Writers don’t often pay enough attention to how they start new chapters, as well as scenes after section breaks.

For a reader, starting a new chapter has the potential to be disorienting. Readers know that some time has likely elapsed since the end of the previous chapter (but not always!), we might also be shifting to a new physical location (but not always!), and we might be shifting to a different character’s POV (but not always!). It can be tricky to get our bearings if the author isn’t giving us the information we need to re-orient ourselves in the story.

More than that, since each chapter is (ideally) almost like a mini-novel unto itself with a beginning, middle, and end, it’s helpful to prime the reader around what the protagonist is going to try to accomplish and why it matters.

There are six magical elements that are incredibly useful to deploy at the start of every chapter to keep the reader smoothly immersed within the story. If you make sure these six elements are present at the start of every chapter, you almost can’t help but write a good one.