How to Write the First Chapter: Setting Up a Powerful Ending

Want to hook readers from page one? Learn how to write a strong first chapter and a compelling final scene to create a memorable novel.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the inside creative writing podcast.
The weekly discussion of craft and technique for
writers of fiction and creative nonfiction.
And now here's your host,
writer and educator,
Brad Reid. Episode
26.
How do we write effective beginning
and ending scenes that bookend our stories in

(00:21):
meaningful and effective ways?
Welcome back to the inside creative writing podcast.
My name is Brad Reed and I wanna
thank you for giving the show a listen
today. As usual, a great big thank you
to the members of the Patreon team who
keep me motivated and always striving to bring

(00:44):
you the best content that I can, both
here on the podcast as well as in
the Patreon team member rewards.
If you're interested in being part of that
team, check out the show website
at bradreedwrites.com
for more info.
Today, we're going to be talking about the
importance of the first and last scenes
of your novel or screenplay

(01:06):
and how to make sure they are doing
the absolutely
vital work that they need to do in
order to show the change taking place in
your characters. But first, I wanna take a
little time
here at the beginning of the show to
talk about a couple of things I want
to experiment with a little bit.
So, about a week ago,

(01:26):
I sent out a questionnaire to show listeners
so that I could get some feedback
about what you like about the show, what
you don't like about it, and what we
might be able to bring you of value.
First of all, thank you to all of
you who took a few minutes to respond
to that survey with your thoughts and ideas.
That means so much to me that you
take the time to do that.

(01:47):
If that's something that you'd still like to
do, that is still available. You can go
to our website at bradreedwrites.com
and click the feedback link at the top
of the page. It's just a short little
Google form. Only takes a minute or two
but the feedback is really important to us.
So thank you in advance for being part
of the show

(02:07):
in that way. One of the innovations
that I've been wanting to try with the
show,
seems like it would be of interest to
you, the listeners, based on some of the
feedback
that I've gotten through these surveys and through
talking with some of the listeners.
What I wanna do is experiment with having
guest hosts
on the show. Now, I'm not talking about

(02:29):
guests to interview here. We'll still keep doing
interviews from time to time, but I'm talking
about guest hosts.
So here's what I mean by that. Back
in the day before
TV talk shows
just ran reruns when a host was on
vacation,
they actually brought in guest hosts that would
fill in for,
somebody like Johnny Carson or whoever's show it

(02:50):
was.
And this person hosted the show. Right? They
sat in. They sat at the desk. They
did everything that the normal host would have
done, and I don't see shows doing that
much anymore.
Excuse me. Much anymore. They seem to just
do
replays or reruns of old shows.
You actually see something like what I'm thinking
about more commonly today in blogs

(03:13):
where you'll have
your normal host who's writing most of the
content, but they'll occasionally feature
a guest blogger for a fresh voice or
a new perspective.
And that's really more about what I'm talking
about here. So here's what I'm thinking and
I'd love your feedback on this as well.
You could email me with it at bradreedbradreedwrites

(03:34):
dot com to let me know what you
think about it.
So from time to time,
I'd like to have a guest presenter
basically take over the main part of the
show.
So we'd still produce it and do all
the introductions and the closing
wise words segments and things like that. A
guest presenter would
really just be recording about a twenty to

(03:56):
twenty five minute segment
where they're sharing a writing technique or insight
that they are particularly
passionate about. You could think of it like,
teaching a little mini lesson to a group
of fellow writers.
So this could be recorded
by you or by whoever the potential, guest
host is, hopefully using a pretty decent mic

(04:18):
and acquired environment. And then you'd simply send
me an m p three
file.
Now just like submitting anything else really, not
everything that gets sent in would,
ultimately make it on the show. Right? We'd
have to consider the quality of the recording,
whether or not the content would connect with
the audience that we have here at the
show, and other things like that. But I

