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How to Stop Rewriting the First Three Chapters

Published

Stephanie Morrill and April Davila, two authors who write about this loop on their blogs, each describe writing past the opening before fixing it. In Davila's words: "You can't revise what you haven't written."

A common loop

Morrill, an author of young adult novels, describes it on her blog. "Raise your hand if you find yourself rewriting the opening of your story over and over and over again."

She calls it "a really common issue when you're learning how to write a novel". Her verdict on where it leads: "You can't finish a book this way."

Why the opening pulls you back

Davila, who coaches writers through first drafts, gives three reasons in one post: "Sometimes it's perfectionism. Sometimes it's fear. And sometimes, it's a sign you're still figuring out what the story really is." Her posts add two more: the weight of the first chapter, and limited energy.

  • Perfection. Morrill traces her own loop to it: "My issues with rewriting were rooted in my desires to turn out a perfect story." Wikipedia's article on writer's block says the same of students: "The writing process may be disrupted if students become excessively preoccupied with grammar, structure, or perfection."
  • The weight of the first chapter. Davila, in the same post: "There's a lot riding on the first chapter of a book. We know it's the hook, the invitation, the part agents and editors see first. That knowledge creates pressure, and pressure can lead to paralysis."
  • Limited energy. In another post, Davila writes of writers who are also parents, caregivers, people with jobs: "When energy is limited, circling back to what's familiar feels productive. Revisiting chapter one doesn't ask you to risk as much as writing chapter twenty."
  • Not knowing the story yet. In Davila's words: "More often than not, being stuck at the beginning is a symptom of not yet having clarity on the story as a whole."

Morrill's account adds a cost: "I had no idea if my beginnings were good, because I never found out what the rest of the story was."

What a first draft is for

A guide on this site defines the draft. It is "a written version of a text that is not yet in its final form, however rough it is and however much of the text it covers."

Morrill gives the first draft a job: "to get the story down without worrying about how to fix things that aren't quite right yet."

Davila's version is shorter: "first drafts aren't meant to be brilliant. They're meant to exist." And she expects the opening to move anyway: "your first chapter will almost certainly change – maybe even dramatically – by the time you reach the end of your draft."

Changing the words of a scene and changing what happens in it are two different jobs. The guide on this site calls the first line editing and the second revision.

That guide adds that "a structural revision is wasted effort if it's done sentence by sentence instead of scene by scene."

Which loop are you in?

Four questions you can answer from your own draft, each tied to one of the sources above.

  • Have you written past chapter three? If not, Morrill's target is chapter five.
  • Could you write a one-paragraph summary of your story? If not, Davila's reading is that the trouble may be the whole story, not the opening.
  • Is today's rewrite changing words, or changing what happens? If it is the words, the guide above calls that line editing.
  • Has revising the first scene become a daily ritual? That is the case where Davila suggests a fresh document, to write the next scene.

Ways out the authors describe

Each comes from one writer's practice. Take what fits your draft.

  1. Put the scene in the drawer. "If you've done the best you can with a scene (for now), give it a kiss, put it in the drawer, and move on" (Davila).
  2. Push into the middle. Morrill stalled at chapter four, "usually around the time that a story transitions from beginning to middle". She suggests: "If you've only ever gotten to chapter three, try to make it through chapter five."
  3. Start a fresh document. "If revising that first scene has become a daily ritual that leads nowhere, try opening a fresh document. Give yourself permission to write the next scene (any scene) no matter how imperfect" (Davila).
  4. Step back into structure. Davila suggests "a loose outline, a beat sheet, or even a one-paragraph summary". This site has guides on the beat sheet, "a list of the major turns in a whole book", and on outlining a novel.
  5. Put the idea aside, if it has to be. Morrill writes: "Not every book idea is worth pushing through to the end." She adds: "Just because you're putting it aside now doesn't mean you're putting it aside forever."

Neither author speaks of notes. In Scrin, a note written between double percent signs (%%like this%%) stays in the draft, visible while you write. It never counts toward the word count, and no export includes it unless you ask.

Questions

Why do I keep rewriting the first chapter? April Davila names perfectionism, fear, and not yet knowing what the story is. She adds the weight of a first chapter that agents and editors see first, and limited energy: "circling back to what's familiar feels productive." Stephanie Morrill traces her own loop to wanting a perfect story.

Should I finish the first draft before revising? Davila says so: "You can't revise what you haven't written." Her reason, in the same post: "the only way to revise a complete story… is to have a complete story." Morrill adds that she never knew if her beginnings were good, because she never found out the rest of the story.

What if I notice a problem in an early chapter? Davila's way, once you have done what you can with the scene: "If you've done the best you can with a scene (for now), give it a kiss, put it in the drawer, and move on." She expects it to need revision later.

Is rewriting the opening the same as revision? The guide on this site separates the two: changing the words is line editing, changing what happens is revision. It calls a structural revision done sentence by sentence wasted effort.

What if the opening really doesn't work? By April Davila's account, being stuck at the beginning is more often than not a sign the whole story is not clear yet. She suggests a bit of structure, such as a loose outline, to step back in.

Should I give up on a story I can't get past chapter three? Stephanie Morrill writes: "If you've only ever gotten to chapter three, try to make it through chapter five." She also writes that "Not every book idea is worth pushing through to the end."

Sources