#well written prologues give you a basic rundown of the who what where when and why

[elendsessor]

one of the worst nocturne takes i’ve ever heard is that the game “has no direction” and that you don’t have any motivation when it’s like

did you play the opening

did. did you. did you fuckin. actually read the dialogue. because kagutsuchi tells you your goal. you’re supposed to discover the legacy of your existence aka what side you end up taking. you’re presented all these scenarios and are asked which direction do you want to take because you can’t conceive your own reason individually. if you could, that would ruin what the game is trying to do.

in general you can’t go into nocturne treating it like a traditional turn based jrpg. how it presents itself is so different that you really need to ditch how you view normal jrpg story structures. it keeps basic stuff because it’s writing 101 but fun fact not every game has a long slow burn prologue.

[ellesliterarycorner]

Writing the First Chapter

Ah, starting a story. The bane of every writer. Nothing but you, your computer, a brain full of ideas, and a google doc with absolutely zero words on it. Normally, I don’t start out with writing the first chapter of my story because it’s so hard, but the first chapter is one of the most chapters of your story, The first chapter sets the tone for the story and draws the reader in. It has a whole lot of responsibility to it which is probably why so many writers find it hard to write. When writing a first chapter, I found it easiest to sum it up into the five W’s: Who, What, When, Where, Why.  The five W’s are a great place to start because they give the rundown of all the important things that you should include in it, so let’s dive into it and get that first chapter written!

Who? 

Unless, it’s a prologue, the first chapter should tell us what we need to know about your main character, the protagonist we’ll be following through the rest of the story. You don’t need to go into copious detail about them, but we need to know the basics of who they are. Be careful that this doesn’t turn into an info-dump though. If you introduce your protagonist by having them stand in front of the mirror describing every single thing about themselves, chances are your readers are going to be bored. A common question that I used to have was how many characters should you introduce in the first chapter? There’s no set answer, and every story is different, but I would probably say in the first chapter no more than five. In the first chapter, the reader needs to get attached to your main character, and introducing several other characters can prevent that attachment. 

What?

What is a little more complicated, but basically what is happening and will happen in the story? This branches off of the who of your story because now we need to know what is the daily, normal routine in the world of the main character before the inciting incident that changes their life forever. At this point we should get some hints of what the conflict is going to be or even a brief introduction or mention of the antagonist. The Hunger Games has a very good first chapter, and I think the book handles this part really well. In the Hunger Games, we wonder who will be chosen for the games which eventually leads to the larger conflict that is the Hunger Games themselves. We learn a lot about what is happening in Katniss’s life in district 12: her illegal hunting endeavors, her situationship with Gale, and her primary goal of protecting her sister and surviving her life. All of those things are expanded upon later, but the author introduces them here and gives us a basic understanding of what normally happens in her life. 

When and Where? 

I paired these two together because they both have to do with the setting of your book. One of the most iconic opening lines ever comes from 1984 by George Orwell: “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” It’s an incredibly simple sentence, but it tells us so much, about the world. We know it is somewhat similar to the world we know because we’re still using the month of April, but it’s also in a world different than ours because our clocks go to 12, not 13. Especially in fantasy and science fiction books, you should do some light world-buidling in the first chapter. I would probably keep it just to the necessities that give your readers and understanding, and then you can sprinkle in the details later because you don’t want to bog down the reader with information that’s not necessary to their immediate understanding of the world. 

Why?

Why? Why do I care enough to keep on reading and go on a journey with this character. This is the hard part because there’s not really a formula or trick that always works, and it definitely depends on what genre you’re writing. People will often say create a compelling scene to draw readers in. Okay, yes, but what does that mean? Compelling, just means, to invoke interest, and there are a hundred different ways to do that. 1984 captivates the reader from the first sentence because we want to learn more about a world where clocks go to thirteen. The Hunger Games obviously compels us with its first chapter because we want to know what Katniss is going to do when Prim’s name is called. Some event or nugget of information needs to stand out enough to draw your reader in and make them care enough about the character to keep on reading. 

Elle’s Bonus Tip: Write it Last

Write it last, y’all. I promise you’ll thank me later. I don’t write my stories in order, and I almost always write my first chapter last or at least wait until I have a portion of the middle written. I find that it’s a whole lot easier to write the beginning when I know the ending. It’s so much easier to think about the five W’s when I already know what the conflict I need to hint at is, who my main character is at the beginning of the book and who they will be at the end. It’s so much easier to enter the tunnel when you can already see the light at the end!