(04:40):
think
this could accomplish two important things. First of
all,
it'll get some great
new voices and perspectives on the show,
so that you're not always listening to me
blathering on about my own style and techniques.
We can open that up a little bit
in a format that's a little more free
flowing than even an interview is, where they

(05:01):
really get the opportunity to have some dedicated
time to
teach a skill or focus on a topic
that they're passionate about. And secondly,
it'll give us a much needed backlog
of some content
to help keep the show consistent and delivered
on time with valuable and actionable
content for you. So there's big idea number

(05:23):
one, having guest hosts occasionally.
Again, if you either have some feedback about
that idea or maybe you would even be
interested in submitting a guest host segment for
the show,
let me know. [e-mail]
by email or by going to the talk
to us link
on the website. So on to big idea

(05:46):
number two. And this actually isn't, so much
an idea
as it is more of a question for
you as listeners.
So some of the feedback
that I've received is that the show can
sometimes move a little bit slow and that,
you'd like me to get to the meat
a little more quickly sometimes, which I totally
understand.

(06:07):
Part of the way I pace the show,
I think, comes from my background as a
teacher.
I try to be very
methodical
about the way I present information,
which means I sometimes cover
more background information
to introduce a topic or technique
than a lot of listeners need.
I'm always trying to make, what are sometimes

(06:29):
pretty advanced techniques
available and accessible, even to fairly new writers
who may not have a lot of background
in writing fundamentals.
But it's also the pacing is also sometimes
driven by my desire to keep the show,
the length somewhat consistent at around,
thirty minutes or so, give or take, maybe

(06:49):
five minutes. I'm not real strict about that,
but I'm always shooting for somewhere around that
thirty minute mark.
So here's another thing I could use some
feedback about.
Would you rather have a shorter show
that gets right to the point and leaves
out some of the building blocks that new
writers might need? Or do you prefer the
longer format even if it means

(07:11):
that maybe sometimes you have to sit through
some introductory material that is essentially
review for writers with more experience.
Now, it may seem a little bit strange
to take so much of today's show to
talk about these
kind of behind the scenes,
decisions about the show.
But again, because I'm essentially a teacher at

(07:32):
heart, it's absolutely
vital for me
that I check-in from time to time and
see how you as listeners
are receiving the show and how it might
be more useful and effective
if there's some things that we can change
or do differently. So again, if you're interested
in sharing that feedback,
go to the talk to us link or
the feedback link at the website

(07:55):
at bradreedwrites.com.
Alright, so thanks for sitting through a little
show check-in
prior to today's topic, which is
how do we write effective beginning and ending
scenes
that bookend our stories
in a meaningful
and effective way?

(08:23):
The first few lines of your story are
arguably
the most important lines of your story.
They have to do so many things at
once. I mean, first of all, they have
to hook the reader so that they'll be
interested enough to either keep reading, keep turning
pages, or to buy your book and take
it home with them. They also have to
set up the world of your story. Is

(08:45):
it fantasy? Is it,
realistic fiction? Is it science fiction? So on.
They also have to introduce
who your main character is and give your
reader
a reason to care
about that character.
And they also have to create some kind
of tension
that threatens
that character.

(09:05):
That's another main part of that hook to
get a reader interested. Now this can be
an overwhelming task to try to get opening
scenes that accomplish all of these elements.
And a lot of writers find
that their opening, their first few scenes are
the hardest part of their book to write.
And I know that's true for me.

(09:27):
And what makes it even more difficult
is that it's the place that most of
us start writing. I mean, we've got all
these
demands and expectations
staring us in the face in the form
of a completely
blank page.
So no wonder writer's block and procrastination
set in most often when we are first

(09:47):
sitting down to write a story. We're looking
at that blank page and the stakes are
so high
to get it right.
So our opening scene should end up being
the most rewritten
and revised section of your entire book.
And for that reason, it's actually the least
important

(10:07):
in your initial drafting.
So just
get something down and start get started writing
for that first scene.
Of all the scenes in my first draft,
I find Anne Lamott's advice to just write
a shitty first draft the most helpful
when I'm writing my open opening because it
helps me remember that I just need something

