What Do People Look For In A First Chapter?

[officialue]

Like, what do people want? Do they want to see a big reveal, or a big fight, or the aftermath of a big fight, or something like that? Or are people fine with a little bit of dialogue, some worldbuilding, and maybe a hint or two at the future?

What would make you guys drop a story at the first chapter? What would make you guys want to keep reading?

(Besides the genre or grammar mistakes or stuff like that, I already know which genre I want to write and I proofread my work many times before publishing so I don't really have egregious mistakes)

 

[Monk_Origins]

Well, in my opinion, 2 things. Either a nice hook; such as a nice MC or 3d characters. Or, a promise of a world; a mystery or a grand adventure.
But to tell the truth, in this website at least, good grammar.

 

[TP0]

I'm writing using the translator so I already apologize for possible mistakes, I've already left history for lack of organization, the lines are not well defined or are those works in which the author tries to do something dynamic but ends up getting horrible, and I also think it's important a very brief idea of the world set in conjunction with a good synopsis.

 

[K5Rakitan]

It depends on the genre. For action, a big fight is certainly in order. For romance, it's more about building the characters and showing how they first met. Whatever you do, don't just dump information about the world. Worldbuilding is best done gradually, through actions rather than just vomiting it all out there. How a character reacts to certain things says a lot about the world.

Take Dysmorphic Kingdom for example. The very first scene depicts the relationship between the protagonist and her childhood friend. Then, when she finds the talking penis, she's a bit surprised, but since magic is normal in her world, she doesn't panic. She decides to study it!

Dysmorphic Kingdom: a fairy tale: Chen, Colleen: 9781940233239: Amazon.com: Books

Dysmorphic Kingdom: a fairy tale [Chen, Colleen] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Dysmorphic Kingdom: a fairy tale

www.amazon.com

 

[DreamOfRen]

I like to be engaged. Anything that will make me take notice and want to continue reading. As such, I generally spend a good deal of time thinking of a good way to draw readers in from the outset.

 

[Toralk]

For me it's something that promises originality. Give me a clue that this story is going someplace I haven't seen before. Or that you're giving an interesting new twist to an old premise, ideally by fixing one of the most common flaws of that type of story.

As for what makes me immediately drop a story, it's the opposite. Something that makes me go "Not this **** again!"

 

[Kaguro]

Exposition.
Readers want to know who the main character is and what to expect, they also want to know what kind of world you have prepared for them.

 

[IvyVeritas]

Whatever you do, don't start off with an exposition dump about the world, its history, or its magic system. If those things can't be explained gradually through the story, then you need to change them until they can be.

The first chapter doesn't have to be a big event, but it should do something to draw the readers in. At the minimum, you need good characterization and engaging storytelling. The "hook" can be something big, or it can just be "I want to see what these people do next."

And the grammar has to be pretty darn near perfect, along with good (and standard) writing techniques, if I'm going to read past the first paragraph or the first chapter.

 

[DreamOfRen]

Whatever you do, don't start off with an exposition dump about the world, its history, or its magic system. If those things can't be explained gradually through the story, then you need to change them until they can be.

Ironically enough, the most constant critique I receive is that people want to know everything. Every little detail. To me, it's obvious they are interested, but they often misinterpret immediate demonstration or elaboration as a complete lack of explanation.

I lean towards organic story crafting as well, so I do believe that's the right choice even though many works contradict that. For example, Sword Art Online. Generally it follows a flow of slowly building narrative and then a fateful encounter results in a massive info dump that clearly explains some super important, perception altering information. I don't dislike it, as long as it's used sparingly.

All in all, I think as long as it works without destroying the fiction, it's less of a deal breaker for me.

 

[OneRanter]

But to tell the truth, in this website at least, good grammar.

This one. If I open the synopsis, prologue, or first chapter and find it full of grammar problems I usually go away. I run away even faster if those are tense problems.

Storywise I(as a reader) usually don't like "Big Fights" on the first chapter because:

1. I don't know the characters enough to care about their fight/struggle.
2. I don't have a clue about the power scale of the world to appreciate how much of a "Big Fight" that is.
3. When not in comedy, fights usually gain importance for the reader with how much of a moral/ethical struggle or growth they mean for the characters (provided we, as readers, care enough about said characters). And then again, by that point we usually don't know the characters enough to either understand, nor care about their struggles.

That said, if you somehow manage to present your character, give us an idea of the world power scale, and/or make the moral/ethical confrontation interesting enough, you'd definitely have me coming back for more.

That's my personal preference tho. If I get to choose, I always like a bit (Not a text wall) of world building, and a glimpse of the future to get an idea of what the story will throw at me.

 

[LostLibrarian]

Reading a book - especially long-running webnovels which can have hundreds of chapters - is a commitment. You want people to invest the most important thing they have: their finite living time.

To go with a somewhat helpful comparison: Think of your first chapter as a movie trailer. Your blurb, tags, and cover is the youtube thumbnail. They will determine whether the reader clicks on the trailer and watches it for 3 minutes or not. Your first chapter is the trailer itself.

