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This has nothing to do with catching trout. No, but it has to do with our hook. The first sentence, page, paragraph, chapter.
I’ve lost he fine art of coming up with a good hook, so, if you all have any tips, that would be most appreciated. In addition, if you have a book that has a great hook/starter sentence, then I would be glad to see those as well.
What makes the starting of a book good to you? What do you like most about the hook sentences? Which is your favorite hook that you’ve ever read?
Thanks!
-Dragon Snapper
@daeus @kate-flournoy @bluejay @jess @winter-rose @writefury @emma-flournoy @mark-kamibaya @warrioroftherealm @Julia-r @his-instrument @anyone-else @the-bean @perfectfifths @leumeister @nataliemarie☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀
Ahh! How’d I make two of those? @daeus Are you able to delete the other one? 😛 Oops.
☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀
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@dragon-snapper I don’t think I have any great tips on hooks. As long as a hook doesn’t lie to the reader, I’m good with it. 🙂 I’ve always heard hooks that make the reader ask questions are good ones.
I actually think we had a thread on hooks somewhere, but I forget what it’s titled.@dragon-snapper This isn’t my strength either, but getting the reader to ask a question is definitely a good idea. A lot of the time, writing instructors will tell you to start things off with a bang, but I’m not so sure about that. For myself, I’m neutral about bangs. I like the bang, but in other ways it seems just a little pushy and most of all I’m worried it will turn out to be a false alarm. The important thing is to have something (even really minor) that is out of the ordinary. If you can fit some characterization in there, that’s even better.
One of the best examples of a bang hook I’ve read is from Dreamlander. I believe it goes, “Dreams weren’t supposed to kill you, but this one sure seemed to by trying its best.” The great part about it was that it wasn’t a bait and switch. It was legit.
I’ll steal from myself here and show an example of a mild hook. “Matthew held his hand ready to knock at the grand oaken door, but his arm froze in indecision, refusing movement.” Nothing flashy, but it raises a question, which is the important thing.
Another great one is actually from Eragon. I can’t remember how it goes, but Kate can look it up for you. It’s really good.
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@daeus Go to recent forum topics. There are two topics of this.
☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀
@dragon-snapper Aha, but not anymore.
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I like hooks that show action or tense dialogue. I can’t remember any examples, but that’s the sort that always draws my attention.
Recently I started not even worrying about the “hook” and just letting it come to me as I was writing the scene.@dragon-snapper, I’m no expert when it comes to first sentences, but I know a good one when I see it. It’s a good thing the theme of the month for January is exactly this topic. I have a good feeling my fellow writing team members will have some articles just for this.
My favorite first sentence so far has to be from The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic and I quote “On a dark night in a dense forest while the great wide wander of the stormy sky threatened to burst through the trees and swallow her up, a girl lost her hat.”
Theater kid. Currently depressed because I can't stop listening to sad musicals.
Hooks are not my forte (I struggle writing a good opening line) My usual go-to is possibly a line of dialogue, so you’re jumping in right in the middle of a conversation (and you’d use some backstory to find out how we got here)
Or describing a scene (an example from my own writing, “Two weary travellers stood on the dusty road…”) I don’t know how exciting that is, but it sets the scene of people who have travelled for a long time.
Sometimes you’ll want to jump right in on the action (again, using backstory to discover how we got here).
Maybe a random thought of a character that seems unusual and thus make the reader want to know more about what’s going on in their mind, and why? @daeus example about the dreams is a very good example.
Sometimes it’s good to start with a prologue (which I have also done, in the form of someone telling a tale) just to set the scene, if you don’t feel you can well enough with backstory and dialogue.
I think it all depends on what kind of story you’re writing, what sort of feel, theme or tone you want to convey (action, legend, romance, adventure, etc.) and who you’re trying to get to stop and read your story (who is you target audience?)Good hooks are things like “In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit…” Now that makes the reader say, “What’s a Hobbit, and why does it live in a whole?” Tolkien wrote these words down at random (while grading papers, I believe, of all things!) having no clue what a Hobbit was himself, so later on he decided to explore and learn about the creature.
I have read stories that began with “It was a dark and stormy night” which may seem cliché and boring, but this particular story was really well done. This is an example of setting the scene as well.
I actually don’t remember a lot of the opening hooks in the stories I read (apart from the above examples) so I must not pay attention to them. *shrugs* Perhaps for me it’s the rest of the story (if I’m not hooked in the first few chapters, I feel I’m wasting my time) rather than the opening line.I hope this helps you some. Good luck in your journey of story-writing, brave traveller! The road ahead is long and hard. 🙂
Currently reading Les Miserables
@Daeus what, the one that goes ‘The songs of the dead are the lamentations of the living’ one? I’m not sure I remembered that right, but it was the best I could do on short notice… 😛
@Dragon-Snapper what they said— questions. Not necessarily something gaudy or high-tension— just questions.The best kind are undoubtedly those that don’t raise false expectations. So specific, I know. 😛 But I’d much rather have an unexciting one than one that makes me really excited and then doesn’t satisfy.
For good ones though, the kind that start off either with a great dialogue line or action are catching, if truly funny or intelligent or exciting. I also like the kind that start off with some sort of philosophical line, that sort of sets the tone for the theme of the book. Of course whatever subject the line is on would have to interest me, but most philosophy does.About starting off with the theme thing, I mean.
Yeah. That.
Obviously I can’t take credit for you being an all around awesome person.
@kate-flournoy No, the one about the shade waiting in ambush and the breeze that would change the world.
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