(10:29):
on the page to get started.
I mean, of course, you should give your
first pass,
all the attention and the effort that you
can. You want it to be as good
as you can.
Just don't feel like you're married to it
in your mind. Know going in that whatever
I write for this opening scene is almost
certainly going to change,
and not just once or twice, but probably

(10:51):
multiple times.
So just know that until your book is
about,
oh, 99%
finished,
it's actually
impossible
to write the opening that your story
really needs.
And that's because the opening scene and the
closing scene of your novel
should work like bookends

(11:13):
to your story. They should resonate with each
other and,
in a way, kind of echo each other.
They should be almost like mirror images of
each other, which means until you've nailed the
ending,
you can't possibly finish the opening, at least
not in the most effective way possible. Think
of it this way.

(11:33):
A reader should be able to pick up
your novel or screenplay,
read the first few pages and the last
few pages,
and get a very clear sense
of how your character or possibly the world
around them has changed in your story, even
without reading
the vast majority of the middle.

(11:54):
So as with virtually every other technique I
share with you guys on the podcast, the
best way to get a grasp of this
is by looking at some examples.
There it's easier to spot in film So,
I'm going to use films today, and then
we'll talk a little bit about novels and
other forms of storytelling,
towards the end. And I'm gonna use films

(12:14):
that we've already used,
as examples
in previous episodes of the podcast.
So I wanna start with a film we
talked about, maybe it was last week, a
couple of weeks ago, called The Secret Life
of Walter Mitty. I think this was made
in
about two thousand thirteen,
Ben Stiller film. So if you haven't seen
this, don't worry too much about it. It's

(12:35):
not necessary necessary that you've seen the film
to understand
what we're gonna talk about, but if you
do get a chance to watch this film,
I think it's instructive
for talking about story structure.
So at the very beginning,
the opening scenes of The Secret Life of
Walter Mitty,
we're introduced to the main character as he
sits in a sparse,

(12:56):
quiet apartment,
just balancing his checkbook. It's the least exciting
beginning to a film
possible, right? Lonely guy, alone, quiet apartment, balancing
a checkbook. And the lack of music and
visual interest
resonates with the audience because we immediately see
that this man's life lacks

(13:17):
color. It lacks interest. Right? It's a boring
life. And the filmmakers, the storytellers do everything
they can to represent this as a boring
life.
From there in the scene, he opens his
computer to a dating site, and he tries
to get up the nerve to click wink,
at a girl he's interested in.
Now in this,

(13:38):
simple understated opening, we learn a lot
about,
Walter and what he wants and what he
needs in his life. Now we we talked
about this a little bit in, previous episodes,
so I apologize for going over some,
information that, is already in some of your
brains. But, basically, Walter Mitty starts, wanting love.
Right? He needs color in his life. He

(14:00):
needs excitement.
He needs a relationship, and he needs adventure.
He's alone
and incredibly,
incredibly boring. You can't miss those elements
from that opening scene. So now let's look
at the final scene, which should serve as
a bookend. So if you haven't seen this
film, this actually might be kind of interesting
to just literally do this. Watch the first

(14:20):
scene, then watch the last scene.
And in the last scene, there's this sweeping
music that plays beneath the scene. So we
already have one major difference that we're gonna
notice right away, right? His life somehow between
the beginning and the end is now filled
with, music and interest.
He's also out in the streets of New

(14:41):
York now instead of holed up in his
quiet apartment. Right? He's out kind of,
in the masses of New York City rather
than his isolated apartment. And now he's the
opposite of alone.
He has with him the love interest in
the film played by Kristen Wiig.
So where he could barely take the risk
of even clicking a wink on his computer

(15:01):
before,
in the final scene, we see that something
has changed. Now he's bold enough to reach
out and actually take her hand
without knowing how she'd respond to that. So
the change he's undergone
couldn't be more clear, even if we've only
watched the opening
and closing scenes. We can tell that through
this story, he's gone from kind of reserved

