Can the first chapter show the past?

If it's the MC's past, and disconnected from the time of the rest of the story, it sounds like prologue fodder. You won't know until you're done. Write it as the 1st chapter, finish your book, then see if it still fits when you're done.

Most prologues work that way. You can do anything, but you have to decide if you should. Anything can work if done right, anything can fail if done wrong.

If the past event is there for set up, and offers back story and history and you're putting it in because you feel a reader won't be able to understand the story if you don't explain this history, that's often a red flag that you're starting in the wrong place. If the goal is "so people understand."

But if the past offers a mystery or question, is compelling in its own right, and the event is significant, even though that relevance won't become clear until later in the story, then you might be fine. If the goal is "so people start wondering about X."

Why you feel it needs to be there will tell you if it should or not As a writer, what's your reason for having it?

Questions raised and goals set?

That covers a multitude of sins and sounds 'iffy' to me.

Is it for the reader's benefit or yours? By that I mean maybe you need to know the information in order to write the story but the reader doesn't need to know it up front at all.

As long as it serves the story, your first chapter can be past, present or future. If it only serves you as the writer, then there's a problem.

Of course you can -- a chapter is just a collection of words.

But they're right, you have to ask: should you? Should you start your story years ago? It may be a turning point, but is it the beginning of the story? Why do you want to start your story there? Shouldn't you start the story NOW and then tell/show us how the MC became that way later? After all, when we met someone new, we don't get to sit there and listen to him telling us what happened 25 years ago that made him a bald man. We start with the present (what do you do? where do you live? Etc.) and then let the rest filter in.

A lot of writers -- seasoned or not -- believed they must start the story from the "beginning"... but it turns out it's all back stories. Background stuff.

Determine when your story REALLY starts, and start there. Fill in the blanks later.

I agree with everything that's being said so far. You can write whatever you want, but you should write what's right for your story and your reader.

I'd like to add, though, that it's certainly possible to introduce and breadcrumb the very same information in smaller chunks throughout your story. Having bits and pieces fill in along the way (at all the right spots) can serve to add some extra internal depth to what's happening on the surface, as well as pull your reader along in a more interesting way than just dumping it all into a first chapter. IMO.

:>)

Let's turn your question around, and ask can I jump 10 years into the future in chapter two?
Of course you can, you need to be clear to the reader that you have made a significant jump in time, that's all.
The reader won't know you've changed chapter one, He'll read chapter one, then chapter two, seeing that the timeline has jumped.

Good point, RJK. Knowing the eventual structure as we ponder the question, we get stuck thinking of the first chapter as a flashback (which raises a red flag for many writers, as flashbacks are so often used poorly and as a crutch). But thinking of Chapter 2 onward as a "flash-forward" shakes our preconceived notions up a bit.

Even so, it's a good idea to really dig deep into your motivations for using the flash-forward and decide if it's really necessary and really helps the story, or if it's a red flag signifying something's gone wrong.

I just finished reading Clive Barker's Everville recently (had it for years -- signed even! --but never got around to reading it until a few weeks ago), and the first chapter of that book started WAY in the past. It describes the events leading up to the founding of the town that serves as the book's central location. After that bit, though, it flashes forward a hundred years or so (more or less to the present day), where the rest of the story takes place.

Was that first bit totally necessary? In a way, yeah. I'm sure the book could have been written without it, but (1) it contrasted the true story of the founding of the town with the story the "present day" characters believed (making a little commentary about our modern world in the process); (2) it set up a character that we meet again later (in a far different state of being); and (3) although it gives us insight into some of the backstory, it also raises a lot of questions and drops a lot of mystery seeds that are only answered later, in the present day, when the various story threads begin to converge.

In other words, Barker started his story off with a "flashback," but he used it well.

So, yeah. It can be done. Just make sure you're using it for the right reasons, and that you're using it to full advantage. Don't just dump a bunch of backstory in Chapter 1 and move on.

