Hi,

I am writing a crime novel and have just read in one of the forum threads that it is common practice to send the first three chapters off when your are promoting your work.

This may sound like an absurd question but although the first crime in my novel occurs in chapter 1, the first actual murder occurs in chapter 4. Does this mean that I would eventually need to send the first 4 chapters off or should I edit my work differently?

Genuinely a new question that I've not come across before!
I'm not sufficiently au fait to answer with any authority, so I won't, but I will ask this:

If you know that the murder is the selling point, and the crux of your story, the thing that will make people want to read on and make agents want to sell your work, do you really need to leave it until Chapter 4 anyway?

Based on not having read anything of your novel and having no concrete grounds to make a judgement (so please ignore me if I'm talking twaddle) it sounds like the first three chapters are back story to set the murder up. Is all that back story necessary, and if it is necessary, is it necessary _there_?

But for the three chapters thing: all the threads I've read advise you to give people what they ask for. Other threads I've read say if you want to give them more because "it gets going around chapter 17" ask why not start the _novel_ at chapter 17 in the first place so that the interesting stuff becomes the first chapter rather than the seventeenth.

Anyway, just my tuppence. Good luck with the subbing.
G

Are your chapters particularly short? The reason I mention this is that quite a few agency websites requests chapters one to three or about 50 pages. So if your chapters are shorter than average then you can include the fourth chapter anyway.

<Added>

Request, not requests. Obviously.

My first thought was roughly Gaius's - whether the first crime just a preliminary, a foreshadowing, in which case maybe it's not the right place to start the story.

But if - say - it's the investigation of the first crime that triggers the murder as things escalate, then I think that could work well. I'm always more convinced by murders that happen as part of a wider, pathological situation/society, IYSWIM.

If the first crime is like that - the true beginning of the story yes, I would certainly try to make sure the murder gets into the sample.

Is there a reason you shouldn't just stick two chapters together, or re-jig the chapter breaks some other way, for the purposes of the submission? If they ask to see the whole thing, you can always separate them out again - they won't be bothered, or probably even notice.

Yes, I think they are good points. The crime (theft) that is in chapter 1 sets the train in motion for the first murder that occurs later. It is essentially the set-up chapter for the rest of the book.

I had thought about combining the third and fourth chapter. I think the third chapter could be cut back. I'd written it so that the fourth follows on naturally from the third but they could be merged together.

The chapter lengths are roughly about 2500-3000 words. I am reading a book by P.D.James at the minute and we are at page 70 and no-one has died yet although you knew from the first two pages that someone was going to.

I guess the difference there is that she is an established writer and the reader perhaps has more patience as you know whatever she writes is going to be good whereas a reader/ agent/ publisher may not know that about an unknown author!

Yes, I agree with everyone else.

The reason agents commonly request the first 3 chapters and/or 50 pages is to check that it doesn't take you until page 150 to begin the story.

If the story proper doesn't begin until the murder then you may need to rethink the structure of the novel.

However if the murder is only part of a wider whole and the beginning is compelling enough to stand up without the murder itself, then you're probably fine.

Also as AliasGrace says, thrillers and crime novels do tend to have shorter chapters. If that's the case with you and 3 chapters is only, say, 20 pages, then send 50 pages (if the agency website allows it) or do a little fudge and run two of the chapters together.

I wouldn't worry too much about the actual murder, but more about whether the beginning is enough to intrigue and get the agent wanting more? The first chapters have to work *really* hard.

sorry crossed with your post while I was writing mine!

Yes, PD James probably has more latitude with what she chooses to do. But at the same time, if the set up is compelling and creepy then the anticipation of the crime can be a powerful thing.

I think it's probably one of those things that you can do what you want IF you do it well enough