Stop yourself at the end of
this sentence and ask yourself, “Do I want to keep reading?”
Now, hopefully you decided to stick with me long enough to find out why you should keep reading. Today, I’m going to be sharing with you about hook-lines. First, let’s talk about what they are and why they’re important to your writing. After that, I’ll let you judge for yourself what makes the best hook-line.
Now, hopefully you decided to stick with me long enough to find out why you should keep reading. Today, I’m going to be sharing with you about hook-lines. First, let’s talk about what they are and why they’re important to your writing. After that, I’ll let you judge for yourself what makes the best hook-line.
What are Hook-lines? - If you’ve ever been fishing,
you’re a lot closer to understanding what a hook-line is than a lot of people.
Even if you haven’t been fishing, you know that the purpose of a hook is to
catch the fish. A hook-line is a metaphor.
In writing, a hook-line is
the very first line of your novel or short story. Just like the fish, you want
to “hook” your reader on your story. The rest of your story you is then spent trying to “reel” the reader all the way in. Great, right? Now let’s talk about
why they’re really important.
It’s been said that when in
bookstores looking for something to buy, modern day readers will only read the
first two pages of a book. If they’re not caught up in the story by then, they
set the book down. That really gives you a page to interest them…and you better
make the most of it.
That’s why you want one
really strong, intriguing line for your opening sentence. You want something
that will make your reader want to
keep reading to find out. So what kind of lines do that?
Learn For Yourself - There are many methods of
starting a story, including dialogue, narration, setting, and conflict.
Generally speaking, starting
with the setting and the weather is a huge turn-off in a hook-line. Why should
your reader care about the setting if they’re not even sure they want to read
the story? And who wants to read about weather? Most people don’t even want to
listen to their grandparents discuss that! If you decide that you want to start
the story with the setting or with weather, you should make sure that it has
immediate significance to your story. By significance, I mean that it becomes a
crucial part of the story on the first page.
Presenting conflict in the
first sentence might be one of the best ways to immediately draw somebody into
the story, but there’s also a pitfall that must be avoided: having a character
already in action or in danger is not encouraged by this writer. This is
because your reader has no reason to care about a character in danger, and
especially not in the first line. So how do you use conflict without putting
the cart before the horse?
When I use conflict, I normally go for conflict
between characters. This reveals that there is some animosity between them, but
it can be more generalized. You can also start conflict with something as
simple as, “The broken vase could not have spelled Kasey’s doom any better if
the shattered pieces had formed the letters themselves.” See, there’s already a
dilemma here: the broken vase. The point of starting a story with conflict is
to make the reader want to see how this minor issue is resolved. By then,
they’ve already invested their time and emotions into the character which keeps
them reading.
No matter which method you
pick, the point is always to grab the reader’s interest. A simple exercise to
develop stronger hook-lines would be to read the opening lines of your favorite
books. That’s it: the first sentence. After you read the first sentence, ask
yourself if you would keep reading and also answer why or why not.
Let’s try it
now - In the comments, I want you
to rank these sentences by how likely you would be willing to continue reading
the story. Then, explain what interested you about your top picks. Ready? Go!
1)
The tiny woodland
glade seemed secluded far from the mechanics of the civilized world.
2)
There
are two kinds of phobias in the world: justifiable and just plain absurd.
3)
Nothing
would be all right, not this new house, not this day, and especially not
Caleb’s smirking face, until Adrianna rescued her violin from the pits of the
U-haul truck.
4)
“Sometimes,
the hardest choice to make is to do the right thing.”
5)
If Kimemela’s foster parents knew that her
growth had already been stunted, perhaps they would at least let her enjoy
coffee.
6)
If time would only rewind ten seconds, Daniel
would be able to stop himself from making the greatest mistake of his life.
So what
do you think? How would you rank these hook-lines? Why? What famous opening
lines do you like?
Lauren Claire is a young writer with a passion for God, life, and her
young friends. She knows that there are many kids in the world that have
nobody to talk to about the problems they face, so she strives to write
real stories they can identify with. When she's not writing, Lauren is
busy with College, Camp ministries, and going on adventures.
Check out her blog!
