 Fantasy: August 30, 2023 Issue [#12148] |
This week: Hooking the Reader Edited by: Prosperous Snow celebrating  
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"Beginning hook readers. Endings create fans."
Martha Alderson
"As a writer, there are times when you have something to say, and yet no particular 'hook' upon which to hang the missive you are burning to release."
Tim Wise
"Question marks are shaped like hooks for a reason: they will hook the reader and drag them deeper into the story"
Chuck Wendig
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| ASIN: B07YJZZGW4 |
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Where do you put the hook in the first or second paragraph? The hook should go in the first paragraph. However, I have read some stories where the hook, at least for me, was in the second paragraph. I, and I suspect this is true for many readers, won't stop reading if the first paragraph doesn't hook them. This doesn't mean that an author shouldn't attempt to put the hook in the first paragraph, because that will usually guarantee the reader will continue reading.
Until I started rewriting the first chapter of Mark of the Blue Wolf, I didn't think much about the hook. When I reread the chapter, before editing and rewriting, I didn't realize where I placed the hook. After rereading the chapter, I found I had placed the hook in the first paragraph. Which is where I wanted the hook from the start.
How do you hook your readers? Does your hook consist of an action paragraph, a question, a character description, or dialogue? While dialogue may not be the best way to begin a story, it can hook the reader. I can testify to this because, sometimes dialogue hooks me.
Does the type of hook you use depend on the plot or the protagonist? The hook I chose for Mark of the Blue Wolf was a combination of the two. I did this because the protagonist is blessed or cursed (depending on one's point of view) with a talent that moves the plot forward.
The original chapter one can be found in the book, "Mark of the Blue Wolf" [18+] "Chapter 1: Weeping Meadows" . I'll post the rewritten chapter on the newsfeed as soon as it's finished. I'm sure that the rewritten chapter will be somewhat different from the original chapter. Because there are some things I need to add and others I need to take out.
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NaNoNette  writes: I don't have any inanimate object stories, but I wrote this squirrel story after watching the squirrels in the park behind my sons' elementary school find Oreos in the trash bins.
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