Where and how a book begins is one of the most important aspects of writing. A book’s opening can, in a way, be the deciding factor in its success. A great story can potentially fall flat on its face if it doesn’t start in a way that hooks the reader in. It is important therefore to understand what makes a great hook. If you want your readers to forego their laundry and lawn mowing chores and be glued to your book, a hook is the right place to start.
So what is a hook?
What can a good hook be defined as? Is it the first line? Is it the whole first scene? Is it the first chapter? Or, is it the point in the story where you begin the narration?
For me, a hook is a combination, more or less, of all the above scenarios. You want your first line to be as good as it can be, to let the readers know what they have begun reading is going to be interesting. But, obviously, just the first line isn’t enough. You can’t have a stellar line only to follow it up with the most bizarre or mundane scene. The first scene and, by result, the first chapter, set the tone for the entire story. The importance of starting your story right, therefore, can’t be stressed enough.
How to get your hook right?
As far as the hook is concerned, I try to follow the self-made rule of out of the box and into a hook. What this means, is to stretch yourself to think out of the box for a while. You want your hook to be unique and catchy, yet relevant to the story. The more out of the norm, out of the box, your opening is, the more memorable and captivating it can be.
See the following example:
My dog died and I hate cats. Yet, my too innocent of a mother brought me a cat to cheer me up. God, she is a true pain in the neck. Not my mother. God bless her. But, my cat—she is a pain in the neck and hair all over. And still, my neighbor tells me, God loves me. Facepalm!
Does this grab your attention? Doesn’t this make you want to read more? The style of narration, the point of story, the content itself, is such to make you want to read further.
A hook could be made of one to few sentences. It isn’t necessary that you make your whole first chapter an out-of-the-box experience for your reader. Rather, if you are able to begin in a unique, engaging way, then you have won your hooking battle.
Are dialogs good hooks?
One of my favorite ways to drop a good hook, is to begin with a dialog. True, many editors would discourage new writers from opening a story with a dialog. But the thing with dialog is you are bringing your reader right in the middle of some sort of action. This shows the story is dynamic, ready to burst, and take the reader places. But, what one needs to keep in mind when beginning with a dialog is to set the scene, describe the setting, and introduce the characters soon enough. A long back and forth of dialogs between characters right at the beginning of the story, with no attention to clarifying the scene, can potentially annoy your reader and pull them out of the story.
Create your hook from a dialog but write the needful follow-up descriptions so as to not lose your readers. Happy writing!