The Three Chapter Rule

The Three Chapter Rule

By Gina Conroy

In a recent critique I was told my opening needed to move quicker. I thought I had done that after scrapping the first opening. But I heeded their wise advice and went back and hacked and pushed things up, and I’m very happy to say the pacing starts off on a roll and keeps going.

I’m grateful for objective critiquers, but wonder why many of the books I have on my shelf crawl to a start and have me yawning by the third chapter. I want to scream, “How did you ever get in print?”

In the past I would force myself to finish these books. It’s probably the choleric in me wanting to accomplish what I set out to do. But with my TBR (To Be Read) pile morphing out of control, I have to be picky about my reading time. Right?

So I’ve decided to institute the Three Chapter Rule. If I’m not hooked by the end of the third chapter, then I’ll put it in the give-away pile. I figure editors do it all the time. If you don’t have them by the end of chapter three, they send you that nice little rejection letter! I’ve got at least two dozen books waiting to be picked up, so I can afford to reject a couple of them.

Currently I’m at chapter three in a book, and I find myself wavering on this new rule. The story is off to a really slow start, and I’m not really interested in the plot, though I see a bit of myself in the character. Which has caused me to reconsider my three chapter rule. Hey, even in fiction rules are allowed to be broken!

So, I’ve decided to read a couple more chapters. I think the story may speak to me, maybe not on an entertainment level, but on a deeper, heart-changing level. If I’m not dying to read the rest by the end of chapter six, I’ll have to move on, keeping in mind that when I sit down to write I better make the readers shout for more by the end of chapter three or they may institute the Three Chapter Rule.