Marie asked Elizabeth Nunez:

Why the first chapter of a book is so important? Do you spend time to work it??

Elizabeth Nunez In the first chapter, the writer should establish that the main character has a desire; he/she wants something. If the writer manages to engage the reader’s emotions, to get the reader to care for the character, then the reader will follow whatever turns and twists of the plot the writer devises to find out whether the character achieves or does not achieve his/her desire. I had written twelve drafts of my novel Even in Paradise before my publisher or editor saw the manuscript. It was important for me to establish in the first chapter, indeed in the first lines of the novel, the possibilities open to the narrator and to one of the main characters. The last chapter of the novel confirms how well those possibilities were fulfilled.

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