I have a novel where the first four chapters are in the past, but it is relevant. The information held in these chapters in need-to-know stuff. If I didn't give this info, the novel would be confusing. If that is the case, then it's perfectly fine. If, however, the information you are giving doesn't need to be told this way, say one of your characters can give a two sentence rundown and everyone's caught up, then it's just filler.

I'm condensing my MSS at the minute and I've taken out most of the flashbacks. I still have my first chapter set 50 years previous but that's because I feel it's relevant to the story. I am currently working through the chapters for a final read and having a struggle now of whether to leave that one out too and only mention the contents later on. It's a tough one...

IMHO, the problem with flashbacks is that too often they are poor substitutes for exposition, atmosphere and/or having something interesting with which to begin the tale.

But--if well done, the flashback is an extremely useful tool for a whole variety of reasons. Not least as part of a writer's process. I literally began my novel by writing a scene that, while essential to the backstory, takes place seven years before the "events". Said flashback/prologue is no longer part of the manuscript, but the writing of it proved immensely valuable.

By the same token, how difficult is it to think of some very good works which include flashbacks of one kind or another? Stephen King's IT certainly comes to mind, as does the first Harry Potter novel.

Flashbacks, exposition, etc. are not always--and unless they're done right are never--good things.

If you throw nothing but backstory at a reader for the first chapter (or several chaps), then you're taking too long to get into the story of the here-and-now. Backstory can be handled much more effectively by alluding to the past or implying things in a character's actions, attitude, mannerisms, and so forth. And these flashbacks can be reveal gradually as they become important to the action happening in the present time.

Readers aren't always as stupid as we think they are. Spelling things out for them only serves to patronize them and insult your ability to tell a good story.

There is nothing wrong with backstory/flashback per se, so long as it is deployed at the right time. But I would say OP is right to be cautious about using it in chapter 1.

Front-loaded backstory indicates a writer scared that the reader won't believe their character, or the character's actions (yes, I am that writer). To justify what their character does, some defining event from the past which makes sense of everything is revealed.

It's the literary equivalent of giving the punchline away whilst telling the joke.

The reader has to have space to form their own questions before the writer answers them. Wanting to know why is the suspense that keeps the pages turning.

Or,
you could write that first chapter,
and then say beginning the next.

'Chapter 2 - 31 years later'

or, if you start with the past, then
isn't anything that follows, the future?
Since it is the start, and the reader
doesn't know where "YOUR" story is
headed. You can take the reader
anywhere you want them to go.
Take the suckers on a ride, they'll
want to tell there friends about and
read again.

Aschenbach said:

It's the literary equivalent of giving the punchline away whilst telling the joke.

The reader has to have space to form their own questions before the writer answers them. Wanting to know why is the suspense that keeps the pages turning.

Click to expand...

Great point. In some cases, it might be wise to allow the reader to answer their own questions by implying answers or possible answers to their and your own questions.

oh . . and more to point.

My Prologue is the beginning, with the birth
of the prophecy children.
Chapters 1, 2 & 3 take place, 13 years later,
introducing the three parts of the book;
MC, Main Bad Guy, and rebel faction, (causing
the MBG to be even badder.)

Then I jumped ahead 7 more years,
to begin the MC's life (from here on 'Live')

gee, I hope this is ok?

That sounds really interesting! Gotta love experiments with traditional form and structure.

EDIT: Very The Dispossessed-ish!

I've always thought of showing the past for the first chapter/prologue in most of my stories. However, some agents don't like it because it's a backstory in disguise, and backstories doesn't advance the storyline. It also spoils the story and makes the readers lose interest.

My advice is...

Instead of showing it all in the first chapter, why don't you break it down as the story progresses. In doing this, you keep the readers interested, make cliffhangers, show them what characterized the characters at the same time that you are advancing the plot.

Just my opinion.

-Snowe