There are many items that serve as writing hooks or, as they are variously know, reader hooks, narrative hooks or story hooks – essentially, these writing strategies are incorporated in the first chapter, preferably the first paragraph, to intrigue the reader and inspire him or her to stay with the story. It is possible to sort most writing hooks into two distinct categories and it is crucial that each category is represented in your opening chapter.
Action and Suspense as Writing Hooks
To extend the fishing analogy inherent in the term ‘writing hook’, let’s say these overarching concepts make all your other hooks super-effective; indeed, they encase the hooks, just as bait does ... and just like fishing bait, they attract the reader to the waiting hook. Your first paragraph needs a bait of real reader-food: the tasty morsel must send out a tantalising scent trail and promise a huge, satisfying meal.
You dangle in front of prospective readers the two things they most want – action and suspense. These are the two chief reasons that people read fiction. Here is the clarification of the terms as literary devices.
Action in the Very First Paragraph
In this context, action doesn't mean buildings must explode in flames or cars roll over cliffs. Action simply means some forward movement in the story line - story-telling rather than static display. It reflects the traditional movie director’s instructions: Lights, camera – ACTION. Such action might be as simple as allowing the reader to follow the main character across a street or across a room. It could mean that someone starts to speak. It is a scene played out rather than scene setting or a static description.
By 1923, Chicago had been carved up into an awkward network of gang territories. The 18th Amendment had banned the sale of liquor and instantly established a huge, lucrative market for the illegal product. Al Capone was earning $60 million a year and drove around in an armour-plated limousine, but Little Jimmy Itchica liked that slogan: the bigger they are, the harder they fall. The Itch, as he was widely known, was ready to move on Capone.
Many readers might be quite satisfied with this as the first paragraph of a novel: it ‘sets the scene’, introduces the main character and promises some conflict. Nevertheless, it does not constitute ‘action’.
“So, Gus, my old friend, what you need to tell me very soon...,” The Itch said, running the flame of his gold lighter along the massed hair of the beefy man’s chest, “is where Capone goes alone. No bullshit armoured car, no goon squad… just the boy on his own.” The acrid smell of singed hair prickled his nose and made him want to sneeze. “Does he visit a broad? I’m open to your suggestions, Gus. Talk to me! You know, I never seen such a bushy moustache as that before, Gus. How long did it take to grow that baby?”
Here, the action is apparent. The story is already in motion. It started way before The Itch speaks the opening line. The reader doesn’t need the background – that The Itch wants to beat Capone, that Gus is one of Capone’s lesser men, that he has been captured and is tied to a chair…all those things are unnecessary impediments to getting the story started.
Suspense in a Novel First Chapter
Again, suspense in this context does not mean the proverbial 'cliff-hanger' or the race to the hospital to save the victim's life. No, this time the suspense that gets the reader hooked can be almost gentle. Think of it as any form of not knowing. When readers have their curiosity piqued and start asking questions, they can't have the answers until they turn the page. That's suspense.
Here are a few very standard examples of opening paragraph suspense:
- Charlie Manner was the most unlikely man that I should fall in love with. He didn’t expect it, either.
- Danielle Morecombe – ex-fashion model, TV star, daytime talk show host. You either loved her or you hated her. I found her utterly boring and would change channels whenever she appeared. But right now I badly wanted to know why she was standing opposite me, crying, as my father’s coffin was lowered into the ground. He had been a smalltown cop all his life, for heaven’s sake: how could she have known him?
- It happened thirty years ago – I know I should just forget it but I can’t.
- Billy Wallis groaned and pushed himself to a sitting position on the park bench he customarily occupied. How many days had he been on the metho? He licked his blistered lips as some kid tossed the remnants of chicken and chips in the yellow council bin; then he bustled over. They might even still be warm. He dived shoulder-deep and felt around on the bin bottom. What his fingers encountered made no sense at all. He grasped the soft object and retrieved it. He was holding a hand, a woman’s hand with chipped red polish on the nails. It had been removed very meticulously.
- Reverend Bately was an ordained minister, a man of the cloth. Mrs Probis felt her face burn red. This was not the sort of thing one would expect to see in his back garden. She took one more look and then slowly backed down the ladder that leaned against the high stone fence.
So, these then are the two best overarching writing hooks to make your reader sit up and take notice from Page One – Action and Suspense.
Drop your reader into the middle of the action, have it swirling around them, and let them feel the story in motion. Once on the move, they won't want to stop the ride.
Make your reader damned curious. Make the entire paragraph a 'what will happen next' question and preferably have them asking themselves a few other minor questions along the way. Curiosity works! It will bug readers until they find out the answer to the question they have been asking themselves; it may bug them sufficiently to buy the book.
