Welcome to Twitter Treasure Thursday! Today’s gem comes from the ever helpful Chuck Sambuchino. He offers a wide range of amazing tips from industry experts on how to make your first chapter shine. No matter what genre you write, these tips are sure to help you improve your work and avoid the pitfalls so many writers stumble into.
The Worst Ways to Begin Your Novel: Advice from Literary Agents
No one reads more prospective novel beginnings than literary agents. They’re the ones on the front lines, sifting through inboxes and slush piles. And they’re the ones who can tell us which Chapter One approaches are overused and cliché, as well as which techniques just plain don’t work. Below find a smattering of feedback from experienced literary agents on what they hate to see the first pages of a writer’s submission. Avoid these problems and tighten your submission!
To read the entire article, click here!
And for more useful advice, follow Chuck Sambuchino on Twitter!
Jen's Pen Den 
Great article. My favorite advice is to avoid these sentences:
“The [adjective] [adjective] sun rose in the [adjective] [adjective] sky, shedding its [adjective] light across the [adjective] [adjective] [adjective] land.” – Chip MacGregor, MacGregor Literary
But how will I ever hit 100,000 words without so many adjectives? [expletive]
–Jonathan
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That’s the one that made me laugh/groan too! Guess it’s time to do some fantastical, miraculous, vicious adjective slaughtering 😉
[cue Psycho theme]
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Thanks for sharing our post, Jen! Chuck put together such a good round-up of advice.
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Of course! I’m so happy I stumbled upon it on Twitter. I hope others learn as much as I did from it.
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This was great! Thanks for sharing 🙂
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