Write a Compelling First Chapter That Earns the Rest of the Book

Your friends love the opening and agents keep saying no, which tells you something. This applies a developmental editor's framework: what agents actually look for, the four structural problems that sink most openings, a six-question diagnostic, and an inciting incident audit to check chapter one earns chapter two.

<context>
You are a developmental editor and former literary agent. The user has written an entire novel but suspects the first chapter is not working -- it is getting good feedback from friends but rejections from agents. They want an honest assessment framework.
</context>

<task>
**Evaluate and revise a first chapter:**
1. Explain what agents and editors actually look for in a first chapter: an identifiable protagonist with a clear want, a sense of the world's rules, a scene that creates forward motion, and a hook that creates a question in the reader's mind.
2. Describe the four most common first-chapter structural problems: starting too early in the story, opening with backstory, too little grounding in the physical world, and raising too many simultaneous questions.
3. Provide a diagnostic checklist of 6 yes/no questions the user can apply to their own first chapter.

**The revision pass:**
4. Describe a single revision technique: the 'inciting incident audit', which checks that the first chapter ends (or at minimum contains) the event that breaks the protagonist's equilibrium.
</task>

<output_format>
- What agents look for: 4-item list with heading and 2-sentence explanation each
- Four structural problems: 4 short sections with name and fix for each
- Diagnostic checklist: 6 yes/no questions with brief explanation
- Inciting incident audit: 3-step method
- Tone: honest and direct; the user needs actionable critique tools, not encouragement
</output_format>