening, and no one will want to read your novel.
The Mistake of Introducing Too Many Characters
Do you like meeting twenty new people in real life – except when you teach for a living, and you meet your new class? The point is that normally, people feel overwhelmed when they have to meet a bunch of new people or characters in real life and in fiction.
On that note, when it comes to the opening chapter of your fantasy novel, you will be doing your ideal readers a great favor by only introducing a few characters at the beginning of the novel. Ideally, only introduce the most important characters of your fantasy novel during the opening of your book.
When we say a few characters, we only mean two to three characters. The worst thing that you can do is to introduce ten characters in the opening of your novel because no one will be able to keep all of the ten characters in their minds.
Pro Tip: Draw Relatable Characters
It is important to mention here that whenever a reader picks up your fantasy novel and goes through the first pages of your novel, they do so with the intention of deciding whether or not they want to invest their time in reading your novel till the very end. So, if you make the mistake of overwhelming them with too many characters in the opening chapter, they will simply put aside the books and get another novel that doesn’t have a confusing opening chapter.
The Mistake of Not Introducing Your Main Character
The first page of your fantasy novel should introduce your main character. Believe us when we tell you that many aspiring writers make the mistake of not introducing the main character. What is even worse, some newbie writers make the mistake of starting the chapter from the point of view of some mystery narrator who disappears after the first chapter altogether.
If you have a mystery narrator starting right off the bat, and your readers invest their time into caring for the mystery narrator only to find out that the story wasn’t about the mystery narrator, to begin with – how disappointing must it be to them? Of course, your novel will get bad reviews, and people will tell each other not to waste their time on your novel.
Pro Tip: Introduce the Main Character on the First Page
To avoid this situation, you should avoid a mystery narrator altogether. If it is possible, you should show your character from the very beginning of your fantasy novel. By showing your main character from the very beginning, you engage in a big promise with your readers as you are promising to your readers that the character that they have spent their time getting to know, the same character, matters for the rest of the story.
Remember – it is your job to hook the readers right from the start of the fantasy novel. The best way to do this is by introducing your main character and some sort of conflict that the readers can latch onto.
