5 Mistakes Writers Make at the Start of a Novel

The beginning of your novel is crucial to hooking readers, find out how to make sure yours are as strong as they can be by avoiding these common mistakes writers make at the start of their novels.
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Jessica Brody is the author SAVE THE CAT! WRITES A NOVEL as well as more than 20 novels for teens, tweens, and adults, published by Simon & Schuster, Random House, Macmillan, and Disney Press. Her books have been translated and published in over 23 countries and several have been optioned for film and TV. She is the founder of the Writing Mastery Academy, an innovative online learning platform for fiction writers.
0:00: Start
1:27: Mistake #1: Starting Your Novel in the Wrong Place
2:28: Mistake #2: Too Much Focus on Voice
3:24: Mistake #3: Too Much Info Dumping
4:42: Mistake #4: Not Enough Unkowns
6:19 Mistake #5: Not Enough Stakes

[@trinaq]

Thanks so much for sharing your incredible tips, Jessica. Info dumping has always been a pet peeve of mine, particularly at the start of a series of novels. It's especially annoying if you're already familiar with the characters and the setting beforehand.

[@cashpat2000]

I enjoyed the Writing Mastery by Jessica. It was my first professional course and I regret not doing it earlier. Save the cat is brilliant.

[@MozahALShreedah]

I love your book as arabic version it’s a great guide for me

[@yedidyah-jedshlomoh1533]

t was late evening in the vast slowly cooling desert. A lone figure walked slowly toward the sunset. As the sun fell the cold began to close in and he pulled his thin cloak closer. A thousand shades of red filled the horizon near the red orb as it slowly set. He looked toward the sky for direction. The sky looked like red and blue ink had been spilled across it. As the colors faded to black the stars slowly showed themselves one by one twinkling with great brilliance. It was so calm, quiet, and black in the night of the desert that he could barely make out the shapes around him.
Across the desert, on foot, he drifted. A slight figure of a young man, he strolled casually toward the oasis, as the sand shifted below his feet. As the sand drifted down the windward face of a tall dune, a short distance up ahead on the left he could hear pebbles roll from the rocks above. He thought, “It is probably just a lizard or scorpion. My many trips have taught me the difference between them and a man. My fear has dissipated over the years as I have become accustomed to the sounds of the desert night. I can barely see my feet. I am thankful for the faint moonlight.”