(15:23):
to being a risk taker,
from being alone to now being together,
from
overcome with self doubt
to a kind of inner confidence.
The entire story, the entire character change
can be seen in these two
bookended scenes.
And it's accomplished because the scenes mirror each

(15:45):
other so closely.
So let's move on to another film. This
film is called Captain Fantastic.
I think it was released in 02/2016.
This film is one of my favorite films,
although I've seen critics and some friends of
mine that hate it for some of the
plot devices it used. But again, I think
it's, a great film, especially instructive
for putting together plot and approaching it in

(16:06):
different ways.
But I wanna look at this film again
with just the opening and closing scene. So
in what's probably the most graphic scene of
the film,
the opening scene shows us a bunch of
kids
kind of out in the deep woods. They've
got their faces all, camouflaged in mud, and
they're hunting a deer,

(16:28):
basically with their bare hands and and and
a knife. Right? So one of these young
boys leaps out, onto the deer. He slits
its throat,
and, the family kinda comes in and gathers
around, and then the father shows up and
gives the son kind of a blessing,
and removes the heart of this deer and
the boy eats the heart.

(16:49):
Now this is a very unusual way for
a family to behave, obviously, right? So it
gets our attention.
Who is this family? Right? What family operates
like this?
But it is essentially, at the heart of
it, it's simply just a scene
showing that family
having a meal. Right? How do they prepare
a meal? Well, this is what they do.

(17:10):
They go out with faces painted and knives
and they,
slit the throat of their meal, right, and
eat the heart. So,
pretty severe, a little bit well, a lot
graphic,
but essentially just a scene of a family
having a meal.
So now compare that to the final scene.
If you own a copy of this or
can stream it somewhere, jump to the end.

(17:31):
And what you'll see now is that same
family,
now around a very traditional
breakfast table. They're all dressed.
They're ready for school. Right? The the war
paint, the mud is gone. And the family
simply sits quietly and serves each other fruits,
vegetables, all these other natural foods harvested

(17:52):
from the garden. So the the striking difference
between these two scenes is huge, the change
that has has,
come
upon these characters. The closing scene is idyllic.
Right? And it stands in stark contrast
to that opening scene, yet it's also
just a scene of a family at mealtime.

(18:15):
If we were to only watch these two
scenes,
we could draw really important conclusions about the
changes that happened in the story.
Somehow they've gone from
kind of feral to civilized,
from
violent
to peaceful.
The two scenes
bookend the film. They are,

(18:36):
essentially the same scene
shown to us twice. Once before the change
and once after the change. So your opening
scene
sets the stage for the entire story to
unfold
and sets the expectations for the changes
that you'll be showing
in your character or characters.
So let's briefly look at one more and

(18:58):
we're going to pick a film now that
hopefully everybody has seen. We're gonna look at
the original
Star Wars movie, the first one released,
A New Hope.
Now this film actually breaks the rules
just a little bit because it doesn't really
start
with the opening scene. Now that may sound
strange,
but Star Wars uses its literal opening scenes

(19:22):
to set up the world a bit, right,
which is something really important for this film
and this genre of film. We need to
know this is taking place in space. We
need to know what the world looks like
and kinda how it operates
before we meet the main character,
Luke Skywalker.
I feel like the opening scene doesn't really
happen,
until we meet Luke, which still comes, fairly

(19:44):
early in the film. So if you're familiar
with the film, you'll know that the first
scene,
with Luke is him being ordered by his
aunt
to
deliver a message to his uncle. Right? Make
sure you get this certain kind of robot
or a robot that speaks a certain kind
of language. So in other words, we see
Luke as a kind of
childlike,

(20:06):
basically a servant boy. Right? He's pretty much
just an errand
boy when he's at home with his aunt
and uncle at the very beginning of the
film. In fact, when he whines about following
his uncle's orders,
his uncle accuses him of just wanting to
waste time with his friends, right, as though
he's a little kid.
Even references that, you can't do that until
you have your chores done. Right? So he's

