Reel Your Reader In: Finding a Hook for Your Book
What’s the best way to reel your reader into your story?
Answer: Capture their attention. Use a hook, or a hook sentence, to engage your reader so they keep reading. It works best if you can fit it in at the start of your novel or written piece. For instance, notice that I used a question at the top. If you’re an author and you’re concerned about grabbing your reader’s attention, one way is to start with a question. If you’ll notice, that’s how I started this article. Did it pull you in?
Questions instantly grips the reader’s attention. It breaks down that wall and connects the reader with the character. It leads into your readers asking their own questions. Why would the character ask us this? What answer does the character have for the question? How will this play out later in the story?
Arousing your reader’s curiosity is a good technique to keep them reading. Consider the beginning of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The novel opens with a series of letters written by a man named Robert Watson to his sister in England. The letters raise questions as to who Robert Watson is and his connection to the plot of the story. As the letters progress, the questions continue to rise when a survivor Watson and his men save from a floating piece of ice is introduced. Who is this new stranger? What is his significance? Who is the man he is chasing? Utilizing questions, either in text or creating them in your reader’s mind, is a good technique to keep your reader involved, but these questions may have nothing to do with your hook. These are considered “reader questions,” which serve to keep your readers turning the pages. The hook is what pulls them in. Both are important. Always keep your readers’ curiosity alive.
Start with dialogue:
Dialogue reveal details about your characters, your setting, the plot, and other things that will peak the reader’s interest. It avoids info dumping and immediately pulls your reader into the scene. For instance, when a story opens with two characters in an argument, readers can’t help but lean in to figure out what they’re arguing about. Consider a person’s drive to eavesdrop on a conversation between two other people. What leads them to do so? It’s the desire to know what’s going on in the lives of others. You’ll get the same effect when utilizing dialogue as a hook in your story.
Engage the senses:
If dialogue is not your strength, powerful descriptions are another way to get readers hooked on your book. I don’t mean bombard them with little details that make your story drag on. I’m talking about those bits of description that fire up your readers’ senses and prompts them to keep reading. Descriptions like, ‘The air had the crisp smell of winter and the leaves crunched beneath his feet,’ are enough to awaken a reader’s senses, especially if that reader has experienced cold weather, but it doesn’t overwhelm them with details.
Let’s look back at the sentence we used earlier and edit it to read ‘The air had a crisp smell of winter and leaves crunched with every drag of the body behind him.’ Now you’re not just giving them description on the setting, you’re also raising numerous plot questions. Did he murder someone? Is he trying to hide the body? What happened prior to this? You’ve peaked the reader’s curiosity, motivating them to continue reading.
Start with the end:
There are a few authors that have included in their prologue the end of their story. It’s a scene where the protagonist is faced against their greatest fear or challenge and ends on a cliffhanger. This is a good technique that pulls at your reader’s curiosity as to how the characters have gotten to this point and what is going to happen next. This will prompt your audience to keep reading.
Don’t be afraid to do something new to grasp your reader’s attention. If you’re not sure what to do, these are some techniques I’ve come across. I prefer starting my stories off with dialogue because it instantly pulls the reader into the action. You can always find more techniques that other authors have used. But before you do this, explore the audience you’re writing for. It’s easier finding a hook that works if you know who your audience is. Do this and you’re sure to find a hook that will reel your readers in. If you know your target audience, then you can start exploring ways to reel them into your story. If you’re writing for horror fans, you should begin with a suspenseful scene that peaks your readers’ interest. If you’re writing for avid fans of mystery and murder, you’ll want to open your story with a crime scene or when your victim goes missing. Humans, by nature, are curious, so play on that curiosity and discover what your reader wants answered first.
