Whenever people ask me what the most difficult part of writing a book is — the begin, center, or end — I normally say, “ All of it. ” Each department of a novel comes with its own typeset of challenges : Middles are hard to plot, ends need to be satisfying ( and in my novels, they normally involve a twist ), but then there is a fresh ’ randomness beginning. Learning how to write a good hook shot, if I truly had to choose, is rightfully the toughest thing .In this age of instantaneous gratification, short attention spans, and tons of early bang-up fabrication to compete with, a novel ’ south beginning needs to grab the reader. Otherwise they might deem the koran a large DNF ( did not finish ) — or if they ’ ra perusing the sample pages online or first base pages in a bookshop, they might not make the purchase at all. So how can you start a floor with a bang ? here are 12 tips for how to write a good hook !
1. Startle readers with the first line.
Shocking readers immediately with a jar consequence, ocular, or confession will get them excited to read on. One of my favorite novels, the Pulitzer-winning Middlesex , starts with a doozy of a beginning 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.”
It ’ s storm and cryptic, and it gets the proofreader right into the main character ’ s pass — it ’ s a confession of sorts, which unravels throughout the novel. For me, there was absolutely no manner I could put the book down .
2. Begin at a life-changing moment.
A life-changing event for a supporter can be their “ inciting incident ” — a here and now that thrusts him or her into the dispute they must resolve or overcome by the end of the report. The foremost chapter of Jodi Picoult ’ s Handle with Care talks about a baby ’ s give birth — always exciting ! But things get tied more interest when the baby emerges with a whole host of health problems — forcing her parents to make a heart-wrenching decision .
This “ inciting incident ” all happens within the beginning ten pages of the novel. By the end of chapter one, the subscriber knows the wholly site at hand, and can ’ t turn the pages fast enough to see what happens next .
3. Create intrigue about the characters.
When writing first chapters — of thrillers, specially — it ’ s fun to hint at trouble, lies, secrets, and scandal, but not give away everything. In my novel, The Heiresses , I start with the lines : “You know the Saybrooks. Everyone does.”
This kin is affluent, NYC royalty, living a captivated liveliness. But at the bottom of page one, things start to darken — I mention that every kin member has a mysterious, and that they ’ re a bite curse. Who isn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate tempted to read on about that ?
4. Use a setting as the inciting incident.
I ’ ve already mentioned the “ inciting incident ” — the fib beat that actually gets the plat going. sometimes, a place itself can cause or be the motivate incident. If it is, why not start the character there ( or at the very least, on a mode of transportation going there ) to dive right in ?
A great exercise is in The Shining , where Jack is at the ill-famed Overlook Hotel interviewing for a new job. The reviewer thinks this is going to be a clean startle for him and his family… but of course, they ’ re wrong. Stephen King could have filled the first pages with exposition of Jack back in his previous life, but starting the novel at the hotel — which is a character in itself — plunges the subscriber into the history .
5. Up the stakes within the first few pages.
In a thriller, it ’ sulfur always great to start with a murder, a body found, or person going missing — it sets up the trouble and finish for the rest of the fresh. In my series The Amateurs , the introduction is all about how main quality Aerin Kelly ’ s sister, Helena, goes missing — and throughout the rest of the book, Aerin and the group of detectives she meets up with bearing to figure out what happened .
Another case of this is in The 57 Bus , the on-key floor of a hate crime involving an agender adolescent in California. The inaugural fit shows us that crime, but then the generator rewinds a bite from the perspectives of both the perpetrator and the victim, diving deep into each of their realities. The manner author Dashka Slater lays out those first scenes in a confessional, colloquial kind of way, the subscriber feels pulled into the action and compelled to know what series of events caused this atrocious calamity — and how it could have been avoided .
6. Introduce something ominous right away.
Withholding information about something apparently normal can make it baleful — and intrigue readers to read on. One of my darling novels when I was a pull the leg of was I Know What You Did Last Summer , by Lois Duncan, the queen of YA thrillers. In the first chapter of this koran, Duncan doesn ’ triiodothyronine mess around — she gets right to the eminence that unravels the main characters ’ lives immediately : “The note was there, lying beside her plate when she came down to breakfast.”
correct off the cricket bat, readers ask : What is the note ? Why does it matter ? Where does it come from ? And they ’ ll want to read on to find out. ( By the way, it was this anonymous note that partially inspired me to create the villain A in Pretty Little Liars — there is nothing scarier than person watching you and knowing all your secrets ! )
7. Set the mood.
Setting the temper of the koran right off the cream — whether it ’ randomness of doom, mystery, mischief, or snarkiness — says to the reader, “ This is what the universe is, you ’ ra 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 populace they understand — same weather patterns, lapp terms for months in the year — but besides a earth that is alien to them. And by choosing “ thirteen, ” a number so frequently linked to unluckiness, Orwell immediately creates tension and mystery. This is not going to be a cheerful novel, he telegraphs. ill things are going to happen .
