Think you're done? Go back go Chapter One.

If you've read the title of this post it probably feels like very disappointing advice to anyone who's writing anything. I understand you're wanting to stop reading in abject denial. I can wait.

You back? Good.

Because every writer needs to hear this.

One evening when I was browsing around the internet, I found a piece of advice from Neil Gaiman. I don't have the exact quote but it's safe to say the gist of it was this: after a writer has finished a project, they must go back to chapter one and reevaluate it using the knowledge they have garnered from writing the rest of their project.

I personally learned this a little later than I would have liked. As a result I ended up having a substandard first chapter on a manuscript that I had spent my whole heart and intellect working on. While it may seem like a step in reverse to go back to the beginning, once you do it it makes so much sense.

A manuscript is huge and while you may have a layout of everything that's going to happen, unexpected threads of the story always make themselves present during the writing process. That said, if you're like me there's also many things you didn't realize were going to happen when you wrote your first chapter. Now, all of these pieces of the story won't necessarily weave into the first chapter of your manuscript, but it's a safe bet that if you take the scenario there and imagine how the characters within the story would interact now that you know them on a new, more intimate level, something will definitely have changed. Allowing yourself the time to do an edit like this will add unsuspected depth to the story you've already worked so hard to create. You're not going backwards, you're really just paying proper tribute to all the effort you've already exerted.

Another aspect you really need to consider is that in the process of submitting your manuscript to publishers, you'll be only presenting that chapter or even less in most instances. Packing as much atmosphere and mood into your first chapter is important. Use it to draw readers in and introduce them to the voice your narrator has developed throughout the writing of the manuscript. This too applies to the first experience a reader has when they crack a book open in the bookstore to see whether or not it interests them. Either way, agents, publishers and readership aside, let's admit that if you love your work (and I'm sure you do) then you want to do what's best for it.

Once you're able to apply the wisdom of your whole manuscript to the first chapter, you’ll most likely find it opening new potential to what needs to be the best first impression of your life.