(20:28):
being treated very much like a little kid.
And immediately after that,
we see Luke
playing with a space fighter toy.
So he's playing with it as though he
really is a little kid, but this simple
little storytelling move is genius.
That moment of him
playing with that,
space fighter toy

(20:50):
tells us everything
we need to know about him and sets
up the change that we're gonna see in
the entire film.
So it's telling us he's a little kid
of heart, right, and and that everybody's treating
him that way. But what he's really dreaming
about, what he really wants to be is
a great fighter pilot. But here he is
just kind of this errand

(21:11):
servant boy who's not appreciated.
So if we stopped watching there and we
jumped to the last scene of the film,
here's what we'd see.
Now we'd see Luke Skywalker
as the envy
of the entire
rebellion. Right? He saved the day. He's being
celebrated for his skill now as a fighter

(21:31):
pilot, and he's standing there alongside
Han Solo.
If I've ever seen a man's man, right,
this is Han Solo, kind of the opposite
of the kid who's being,
ordered around to do chores, and now he's
an equal
to Han Solo. And they're in front of
a throng of
fans and admirers

(21:52):
and people who now respect him
as the fighter pilot leader that he is.
So he's no longer a boy,
and he's no longer just dreaming about being
a fire fighter pilot. He's gotten everything that
he wants,
and it's all there in the opening
and the closing scenes of the film. You
know, when they basically remade A New Hope
as The Force Awakens, and if you watch

(22:14):
those
back to back, you'll see how they're,
basically a retelling of the same story. And
they use
almost identical
opening and closing scenes or at least an
identical technique.
So remember the first time that we see
Rey in The Force Awakens? She's
basically doing chores, right? She's out harvesting

(22:35):
all these parts from wrecked spaceships,
and there's even a moment
where she is resting and she puts on
an old fighter pilot's helmet.
It's the same scene as we saw with
Luke Skywalker and the toy.
She wants to be a fighter pilot just
like Luke was. Luke is playing with the
toy.

(22:55):
Rey is wearing the helmet almost like it's
a play thing or a a toy for
her, and it shows us what her desire
is as well.
And then in the final scenes of the
film,
we see her piloting the Millennium Falcon in
place of Han Solo.
Right? So there's no clear imagery that she's
made it

(23:15):
as one of the best fighter pilots because
now she is captaining
the Millennium Falcon. So she's no longer a
little girl doing chores.
She's now face to face. At the end
of the film, she's face to face
with the man himself, Luke Skywalker. Right? Almost
challenging him, almost standing up to him

(23:36):
as,
almost his equal. Right? And again, it was
all there in the opening
of that film, and it all comes back
again
in the closing
scene
of that film.
So even if the audience doesn't remember
the opening scene, I mean, for most films,
it's been an hour and a half, two
hours,

(23:56):
and,
maybe it's begin to slip their mind a
little bit. It's still there
subconsciously.
When we finish a film and these bookends
echo each other,
we can't help but kind of call back
to that opening and think through the entire
story
to process and understand

(24:17):
the impact
of the story that we've just seen.
And that impact is always about that character
change. It's always about
seeing
where they started
and where they ended. These
are the bookends of your story.
Now, this technique is generally clearer or more

(24:39):
easy to spot in films
than it is in novels,
mostly due to the fact that films are
under such an extreme
time crunch. You know, everything must fit into
a
ninety to a hundred twenty minute window, unless
you're Peter Jackson and somebody like that, and
you can demand
three or more hours to tell your stories.

