#clairels teaches writing

[clairelsonao3]

In my experience, most writers vastly overestimate the amount of information we need to know about your character in order to get invested in their story.

I've found that with a lot of stories I've picked up lately, the writer could have skipped the first few scenes or even the entire first chapter and I still would have been just as likely to keep reading.

In order to get invested in your character/story, we need an interesting problem that they need to solve. That's it. Virtually everything else — backstory, personality traits — can be worked in after. Start where the story starts.

When you go back to Ch. 1 of your WIP, look at the first few paragraphs/scenes. Ask yourself, "Do readers actually need to know this, or do only I need to know this?" If the answer is the latter, cut ruthlessly.