Top 3 Hooks for Fiction Writers
What's the use of a good book, essay, story, you get the picture, if no one picks it up to read it and keep reading it? Hooking your reader is essential. Here you will find 3 ways to hook your reader with first lines. You can also repurpose this into a book blurb.
With each hook, I'm going to take the well-known fairy tale Cinderella and complete examples for each hook, you can get it here!
The Scence
Take an excerpt scene from your story that falls in the middle of the action. This could spike the reader's interest into how the character/situation/story began and where does is the problem solved. Bonus points if you leave the scene on a cliffhanger that leads to speculation and/or has grounds for the story to develop.
Cliffhangers not only influence your reader to perhaps purchase your book but also, continue reading within a series. When it comes to writing cliffhangers, I have a request, don’t force it! One thing I can’t stand as a reader is a forced cliffhanger, for instance the author could have just ended with a paragraph, chapter, or epilogue, a cliffhanger is forced. When I feel the cliffhanger is forced, I feel the next story if forced and I’m less likely to read it (just my two cents).
2. The Question
This type of hook could easily work for fiction or nonfiction authors. This gets your reader thinking about what if’s or the how’s. Question hooks get my attention because they spark curiosity. Humans are curious beings in general. If you say don’t look in X, there will be an overly aching urge to look in X. When you spark curiosity with a question, it lets the mind wonder and long to find the answer/outcome, which will be in your book.
Random thought, if you are using a question hook, for the love, PLEASE ANSWER IT in your writing and not leave it has a cliffhanger or open ended. You can get your 3 Hooks Worksheet here for guidance.
3. The Statement
Make a declaration about your character, time period, you overall writing. A statement tells it exactly how it is, no sugar coating, simply raw, it says what it is. Statements can also leave a sense of wonder encouraging the reader to wonder the meaning of the statement, thus opening the door for your reader to dive in.
