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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36894
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36894
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I would point you towards [How to open a novel?](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/35807/how-to-open-a-novel/35813#35813) Extending the answers to that question from "first page" to "first chapter", I'd say the first chapter should give us an idea of what the story is going to feel like: what the setting is, what kind of problems the characters can expect to face, whether the tone is going to be serious or humorous.

It is very common to introduce at least one main character in the 1st chapter. (There are notable exceptions to this rule, particularly in 18th and 19th century writing.) It is not a bad idea to foreshadow the main problem. (For example, in the 1st chapter of the _Lord of the Rings_, we do not yet know yet what the Ring is, and what the quest is going to be, but the Ring appears, and there's wrongness going on about it.)

Finally, the first chapter should draw you in. It should open, not close. It should leave something unresolved - there should be a promise of something coming up. In the aforementioned LotR example, Frodo gets the Ring; what next? What's the wrongness with the Ring? How is it going to affect Frodo, and how is he going to deal with it? Another example: by the end of the first chapter of _The Three Musketeers_, d'Artagnan has just arrived in Paris, having already encountered some trouble. Again, this is an opening - Paris is set up as where the adventure begins, so the reader is left wondering "what next?"

Original score: 4