Writing Chapter One can be tricky. I’ve been there, and I’ll be there again.

With each new book, crafting that opening scene is hard. After reading it over and over, your mind can be left a jumbling mess, but the process becomes easier with time.

I searched the top 6 books on Amazon, the category: Amazon Best Sellers in Teen and YA Books. I thought it would be interesting to look at their opening lines, as well as their opening scenes. Do they have anything in common?

You’ve spent 30 hours a week, working on your book for months and/or years.  You’ve revised it three different times, edited chapters along the way, and you’re finally finished. 

​A key question you need to ask yourself is: Who else has read your manuscript? Has a fellow writer read it yet? If not, then the revising process isn’t complete. No matter how many times you’ve read your story, or your mom’s read it, you need to have a fellow writer (or three) critique your manuscript.

​When you have an idea for a new book on the horizon, it may require research. Some books require more research than others, and some books may require more research later in the writing process rather than in the beginning. But for those aspiring writers who find themselves researching for hours and hours before they ever start writing their book, this blog post is for you.