So Helena challenged me to do a book on writing tips the other day and I said 'challenge accepted'. I know I'm not a professional but here are some writing tips that some may find useful. They are most likely to be based on they way I would prefer t...
You're probably now thinking, "what the hell is this girl going on about now??" Well excuse me, that's just rude! I didn't ask you to read this so you can go trip on someone else's work THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
No, structured introductions is something I kind of thought about when I was reading this story on Wattpad, and I picked on it because I just didn't like the introduction; so I thought to myself- you have to have a good introduction in order to keep people hooked, and interested.
But how do you do this?
Well, to begin with, an improperly structured introduction (in my opinion) is when you just throw everything in there in the beginning. I think I did this in my very first fanfic and it makes me cringe every time. When you go something like this:
Hi, my name is Emma Woolridge. I am sixteen years old and have a pet cat called Merrdith. She is quite old and we got her when I was little. I have strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. I look to go rollerblading and hang out with my friends.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
NO! JUST NO!!! I will put your book down RIGHT AWAY. Don't tell me everything from page one! It just seems childish to me. You want your readers to be hooked on (no matter what genre) from the first sentence. Telling me your character's name is Emma on the first line, only leaves me thinking: "ooh, I have a friend called Emma!" I should be focusing on your story.
Your first chapter isn't your place to introduce your characters. No- if you want people to stay, kickstart your story with something intriguing. You DO NOT need to throw in everything at once because you will put things in throughout the whole book that will give your readers the idea of the characters. If you do want to have a part where you basically talk about each character, I wouldn't recommend it but if you do, you can have a chapter when the main character is with that person and they're conversing, then you can talk a little bit about him or hair; do NOT suddenly put that bit of description in, though. The character must say something that is in line with what you might tell your reader about him/her.
"So what do you think you'll do this bank holiday weekend?" I asked Holly as we painted our toenails, 1D playing in the background.
"I have a shift at the cafe and then I might ask Byron if he wants to go surfing tomorrow. The waves haven't been so bad this week," Holly replied. Holly was an elite surfer and swimmer. She has one plenty of medals and trophies regionally and nationally. Almost everybody in town knew her. Not to mention, she was dating the hottest guy around, Byron, and that was no surprise due to her slim figure, golden locks and blue eyes that matched the colour of the sea that stretched out towards Mako Island.
I love mermaids. H20 was the closest I could be to believing I was a mermaid so don't judge. I can be a mermaid if I want to.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
OKAY!! So we know that what, Holly is an elite surfer and swimmer; she is very popular in town; dating a really hot guy called Byron; and she's quite pretty...depending on what your definition of pretty is. I guess you could say Holly is Aryan. [Please no Nazi comments or I will educate you like nobodies business]
You could do something like that. I gradually introduced characters in Defiant, and there were small things I put in that made you realise things about them. For example, Amelia gets beaten up at school and she mentions that it's hard to see the bruises > therefore she must have darker skin.
What's a little bit easier is that she doesn't really have any friends so when she does suddenly get some, the setting is one in which I can let her tell you what she thinks as she looks at each and every one of them's appearance. Every time she meets someone new, she describes them. Another thing I sometimes do is a reflection chapter, where Amelia (or any of my characters) look back on the week/day they've had and with the other characters they've been with. If I know my readers haven't really gotten some sense of those characters, I allow Amelia to say what she thinks of them.
So, don't introduce your main characters straight away. That is vital because which book (real book) have you read that has that? When I was in primary school, my English teacher gave us I think like five different ways to start your piece. I'm Ama Otuo, there's no way in heaven and on earth I remember them, but I THINK they were:
-Action; drama; scene; dialogue; description.
Something like that. Whatever type of introduction you choose, make sure that your reader is captivated. If it's well structured and you cogently write out the introduction, people are more likely to read on.
Why it is good to have a structured introduction:
1- It keeps your readers hooked and they will continue reading.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
2- Having a good introduction shows your maturity in writing and can show off your writing skills.
3- Your reader can keep up with what you're saying, rather than jumping from one topic to another.
Tips on writing structured introductions:
1- Introduce your story in a way that will keep your readers automatically hooked. Choose which one of these: Action; drama; scene; dialogue; description to start off your first chapter. Make sure that whatever you start off by writing, keeps your readers motivated. If whatever you write doesn't feel exciting or interesting to you then try and write something different. This is your book, you decide what works best and what doesn't- take as long as you need to get it right for you.
2- Once you start off with something, don't then stray off into another. Stick with your one so it keeps your readers focused. You do not want their minds to be all over the place. If Cassie is eating a hotdog, Cassie is eating a hotdog, not suddenly rollerblading through the city streets!!? If it's difficult to write, say 500-1000 words in the same topic, build on that topic so you are able to flow gently into the next without it seeming so abrupt. Gradually bring in different aspects of the scene/moment.
3- Try not to introduce all your characters in the beginning. Your first chapter is NOT a meet and greet for your readers and fans- you want your first chapter (as I have said thousands of times) to be the one that hooks your readers so they keep reading. Character introductions can come in later if you want, but not in the first chapter.
4- Ending your first chapter is another story, but end it in away that makes your readers inclined to read on. It doesn't necessarily have to be a cliffhanger, but something that will have to make them read on to find out what happens next.
So I hoped you picked up some points from here that can hopefully help you in the future. If you have any questions, comment and I will try my best to answer them.
