A Hook and a Promise

As writers, we hear the phrase “hook the reader” a lot, but what does it mean? A hook is exactly what you might picture. It’s the first bite of a story that grabs a reader and doesn’t let them off easily. There are two types of hooks – plot hooks and emotional hooks. You need both, and you need them on the very first page. If readers don’t care about the story and the characters, they won’t keep reading. So how can you craft an engaging hook? It’s more than just a great first line. You have a world and a problem to pull your readers into. You can do this in a paragraph (although I don’t recommend that), a page, or several pages, whatever makes sense, but you need to have certain elements.

Take a look at the very first line of your story. Does it indicate trouble, or tension, or conflict? The first line from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins does – “When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.” How does that indicate tension? Well, if Katniss notices the other side of the bed is cold, it must usually be warm, which means someone must usually be there. Who is it? Where are they? That first line generates questions, and we have to keep reading to get the answers. A line like, “It was a beautiful, sunny day” doesn’t exactly invite me to dig deeper. There’s no tension there at all, nothing for me to wonder about.

Establish the status quo in a way that’s quick and meaningful. Who is the character? What is their world like? What drives the character to do the things he/she/they do? Avoid dumping that info. There are ways to sprinkle it in. Look at this line from The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton – “My heart races with excited nervousness as we snake through the crowds in the Royal Square for the Beauté Carnaval.” Dhonielle then goes on to write searingly beautiful description, but this one line tells us a lot about the world and the main character, Camille. She’s looking forward to something. It’s important enough to make her heart race. She and her companions are in a crowded city, at a festival in a royal square. I’m already assuming this isn’t going to be a typical modern world, and with the word “Carnaval,” spelled differently than the word I’m used to, I can tell something extraordinary is going on here in a place that’s exciting and mysterious. There’s a lot more status quo in the first few pages of The Belles, sprinkled in, never dumped. It all serves to cement a picture in the reader’s mind and immerse them in the story.

Give your readers a promise. I won’t ruin it for you by posting the lines here, but in three short pages, Cherie Dimaline manages to give readers of her novel The Marrow Thieves a very chilling promise. There will be a terrible loss, and a terrible reckoning. Survival isn’t guaranteed, but pain, both physical and emotional, is. Your promise hints at what your readers can expect, and the way you craft it will show them your ability to deliver on that promise. In her novel Starfish, Akemi Dawn Bowman uses lines like “Mom doesn’t show up,” and “Not good enough,” coupled with a gut-wrenching scene where the main character, Kiko, wonders if her mother forgot her art show. She gets her answer when her mother “brushes another layer of candy-apple red over her toenail” and Kiko’s stomach “knots over and over and over again.” Talk about a promise. I’m pretty sure we’re going to be watching how a girl stays afloat in the swirling sea of a mother’s criticism and narcissism.

In a nutshell, engaging hooks need, at minimum, these things:

·         A first line that hints at trouble or tension

·         A status quo that helps readers immerse themselves in the world of the character and shows them what drives the character

·         A promise that lets readers know what to expect from your story and how well you’ll deliver on it

That’s it! No sweat, right? I hope you’ve found this post helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line. Happy writing!