Writers and jugglers have a lot in common. Both toss balls — or as writers call them, plots, subplot, conflicts, and complications — into the air and try to keep them in motion. Keeping the momentum going without dropping a ball takes skill and practice but the professional juggler makes it look effortless. So, too, must the professional writer when creating her first chapter.

The elements that make for a good first chapter are the same ones that make for a good first five pages — set the events in motion and make the reader want to find out what happens next.

Don't try to cram everything into your first chapter. Concentrate on setting up your main characters and plotline and then move on to the next chapter. After all, shorter chapters give the impression of faster pacing, which is one way to keep the reader turning those pages.

You worked hard to hook your reader in the first five pages of your romance novel. Don't let them slip away in the pages that follow. The best way to ensure that doesn't happen is to make sure the “What will happen next?” feeling is present throughout your first chapter. In other words, keep the action moving.

Take another look at the checklist for your first five pages and see how your first chapter measures up since the same criteria apply to both. Is the conflict understood or at least foreshadowed? Does the reader have a sense of time and place? Have your hero and heroine met, or at least have they been introduced? Do you have fast pacing? If the answer is no, you'll need to bolster your chapter's framework.

Remember, pacing depends in large part on the format of your romance novel. Category romances have fewer pages in which to tell your story, so the development of the romance must happen sooner than in a single title.

Just as your chapter's opening needed a hook to grab the reader's interest, your chapter ending needs a hook to keep them turning the page. Chapterending hooks don't have to be dramatic revelations — they can as simple as a character asking, “What did I just get myself into?” following a well-executed precipitating event. The key is to make the reader want to continue reading.