First Chapter Analysis: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

If you want to write a novel that hooks a reader’s interest, you had better write an engaging first chapter. But how exactly do you do that?

Since I’ve already provided resources on how to write a solid set of opening pages and the big mistakes to avoid when writing your opening pages, I thought it would be fun to step back and analyze the first chapter of a popular published novel.  

So, in today’s post, we’re going to look at the first chapter of Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. And we’ll look at the chapter in two different ways:

1. Macro: How does this chapter give readers insight into what the story is about? 
2. Micro: How does each scene advance the plot and character development?  

This way, you’ll be able to see the first chapter from a big-picture lens as well as on the smaller scene level, too. And ideally, you’ll be able to implement some of what you learn into your own first chapter as well.

A special note for listeners of the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast: In the episode that goes along with this blog post, I’m joined by an extra-special guest and the host of the LitMatch podcast, Abigail Perry. If you want to hear our full discussion of this opening chapter, you can tune in on either of our podcasts.

Chapter 1 Summary

Here’s a quick summary of the first chapter before we look at the high-level analysis of each scene within the chapter:

Katniss is in the woods outside District 12, hunting and thinking about the Victory Tour she has to go on today (and how much she’s dreading it). She’s primarily hunting for Gale’s family since he’s had to take a job in the mines and can’t hunt as much as he used to. After she collects some game from her traps, she stops by her old house to change out of her hunting clothes. She feeds their cat, Buttercup, and then heads to Gale’s house to give his family the food. After that, she goes by the Hob to buy some things (including alcohol for Haymitch)—and she runs into a few different people: Head Peacekeeper Cray, Darius (another Peacekeeper), and Greasy Sae. Then Katniss heads to Victor Village and stops by Hamitch’s house to wake him up before they have to start their tour in an hour. Peeta’s there, too, and offers Katniss and Haymitch some bread. Haymitch reminds Katniss and Peeta that they have to act like they're in love, even though they feel all awkward. Katniss leaves and goes to her house, where none other than President Snow is waiting for her.

Now, when analyzing any opening chapter, whether it's from a published novel or a messy first draft, the first thing I look for is a glimpse of the big picture. So, what is this story really about? 

Big Picture Macro Analysis

As writers, we must set expectations at the beginning of our stories and then work to deliver on those expectations throughout the middle and end. In other words, we need to show readers exactly what kind of story they’re in for and then deliver that story scene by scene. 

Let’s take a look at how Suzanne Collins did this in the very first chapter of Catching Fire. And to do this, we’re going to use seven questions from Paula Munier’s book, The Writer’s Guide to Beginnings. 

1. GENRE: What kind of story is it?

I like to look at genres in two ways—commercial vs. content genres. For this first question, I usually think in terms of the commercial genre. So, where would this novel sit on a shelf in a bookstore? And how does this first chapter set up the readers’ expectations from a commercial genre standpoint? 

Catching Fire is a Young Adult Dystopian novel set in the future, sometime after a series of ecological disasters and a global conflict brought about the collapse of modern civilization. The story follows 17-year-old Katniss Everdeen as she navigates life after winning last year’s Hunger Games—and while participating in this year’s Quarter Quell.

2. PLOT: What is the story really about? 

For this question, I like to look at the content genre of the story. So, what is the story really going to be about? Catching Fire is primarily an action (external) story with an (internal) worldview arc. Like in book one, Katniss has to figure out how to survive in an arena that’s designed to kill her. But this time, the other tributes are past victors which means they’ve also survived the games before. Not only that, but Katniss has inspired an uprising all throughout the districts—and because of this, she’s a problem for President Snow. Katniss must figure out how to reconcile who she wants to be (just another girl from District 12) with who she is (a symbol of hope and change).

This opening chapter raises a lot of important questions. What’s going to happen to Katniss on the Victory Tour? Will she ever get to live life on her own terms? How far will President Snow go to keep Katniss in her place? In other words, this opening chapter does a great job of raising these questions in the reader’s mind—and it perfectly sets up our expectations for an action/worldview story.

3. POV: Who is telling the story?  

This story is written in the first person from Katniss’s perspective. This choice makes sense because it’s truly Katniss’s story. Yes, Peeta also goes into the arena. And yes, he’s her love interest. But Katniss has the most at stake, and she undergoes the biggest internal shift. First-person is a popular POV choice for YA novels because it creates an immediate bond between the protagonist and readers. In this story, the first-person POV keeps us close to Katniss and her emotions—and because of this, we only know what Katniss knows. Specifically, Katniss doesn’t know who to trust in the arena, and neither does the reader since we’re limited to her viewpoint. 