So what is important about a trailer? Do they need to show the entire story? Do they have to explain all the world and character's backgrounds? No. The most important thing is a rough outline and a lot of atmosphere. A movie trailer is a promise to the viewer: if you like the funny lines, there'll be more like this in the movie. If you liked the explosions, there are bigger ones in the movie.

Both a movie trailer and your first chapter are a promise to the consumer: If you invest your time into this, you'll get a lot more of this. So start with a defined atmosphere in your chapter, a clear central theme, and the foundation for a conflict. It doesn't have to be the final main conflict, but there should be some sort of conflict in your first chapter. Conflict and the resulting change make a story interesting.


Staying with movies, think about the beginning of a James Bond movie. It's an action movie, so they often start with an action scene, before they slow down to introduce the actual plot of the movie, before delivering on the promise of "even more action". If you have a thriller or detective story, you often start with some kind of crime and suspense. If you write a more internal story, introduce some outlined themes like "mortality".

In the end, your first chapter needs to achieve two things:
(1) Promise the reader "more of the same". For that, you have to clearly define what that "same" is and present it to the user. So it doesn't need to be a big action fight scene, or a giant hook, but something that fits your story and themes.
(2) Make clear to the reader that your story is worth their time: make sure grammar and flow are as good as possible, your central theme is clearly communicated, you don't give "too much information" to the reader, etc.


So going by this: introduce the central theme of your story (not necessarily the central conflict), the overall atmosphere, and give some outlines or questions to the reader...

 

[Zero300]

Plot twist

 

[UYScuti]

If my eyes cross because of the grammar, I won’t continue. I’m ok with a little dialogue, but when half the chapter or more is two characters talking, it’s either a disguised info dump or filler that’s not needed.

I would also expect a decent inciting incident. Isekai and System apocalypse are pretty standard, so I’d need to read something that makes it different.

If the first chapter tells me how much of a loser the MC is only to be isekai’d, I probably wouldn’t continue. I don’t see why a goddess or king of some country would use their powers to bring the lonely virgin with no skills and no ambition to their world.

Why not go for someone talented? Why would someone described as a “loser” all of a sudden become the hero or edgy antihero? What makes them special enough to command the panties of beauties? Most isekai’s don’t rely on the other world’s information in any useful way, so why bother making it an isekai? Write a better inciting incident for a character in that world instead of using a portal for a crutch.

You also don’t need to fill our heads with all the information about the world. Readers usually forget it when you drop blocks of information in the first chapter. Present what is necessary and weave lore throughout the chapters.

 

[udin-san]

Definitely not an info dump.

 

[yansusustories]

Personally, I don't look for a specific event that is happening. As long as it is engaging, I'm fine with it. I think the atmosphere is also important. Like, does it have a comedic tone when I'm in the mood for some comedy? Is it serious if I want something more mature? And if I am looking for something specific at the moment: How well does it fulfill my desire for that? Staying on the example of comedy: If I want something to laugh at, then it naturally needs to make me laugh, so it needs to fit my brand of humor. If I shake my head at every single joke in there on the first chapter already, I'd be out no matter how funny others say they think it is.
Other than that, for me, the characters are important. I have dropped stories because I disliked the MC. Maybe not on the first chapter (I usually give a few for that if they're not super long) but pretty soon after. So if I feel right in the first chapter that I'm going to dislike them, I likely wouldn't continue to read either. While if the characters are likable or interesting, I would continue to read.

 

[Queenfisher]

Personally, I wouldn't stop at the first chapter anyway. Before reading a book, I lurk along the later chapters to see how they are faring and whether the author knows what they're doing or not (a lot of the time -- web novels fizzle out or go nowhere, which is depressing).

Thus, it takes me more than 1 chapter to decide whether it's worth it because so many first chapters are essentially clickbait and are NOT representative of the rest. Authors tend to make their first chapter the best they can. Thus they cannot be taken at face value ^^.

What would make me not consider a novel at all is the feeling that the author has no idea what they're writing about or why. If I want to read something gibberishy or mindless, I would go elsewhere for that, not to webfiction.

 

[xluferx]

Well, in my opinion, 2 things. Either a nice hook; such as a nice MC or 3d characters. Or, a promise of a world; a mystery or a grand adventure.
But to tell the truth, in this website at least, good grammar.

No...grammar nazis

 

[NotaNuffian]

I am trying a mash between mystery and action, having an idiotic villager who has never left the village with a lackluster worldview makes the work painful to read at least.

 

[officialue]

I am trying a mash between mystery and action, having an idiotic villager who has never left the village with a lackluster worldview makes the work painful to read at least.

ah shit LMAO

I wouldn't say my character is idiotic but...yeah.

 

[crimson_carnation]

When I come to read the first chapter, I've probably built certain expectations already after seeing the title, cover, blurb, tags, and reviews when available. If the first chapter already betrays those expectations by being less than or completely different than what it sold itself to be, I have no reason to continue reading. I usually don't mind info dumps or dialogues as long as it shows its relevance soon or conveys something I'm interested in seeing, like the characters' personality. The story's tone should also suit my tastes. But it mostly boils down to whether it sparks the slightest interest that'll make reading it not too horrible of a chore.