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How do you 'hook' a reader into your story?
What is a narrative hook?
What is a descriptive hook in narrative writing?
How do you write a hook in a narrative?
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.
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- Build urgency. A girl running for her life; a dead body lying in a swamp; a crowd gathering to point into the sky. Each of these actions or images create a kind of urgency that hooks a reader into the story.
- Prompt pressing questions. Good story openings include meandering beginnings that take time getting to the point (this is especially common in literary novels that do not necessarily require the brisk pace of a thriller).
- Involve intriguing contexts. The best story hooks don’t only grab our attention. They tell us (often in a highly compressed way) a lot about the world we’re about to enter.
- Introduce striking voices. We tend to think of hooks strictly in terms of ‘Plot’ with a capital ‘P’. Yet a hook is just as often made from an inviting (or compellingly repulsive, in the case of an anti-hero) ‘who’.
The purpose of a narrative hook is to pull your reader through to the next page, paragraph, or sentence where you’ll have planted another hook to keep him going. In this article, we’ll answer what is a narrative hook and look at how to write hooks that present surprising situations or something unexpected to rivet reader attention. What is a hook?
- Remember that your first impression is your title. Sometimes we think that the hook only refers to the first paragraph of your writing. The truth is, the title is usually the first thing that the readers see on the page or on the cover of the book.
- Drop your readers right into the heat of things. Writers use the term in medias res to refer to the strategy of starting your story right in the middle of the action.
- Play with emotional strings. Another way of hooking your reader into your story is by using the power of emotions. Readers are human beings with feelings, and if you can draw them in to a scene that they can relate with emotionally, chances are, you have their attention.
- Start with a controversial statement. When you open with a statement that catches your reader by surprise, it’s like offering them a challenge. Your reader will then continue reading to see how you can prove your statement.
- Descriptive. A descriptive hook in narrative writing uses imagery to create a picture in the reader’s mind. A descriptive hook in narrative writing sets the scene, tone/mood, and places the reader in the setting; find how to teach this hook here.
- Sound Effect (onomatopoeia) Beginning with a sound effect is adding onomatopoeia to the hook. The onomatopoeia should add excitement and provide insight into the plot.
- Introduce Character(s) Another narrative hook example is to describe the main character and introduce an exciting trait about the character that relates to the plot.
- Dialogue. Use dialogue for a hook in narrative writing to create interest in the story. A quick conversation between characters can draw a reader in and build momentum for the story.
Jun 8, 2023 · Narrative hooks are the secret ingredient that sets the stage for a compelling narrative. In this blog post, I provide a step-by-step guide to teaching narrative hooks in the secondary ELA classroom, empowering students to craft captivating beginnings that hook their readers from the start.
Aug 9, 2016 · Begin at a pivotal moment. Add an unusual situation. Add an intriguing character. Conflict. Add an antagonist. Change emotion. Irony and surprise. Make People Wonder. Dread Factor. Keep narrative voice compelling. Now, here is the essay separated by each element so you can see how to incorporate into your own story: A Summer Place by Ann Garvin.
