Why First Chapters?

This post is
more a question than the usual rambling on about the craft of writing I usually inflict on you.




The question
is this: When you send out stuff to agents, why do they insist on getting the
opening chapters?




Is there something especially telling in those chapters? And if so, what?




I think it’s
pretty obvious the first chapter in particular is one of the hardest to get
right.  I think that’s normal.




Chances are
when the book gets published the chapter you had as your opener in your
submitted draft won’t be the one at the start of the published version. I think
that’s probably true of most authors—apart from the ones too big to pay
attention to editors.




That’s not
always going to be the case, some writers know exactly where to start their
book, and it was like that from draft number one. But by and large, knowing
where to bring the reader into the story is one of the trickier things to
figure out.




Too soon and
the reader feels lost, too late and the reader’s bored. It’s not so much about
good writing, but more a technical thing. And it’s hard to judge because as the
writer you can’t see it the way a reader will, or a good editor will.




So, why is it
agents want to see one of the weakest parts of an unedited draft, rather than
one of the strongest? After all, once you see what a writer is capable of then
getting the rest of the book as good as that would seem a much more exciting
prospect.

But then
maybe that isn’t an agent’s job.




Thinking
about it, I came up with the following possible reasons for judging a writer by
the first few chapters:




1.  Good writers always get the beginnings right.

2. Seeing how
writers handle the difficult bits gives the agent a clear idea of what they’re
dealing with.

3. It means a
lot less work for them, and that’s what they like (couldn’t be this one).

4. They’re
looking for an excuse to say no, and this is where it’s easiest to find.

5. They want
to see how the writer draws the reader into the story, this being the sign of a
true storyteller.






Of course
this is all speculation. My view that asking a writer to send what he or she
considers the best chapters in the book gives you their best to read, and also
tells you something about the writer’s mindset, could be because I’m so
terrible at opening chapters.




Not that I
think you should send chapters six, thirteen and twenty-seven. That would be
weird. But do chapters 16-18 tell you less than chapters 1-3? Maybe they do, it’s
hard to tell from this side of the desk. Still, I do wonder why every single
agent seems to want those opening chapters and nothing else. Any thoughts?



Having had some feedback on this subject in the comments, I'm going to add this to clarify (hopefully) what I mean. 



If I wanted you to watch a movie but you weren't too sure and I decided to show you a scene from the movie in order to convince you to watch the whole thing, would you expect the clip to be the opening of the movie?



Would you be confused about what was going on if I showed you something from the middle? If it's a cool scene designed to get you interested, do you need all the set up you'd want if you were watching it properly?