First 3 Chapters

[ToTestify]

If I were to get a request for the first 3 chapters of my memoir, what do they mean by chapters? Is an introduction counted as a chapter? Is the introduction created through your query? Or just the 3 chapters? Or 3 chapters PLUS the introduction???

Somebody? Anybody?:D

[wax_and_wick]

I would guess they mean the first three chapters. Probably not an introduction, unless the book doesn't make sense without it.

[Ruth2]

Generally, if they ask for the first three chapters, that's what they mean. In your cover letter you can mention you have an introduction. If they want to see it at this time, they'll let you know.

Good luck! :)

[janwyl]

I've been battling over whether to have an introduction to my memoirs, and in the end I decided to do it. Battling because the general consensus seems to be that agents and publishers don't like introductions. For me I just couldn't make the strict chronological format that I wanted work without an introduction, but (thanks to good advice from AWers) I've made dam sure the intro is one of the most exciting and interesting bits of the whole book, and (I hope) the background-setting that simply had to be done slips in almost entirely unnoticed.

Much of the intro-vs.-no intro and prologue-vs.-no-prologue debate on the AW boards challenges intros / prologues heavily, because (people say) they often end up being either non-essential and/or info dump sites. And usually the question is "Are you really sure you need an intro? Can't you get that info weaved in elsewhere? And if you really really can't, you'd better make sure it's a seriously exciting / interesting intro that's going to hook that agent as well as, if not better than, your Chapter 1."

So. Where am I going with this. If you agree with all the above, then your question might be a neat little test for yourself. If you think you can get away with sending the first three chapters and not your intro, then that might suggest your intro is not quite so essential as all that, and you should be getting rid of it anyway.

If you're still convinced your intro is essential, then surely you must send it, because as wax_and_wick says, the rest doesn't make sense without it.

And if you know you want to send it because the three chapters don't make sense without it, but you're reluctant to do so because you like the idea of hitting the agent / publisher with your ultra-gripping Chapter 1 instead, then maybe your intro needs more work. I know I had that realisation at one point...

I could be way off the mark with all that. You may be in a totally different situation. But it just struck me that in my position, having ummed and aahed over an intro for so long, it's inconceivable that I wouldn't send it (for all the reasons above). Even though it goes against the letter of what the agent asked for.

Cheers

[PinkAmy]

Intros are controversial. Consider retitling your intro as Chapter one and sending 1 thru old-2 (new three). That's the advice I've been given and it has worked pretty well.

[ToTestify]

I've been battling over whether to have an introduction to my memoirs, and in the end I decided to do it. Battling because the general consensus seems to be that agents and publishers don't like introductions. For me I just couldn't make the strict chronological format that I wanted work without an introduction, but (thanks to good advice from AWers) I've made dam sure the intro is one of the most exciting and interesting bits of the whole book, and (I hope) the background-setting that simply had to be done slips in almost entirely unnoticed.

Much of the intro-vs.-no intro and prologue-vs.-no-prologue debate on the AW boards challenges intros / prologues heavily, because (people say) they often end up being either non-essential and/or info dump sites. And usually the question is "Are you really sure you need an intro? Can't you get that info weaved in elsewhere? And if you really really can't, you'd better make sure it's a seriously exciting / interesting intro that's going to hook that agent as well as, if not better than, your Chapter 1."

So. Where am I going with this. If you agree with all the above, then your question might be a neat little test for yourself. If you think you can get away with sending the first three chapters and not your intro, then that might suggest your intro is not quite so essential as all that, and you should be getting rid of it anyway.

If you're still convinced your intro is essential, then surely you must send it, because as wax_and_wick says, the rest doesn't make sense without it.

And if you know you want to send it because the three chapters don't make sense without it, but you're reluctant to do so because you like the idea of hitting the agent / publisher with your ultra-gripping Chapter 1 instead, then maybe your intro needs more work. I know I had that realisation at one point...

I could be way off the mark with all that. You may be in a totally different situation. But it just struck me that in my position, having ummed and aahed over an intro for so long, it's inconceivable that I wouldn't send it (for all the reasons above). Even though it goes against the letter of what the agent asked for.

Cheers

Awesome! Thanks for all that information. Basically and intro isn't absolutely necessary, so long as you can work the book without it and make that first chapter gripping enough to keep the reader reading.
I thought the intro was what made a person want to read it...er at least the publisher anyway. I usually don't even read an intro, I skip to the first chapter. If I want to know if I even want to read the book, I will read the back cover, then the first paragraph, then if I am still interested, I will read bits and pieces as I flip through the pages of the whole book.

*phew* this makes me feel better, I kind of feel like the intro is really difficult to do.

[Ruth2]

If you don't like intros, you certainly don't have to write them. :)

[Purple Rose]

Intros are controversial. Consider retitling your intro as Chapter one and sending 1 thru old-2 (new three). That's the advice I've been given and it has worked pretty well.

I garee with PinkAmy. I did just that.