4. CHARACTER: Which character should they care about most?

As readers, we care about Katniss because she’s the protagonist. We’ve seen her survive a horrible, traumatic event in book one, and we just want her to catch a break. It seems her family’s doing better living in Victors’ Village, but we learn that Gale’s had to go work in the mines (the same mines that killed Katniss’s father), Peeta and Katniss are on the outs, and Haymitch is an unhappy drunk. In other words, our sphere of concern has extended out past Katniss and her immediate family. From this opening chapter, we wonder things like—What’s this Victory Tour really about? How’s it going to go for Katniss? Why are Katniss and Peeta not really speaking? What does President Snow want? Why did he show up at her house in District 12, of all places? And these are precisely the questions Suzanne Collins answers throughout the story!

5. SETTING: Where and when does the story take place? 

This chapter takes place in District 12 of Panem at the start of Katniss’s Victory Tour. Like in book one, we see Katniss doing normal, routine activities—she’s hunting, visiting her house, etc—but things are different this time. Her childhood home has been abandoned, and Gale is no longer able to hunt with her. We also get to see a few new locations—the Hob and Victors’ Village.

6. EMOTION: How should readers feel about what’s happening?

I think we all feel three main emotions when reading this first chapter—curiosity, concern, and a smidge of wonder. We’re concerned about Katniss because she tells us exactly how much she’s dreading the Victory Tour, plus it seems she’s on the outs with Peeta. We’re curious about how the Victory Tour will go (and what she’ll be forced to do in the name of the Capital), and we wonder if poor Haymitch will be okay. And because we’re in a world different than our own, we can’t help but feel a smidge of wonder, even in this dystopian society. If you consider the rest of the book, these are the perfect feelings to evoke in readers from page one. We read forward to get the answers to our questions and to satisfy our curiosity and concern. 

7. STAKES: Why should readers care what happens next? 

This opening chapter sets up the stakes beautifully. Not only is Katniss “responsible” for Gale’s family’s survival, but if something happens to her, Prim and their mother will have to move out of Victor’s Village, too. Once President Snow shows up at the house, we can’t help but wonder what he wants, so we read forward into chapter two to find out. 

So, as you can see, Suzanne Collins definitely gave us a glimpse at the big picture of this story–we know we’re in for another story of survival. Once President Snow shows up at the end of the chapter, we can already imagine some kind of climactic event between President Snow and Katniss. It’s a fantastic opening chapter—one that sci-fi and fantasy writers can learn a lot from! 

Micro Scene Structure Analysis

Now, let’s examine the structure of each scene in this chapter to see how and why everything works. To do this, we’ll use the scene structure I laid out in this article. If you’re a fan of Shawn Coyne's The Story Grid, you will recognize this structure.

Chapter #1 & 2 - Katniss’s POV

In this scene, Katniss’s goal is to finish her “chores” before reporting for the Victory Tour. She has to collect game for Gale’s family, stop by her old house, buy some things at the Hob, and wake Haymitch before she’s “ready.” So, let’s look at the conflict that gets in Katniss’s way as she pursues this goal: 

1. Inciting Incident: President Snow is at her house (CH 1).
2. Turning Point: President Snow confronts her about kissing Gale in the woods (CH 2).
3. Crisis: What will Katniss do now? Comply with President Snow’s wishes? Or defy him and risk the safety of herself and those she loves?
4. Climax: Katniss says she’ll do everything in her power to convince the public she’s truly in love with Peeta.
5. Resolution: Snow is satisfied for now but reminds Katniss that it’s about more than just proving their love to the public—she’ll need to convince him, too.

So, what has changed in this scene? 

The main thread in this scene concerns Katniss's preparation for and reporting to the Victory Tour. On one hand, she accomplishes this goal—she collects the game for Gale’s family, buys alcohol for Haymitch, and wakes him up. The conflict kicks in when she sees President Snow sitting in her living room. This is at the very end of chapter one, which means the scene continues into chapter two. It’s a longer scene than we normally see, but because the author broke it up into two chapters (and made sure to include a character with agency in action, the reading experience is a good one. Taking these two chapters (and the one scene) into consideration, you could say that Katniss has gone from being “just another victor” to “being on Snow’s radar for a specific reason.” Soon after this scene, Katniss learns that the participants of this year’s Hunger Games will be pulled from past victors—and because of this, you could say the first scene pulls us into the central conflict via Snow’s visit.

Final Thoughts

So, can you see how this scene moves the plot of the story forward and impacts the characters involved? And how, ultimately, this first chapter does everything that a first chapter should do?

I encourage you to look at your first chapter through this macro and micro lens to make sure that you’re delivering enough of the big picture to your readers. This is also a fantastic exercise to do with the opening chapter of your favorite novels, too. 

Want to hear Abigail K. Perry and I break down other popular stories? Click here to check out past scene analysis episodes!