Just Do It: "Your first chapter has to be delicious."

 

I love that line by Chris Brogan. It's from a series on his blog about how he writes his books. 

One of Chris' books, Trust Agents, has been on the New York Times best-seller list, so we can assume he has something brilliant to tell us about writing.

Such as:

"No matter what, your first chapter has to be delicious. Your first page or two have to be delicious. Remember, when people pick your book up in a bookstore (those things that used to exist), they look at the cover, they look at the quotes (sometimes), and then they check out the first page or two. If you haven’t hooked them in the first few pages, they’re not bringing that baby home...

"Too many aspiring (and that’s why they still “aspire”) authors use the first chapter for throat clearing. It can’t work that way. Chapter one has to be the big open."

Read more from Chris about how to write a book here:

Writing a book: Structure

Writing a book:  Finding time

Writing a book: Discipline

Remember, your first page and first chapter are a work in progress. You can't finalize them until you've written the rest of the book--because you haven't yet said what you're going to say.

So don't be dismayed if your first draft of your first chapter is a mess. Just keep going back and tweaking it.

You'll eventually reach the delicious stage.