(24:59):
But most people, most stories are going to
happen in film within that ninety to a
hundred and twenty minute window. So
everything is
kind of severely
compressed.
Every scene, every moment must be packed
with meaning and intention.
So, we notice it a little more clearly
in film.
Now, while this is not necessarily true when

(25:21):
writing the more loosely controlled novel,
it's still a good rule of thumb
to use in your prose writing.
Even if your scene is not literally the
first scene of your story,
make sure it comes early.
Your readers want to know right off the
bat who they are reading about, what their

(25:42):
desire is,
what they're up against, and especially
what kind of changes
to be watching for as the story comes
to its final moment.
So as we look at our wise word
today, our show was not, really about breaking

(26:03):
new ground.
I'm sure if you've studied story structure at
all, you already understand the importance of the
beginning
and ending scenes of a story.
But like so many other techniques,
it's really easy to forget
kind of those fundamentals
when we're in the thick of writing our
stories. So for our wise words this week,

(26:24):
I wanted to hear from some other writers
and writing coaches
that echo today's topic, which is basically kind
of a reminder
of the importance of those two scenes. So
we'll start, our wise words with this simple
pronouncement
from Henry Ward Beecher,
who says, the beginning
is the promise
of the end.

(26:46):
And that is so true. You're making promises
to your audience in the opening of your
book, promises that should be fulfilled by and
often in
the last few scenes of your story.
Catherine Ann Porter talks about how she approaches
her story with the end in mind. Here's
what she says.
If I didn't know the ending of a

(27:06):
story, I wouldn't begin.
I always write my last line, my last
paragraph,
my last page first.
Now while I don't think it's necessary to
follow her advice specifically, I'm not suggesting that
you have to write
your last line, your last paragraph, your last
page first.
It is a good mindset to have that

(27:29):
echoes,
the concept of today's show that you can't
really know
how to revise or rewrite your opening until
your ending is complete. And finally,
I guess we're doing kind of a trio
of wise words today.
We'll leave off with some wisdom from Pascal.
He says,
the last thing one settles in writing a

(27:50):
book is what one should put in first.
And that is essentially
what today's been all
about. Our weekly challenge this week is to
take some of the work we did today
and make it specific
for the kind of writing that you do.

(28:10):
Here's what I mean by that. I was
going, at first, I'd planned to give some
examples in today's shows from novels or novellas.
But I decided to leave that work for
you to do.
Why? Well, because it'll be much more insightful
if you do the work. So for this
week, I encourage you to choose a book
or a screenplay that is similar

(28:33):
to what you're working on. So,
I often do these or in fact, I
always do these weekly challenges along with you.
So this week I'm gonna be looking at
Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
And,
so what I challenge you to do is
to just read the first chapter
and the last chapter of kind of this
exemplar book that you're looking at and discover

(28:54):
how your writer
went about making the promises of the story
in the opening
of the book, and how did they fulfill
those promises
in the last chapter of the book.
And ask yourself, can you tell just by
reading these two chapters
what change the main character or characters underwent
throughout the story?

(29:15):
Ask yourself, how is the setting, the scene,
the dialogue, or the tensions
similar
between the beginning and the end?
And finally, what can you learn from the
way your writer approached the opening
and the closing that you might be able
to use in your own writing?
And remember, we're not talking about copying here.
Right? There's a difference between being inspired by

(29:38):
another writer's work and simply,
kind of regurgitating
their stories with your own characters,
supplanted. So,
by all means, be original,
be surprising,
but don't hesitate to learn from the masters
in your particular genre.
So that's going to wrap it up for
this week. Again, I really hope to hear

(29:59):
from you regarding the things we talked about
at the top of the show.
I'm looking forward to reading your emails,
hearing your voicemails, or seeing your feedback through
the Google form on the website. You can
find out how to do all those things
at the talk to us link at, bradreedrights.com.
So until next week, remember the best way
to improve your craft is by writing.

(30:21):
That's what I'm off to go do, and
I hope you're off to do the same.
Let's get some words on paper this week,
and we'll meet up again next week for
another episode of the Inside inside creative writing
podcast.
Thanks for listening to the inside creative writing
podcast with your host, writer and educator,
Brad Reed. We'll be back next week.