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How do you 'hook' a reader into your story?
Should you use a hook in a book?
How do you write a good hook?
What is a good hook for fiction writing?
But you can use any of the following ways of writing a hook to get you started: 1. The Surprising Statistic Hook Presenting a surprising fact or statistic is a great way to grab the attention of your audience. For example, an essay on the orphan crisis may begin with: Did you know that worldwide, there are roughly 153 million orphans?
- Setting Hook. “We slept in what had once been the gymnasium.” A setting hook is when you describe an environment that intrigues the reader. This happens most in Fantasy and Science Fiction books, but it can be used in any genre.
- Character Hook. “All children, except one, grow up.” Character hooks are when you write an intriguing character. You can mention a mysterious past, quirky character trait, cool skill, or even just a fun personality.
- Conflict Hook. “It was a pleasure to burn.” Conflict hooks hint at tension in the story that makes the reader want to know how it works out. The conflict can be internal, interpersonal, or external.
- Emotional Hook. “Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were.” An emotional hook is when you evoke such a strong emotion in your readers that they want to keep reading.
- Begin at a pivotal moment. We were people who had Mediterranean ancestors, dark hair, dark eyes, tan skin, and everyone else in White Pine looked very Scandinavian; we became the town’s diversity—before diversity was a good thing.
- Add an unusual situation. I coped by being careful and good and funny which was like an invisibility cloak in high school but as much as I tried to blend in, my older brother Ray stood out in the most threatening way possible for a good girl and that was as a bad boy.
- Add intriguing characters. My father was and is best described as an intense, idealist with a steel girder of a work ethic and a charm that wears thin under the gun of his laser focused attentions.
- Conflict. Outside the restaurant, just before swinging the door wide and walking inside my Dad would stop us and say, “Now remember everybody, this is for Mom.
Apr 12, 2021 · April 12, 2021 by Tom. Want to know six easy ways to hook your reader right from the first sentence? See what I did there? Did it work? If you’re reading this sentence, I’ll assume that it did. I’ll get to some practical examples and a bonus in a minute, but first a bit about hooks. Hook, Line and Sinker.
- Surprise. First and foremost, something needs to be different in your story if you want to hook your reader. What’s the twist?
- Emotion. Kathryn pointed out that the brain uses emotion to gauge what’s important to us. In fiction, this means your character’s reactions to adversity will show the reader what’s important to them.
- Protagonist Goal. We’ve all heard this before, but only because it’s important. Your protagonist needs a goal. An agenda. And we need to know what it is early in the story.
- Need-to-Know Information. Discern what information the reader needs to know at the beginning. The tricky thing is figuring exactly what that is. Kathryn pointed out that while we believe readers need to know everything, in reality they require very little.
Identifying the Target Audience. Understanding Reader Interests. Creating a Connection with the Reader. Captivate Your Audience with Different Types of Writing Hooks. Emotional Hooks. Question Hooks. Surprise Hooks. Anecdote Hooks. Statistical Hooks. Writing Catchy Hooks: Strategies to Get Your Readers’ Attention. Brainstorming Hook Ideas.
1. Know Your Audience. One of the key steps to take before you can effectively ‘hook’ your reader into your narrative is to determine who this reader is. In other words, who is the target audience for your novel or short story? In the early phases of planning and writing, this can be a particularly difficult question to answer.
