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"Sharpening Your Hooks!': A Community Craft Project
by Dee-eHarlequin on January 13th, 2008, 11:32pm
Usually, we have an author pop in and give us tips on how to do things. But this week, YOU'RE going to provide some prospectives to each other.
Have you wondered what a Hook actually is? How does it apply to your writing? At what stage does it come into play? How do you make the most of them? Where the heck do you USE them??
These are all important questions and we as a writing community are going to figure the answers out together!
Dee Tenorio
"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."
YAY! I'm the first to post
Last year I learned how important the first line is. I entered a competition where that's all you have to fall back on. For me I realized you needed to have characterization, you needed the sentence to be clear, and you needed to make the reader want to read the second sentence.
I never thought about why the first sentences in most book usually take up a paragraph. The author was trying to get me to keep reading. It also made me think about all the books I put down.
Melissa Blue
Feb. 15th, I'll officially be published
http://www.melthegreatest.blogspot.com
Oh yes, first line hooks!
Your first--sometimes your ONLY--chance to grab the reader.
So what's a good way to go about getting their attention?
You could always go the way of the fast one liner or a line of dialogue. (That's my favorite): "Well, damn, there goes my plans to take over the world."
Or you could throw the reader right into the situation: "Jenna lowered her head between her knees and prayed to God that no one could see her like this."
Either one invites the reader to keep going.
Have you come across another type of first line hook?
Dee Tenorio
"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."
Other Hooks
There's also the Pitch Hook & The Plot Hook.
Plot Hooks: It's been said before, there's nothing new under the sun. Some have even gone to say that there's only seven plots in the world. What WE do is take plots and mix them. But which ones? The better you get at being able to identify them, the better you can be at selling them. Include your list in your synops and the editors get an immediate idea on what you're going to do with your plot.
example:
Book: "The Duke & I" by Julia Quinn
Hooks: Friends to Lovers, Outsmarting The Matchmakers, Reformed Rake.
From those well known plot hooks, they know what they're getting and if they want to keep reading.
Pitch Hook: Hook lists are even more important at a pitch where you have 5 minutes max to talk about your book. Even better, if you don't trust your mouth, you can memorize it.
"My book is an Enemies to lovers romance, with a touch of matchmaking children and a subplot about an evil stepmother." Get through that and if the editor nods, you're good. If you're really smooth, she'll ask questions and you don't have to do anything but answer directly. How handy is that?
Dee
Dee Tenorio
"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."
Great Hook Ideas!
Hooks in novels and stories aren't repeated the way they are in songs, but they need to grab the reader in the same way a song hook grabs the listener.
Another piece of advice I've read from writers is to leave the reader hanging with a hook at the end of a chapter (otherwise known as ending the chapter in the middle of a scene). That is supposed to keep the pages turning. E.g., Lord Hero was just about to go down on one knee to propose to the Honourable Miss Heroine when the hoarse, ragged cry of the butler interrupted him. (new paragraph) "Fire!" End chapter. Would you turn the page? I know I would!
(PS, I'm really happy to be able to get here at last! Good to see you!)
"Never say you will pray about a thing; pray about it." Oswald Chambers
Dull Hooks
I thought I had the whole "hook" thing down pat, but maybe not. I've done a couple of blog posts here, and I'm surprised they didn't draw a single comment. I presume they didn't even draw a reader (though this system doesn't give any view counts that I've found).
How would you have fixed these to make them more interesting?
Hook 1: Written to Distraction
"Where to write?"
That is the question that has been floating around my mind lately. I've recently signed a book contract with a fairly aggressive deadline. Like many of us, I also have a "day job", so finding the time to write isn't exactly a picnic, either. But it is still much easier than finding a location.
Hook 2: On Becoming a First-time Author
Much has been written about the difference between being a "writer" and being an "author". Some say that being an author is a bad thing, as it implies seeking out publicity and self-agrandizment. Others say it is just a synonym, or a distinction without a difference. I'm coming to realize that the truth is something very different.
- Woody -
Irrational Sanity is the genesis of creatitivity!
Chapter ending hooks
I don't think you should always end your chapters in the middle of a scene. Until you finish your book, there should be more emotional issues between hero/heroine (or in a mystery, more mystery to be solved), so a chapter ending hook can be a reminder that the just ended scene didn't resolve all the issues.
I find if a chapter ends mid scene and then the scene finishes later (either after some boring stuff or at the beginning of the next chapter) I often feel manipulated.
That said, I think some scenes can be cut before the logical end and you never show the end. I had a scene where my heroine pushes the hero away sharply half-undressed, half-way to the bedroom. Cutting it there made for drama and I never got a the second half of the scene to work. So I settled for a wince as she remembered it when a girlfriend asked about the date.
SAO
Dull Hooks
I don't know what forum you posted them on, but 'Where to write?' doesn't define what you want from the reader of it. I write at my desk, as I imagine most people do. If you want new ideas, you might try 'Anywhere but the dreaded desk.' If you have no space, you might try, 'Help, I have no place to write!' Either way, you'd be more likely to attract people with something to offer.
But it strikes me that the issue is the same for opening our novels. We need to think about what we want our reader to do after the first sentence/para/page. Which means 'be introduced to my characters' is not a good answer because that's passive. 'Care about whether my heroine acheives her short or long term goal,' defines what you've got to cram into the first sentence/para/page and tends to eliminate bad hair day openings, since describing the bad hair day wastes space.
Blogs vs Novels
Thanks, SAO.
Those were posts using the new "blog" functionality here at EHQ. They weren't done in (or for) a specific forum. I thought it would be nice to experiment with the new features. In the process I hoped to write something relevant to both what's going on in my life right now, as well as the lives of the other new and aspiring writers around here.
That said, I see your point about the "bad hair day". Maybe this is why I remember seeing advice that after the first draft of a novel is done, you should simply cut the first 2-3 chapters. It has to do with "show" rather than "tell". In the first few chapters, we "tell" the reader that Marie is an accomplished violinist, whereas by Chapter 3 this is well enough established in our own minds that we simply "show" this to the reader by Marie performing at a concert.
On the other hand, a blog is like a strange combination of diary and editorial page. We're talking about our own experiences, but we're also trying to make the reader think, rather than merely accept the world as we present it. We want them to wonder what they would have done in a similar situation, or we want to persuade them to a new position.
Does this mean we need a different kind of hook for a blog? Most likely, but what should it be?
- Woody -
Irrational Sanity is the genesis of creatitivity!
Well, my thoughts...
are that the hooks for blogs come in two places: the title and the final line.
You want them to read your post, so that title has to be a grabber. I like funny titles, myself. Or confusing ones with general refrences, like, "Orange Suede Shoes?". Something that makes people wonder and have to read.
Then, you want them to post. So you have to end it in a way that invites comments, like a question or a thoughtful remark. The big diference between blogs and prose is that prose expects you to mentally follow along, but blogs expect the reader to interact. As the writer, your hooks have to do that request for you.
Sound Good?
Dee
Dee Tenorio
"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."
Titular Hooks
I agree on titles being key in blogs (and most other works that rely on lists to grab that initial interest). I also try to make the first sentence and/or paragraph hookish as well. That's why I was wondering what was weak about the examples I posted, and how they could be improved.
- Woody -
Irrational Sanity is the genesis of creatitivity!