The Bootcamp Mentors have hosted many workshops over the years, and we have included them all in this book. Consider this another ongoing resource from your friends here at BCM.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
WHAT IS A HOOK?
Hook - a dramatic action, a mysterious setting, an engaging character, or a thematic statement that draws in readers at the beginning of a story.
Hooking your readers is more than dropping them into an action scene. A hook can be the mysterious creak of a staircase step, the morning after a drunk text, a package from an unknown sender. A hook makes your readers want to know what's going to happen next.
Simply stated, you need a hook to capture your reader's attention at the very first line or chapter of a story. A promise we make to our readers about what's in store for them if they continue reading. But there is more to writing the first chapter of a novel than coming up with a great hook. A number of elements need to be in place in those first few pages to pique the reader's interest, a symphony if you will. We will explore those elements here.
📌PROTIP: If you're looking for inspiration for your next story's hook, you might try researching Best First Lines in NovelsorBest Opening Lines to get those creative juices flowing.
* The One-Two Punch: Hook and Inciting Incident *
In many popular stories, the hook is found in the first chapter. As writers, we don't want to take too long to get the show started. We want to pull our readers in by the collar and keep them in their seats until the final curtain. But most importantly, we need to make sure that hook relates to the story in some way, even if it isn't immediately obvious.
Another important element in a narrative is the inciting incident. This is the Call to Adventure (which the hero usually starts out by rejecting). It's the moment when their world is significantly rocked by the conflict. This can happen in the first chapter, but it more frequently happens in the chapters following, usually somewhere between the hook and the end of the first act. A good rule of thumb is 10% in from the beginning (e.g. 5K words in for a 50K word novel and 10K words in for a 100K novel).
We mention the inciting incident with the hook here because, when done well, both are largely responsible for reeling in and holding your audience captive. As with so many things, timing is important. Within the first few chapters, the hook and exposition should build up to the inciting incident, landing both your characters and your readers in an unfamiliar and gripping situation.
* 8 Tips for Writing a Great First Chapter *
1. Startle readers with the first line
Shocking readers immediately with a jarring event, visual imagery, or a confession will get them excited to read on. The Pulitzer-winning novel Middlesex starts with a doozy of a first line: "I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974."
2. Begin at a life-changing moment
A life-changing event for a protagonist can be anything from winning a horse race — or losing one — to the discovery of an illegitimate child. This moment thrusts them into the conflict that they must manage, resolve, or overcome by the end of the story.
3. Set the mood
Setting the mood of the book right off the bat — whether it's doom, mystery, mischief, or snark — tells the reader, "This is what the world is, you're now immersed in it, and here we go." In the classic dystopian novel 1984, George Orwell's first line reads: "It was a bright cold day in April, and all the clocks were striking thirteen." Immediately, the reader knows that this is both a world they understand — same weather patterns, same terms for months in the year — but also a world that is foreign to them.
4. Start in the middle of the action
A classic hook strategy is to start with an action-packed scene. This method hooks your reader in two ways: first, with the energy of the scene itself. And second, by dropping your reader into the middle of the story without context, you'll leave them with questions that will compel them to keep reading.
5. Create intrigue about the characters
When writing first chapters, it's fun to hint at trouble, lies, secrets, and scandal, only giving away enough to get the reader interested. Another word for this is foreshadowing. In the book, I Know What You Did Last Summer, by Lois Duncan, she gets right to the note that unravels the main characters' lives immediately: "The note was there, lying beside her plate when she came down to breakfast." Right from the start, readers are asking: What is the note? Why does it matter? Where does it come from?
6. Include irony or dread
Dramatic irony is a literary technique that allows the reader to be privileged to the full significance of a character's words or actions while the character remains unaware. Likewise, irony can be a situation or event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result. One of the most famous literary examples of this is William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, wherein Romeo tries to reassure Juliet by claiming he is invincible to her family's hostility, but the audience knows that the young lovers are doomed to die.
7. Use a setting as the hook
Sometimes a place itself can cause or be the hook. A great example is in Stephen King's The Shining, where Jack is at the infamous Overlook Hotel interviewing for a new job. The reader thinks this is going to be a fresh start for him and his family, but of course, they're wrong. Starting the novel at the hotel — which is a character in itself — plunges the reader into the story.
8. Draw in the reader with a strong voice and relatable characters
In any work of fiction, especially In a character-driven novel, it's key to make the characters interesting and relatable to readers as soon as possible. A compelling voice can really make those first pages sing. You might try introducing your antagonist here to foreshadow conflict. A classic example of a strong character is Holden Caulfield from The Catcher In the Rye:
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."
📌PRO TIP: Writing a great hook will get your reader's attention, but remember not to leave questions unanswered for too long or they will become frustrated. To sustain your reader's attention, answer at least some of the questions posed in your hook early on while keeping some information for later. Try introducing a new question every time you answer one, keeping your reader in a constant state of suspense.
