How to Improve Your First Chapter by Eliminating Hidden Exposition

One of the most common questions novelists have is how to improve your first chapter. And one of the biggest pitfalls in the opening pages of a novel or memoir is exposition. Most exposition comes in the form of explanation or back story—often a dump of information (aka an “info dump”) that, though intended to help readers understand the story, actually keeps them from the story you’re trying to tell.

 That’s why we focused the first part of this series on beginning instead with action—becaus...