5 First Chapter Mistakes Destined to Alienate Agents, Publishers, and Your Readers

These common pitfalls can destroy an otherwise tight novel

Gregory A. Austin
The Writing Cooperative
6 min readJul 11, 2020

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Photo by Laurenz Kleinheider on Unsplash

Writing a strong beginning can be one of the biggest obstacles an author faces. While every aspect of a story is important — particularly how all the parts come together to create a cohesive narrative — the opening is always…

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An editor, writer, journalist, and foppish socialite obsessed with creating and helping others tell their best stories. Co-founder of www.writinglodge.com.