Another bang-up model is Nick Dunne ’ s inaugural line in Gillian Flynn ’ s Gone Girl : “When I think of my wife, I always think of her head.” It ’ s so cool upon first base take, and though Nick pulls back a little and corrects our preconceive notions about what he means, his words still set the tone about who he is and what the record is going to be like .
8. Make your characters sympathetic — and relatable — immediately.
In a character-driven novel, it ’ sulfur cardinal to make the characters lovable to readers angstrom soon as potential. In the insertion to the first Pretty Little Liars , readers get a look at Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily on the very first base pages. The girls are all relatable — Aria ’ s the clown smelling the supergrass, Emily ’ s the daughter with the stern parents, Hanna ’ s the klutz, and Spencer is the uber-competitive daughter who didn ’ t make the JV cut for field hockey. To readers, these girls feel like people they might already know — and this is all packed into two pages. That way, by the prison term their BFF Ali goes missing — and A starts to torture them — the reader already feels for these girls, and is invested in their stories .
9. Draw in the reader with a strong voice.
Some of my favorite novels are told from the first person, and it ’ s the compel part that makes the first pages sing. A classical case 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.”
Through these lines, the reader forms an immediate impression of Holden. It ’ randomness besides compelling how he addresses the reader directly, about making them feel like a ally. I besides love this first-person channel from Feed by MT Anderson : “We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.” Again, the subscriber gets a common sense of fictional character, climate, and worldly concern — all in a bare conviction !
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10. Start at a moment of confusion.
The classic jolt awake and not knowing what ’ s going on trope is always a fun way to begin a report. In my latest novel, The Elizas , the main character, Eliza Fontaine, awakes in a bed she doesn ’ triiodothyronine acknowledge. She is finding out along with the reader what happened to her — she fell into a pool and is now in the hospital — and it soon becomes clear that it ’ s her deputation to fill the holes in her memory and track down who made her about drown. This social organization works well because it ’ s a book about bleary memories and confuse brains, but readers can search aboard her to put together all the pieces .
11. Don’t get bogged down with exposition.
It can be tempting to reveal everything about a character — their background, their struggles, their secrets — within the first few pages. This way readers will in truth know them, right ? But I advise against it. Having more active first few pages or chapters using some of the tips outlined above will create more of a page-turning experience, and you can get to that kernel character thrust late .
A professor in my MFA program gave me great advice once : Pretend your characters are at a party, and they ’ ra talking to you, the reader, for the first fourth dimension. Would they in truth tell you their whole history right aside, or would they do sol only getting to know you ? A few tell fictional character traits hera and there can go a long way toward getting us to sympathize with a character. Once the reader is hooked, then it might be clock time delve into that backstory. It ’ s a delicate balance, but in the begin of a novel, less is much more !
12. End the first chapter with a killer cliffhanger.
We ’ ve talked a distribute about how to start first chapters, but what about how to end them ? One of the biggest challenges I have when writing a fresh is working in enough cliffhangers to keep readers wanting more. ( Stephen King is a overcome at this. )
In Pretty Little Liars, my final lines of the introduction are : “It was horrible to think Ali might be dead, but… if she was, at least their secrets were safe. And they were. For three years, anyway.” Which immediately has the subscriber asking, “ Wait ? What happens ? Does Ali come back ? ”
In I Know What You Did Last Summer , Duncan ends the first chapter with Julie opening the notice and… OMG. It reads, I know what you did last summer! Straight to the item, in a arrant setup of what ’ mho to come, Duncan says to the lector : “ I dare you not to turn the page. ” This is what you want to accomplish in those first chapters : Create an irresistible experience that readers can ’ thyroxine possibly put down .
so there you have it ! What are some of your favored first lines — and your own tips for how to write a good hook shot ?
The views and opinions expressed in this guest post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of BookBub.
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About Sara Shepard (Guest Blogger)
Sara Shepard is the author of two New York Times bestselling series Pretty Little Liars and The Lying Game, as well as the series The Perfectionists. Her newest thriller Sara Shepard is the writer of twobestselling seriesand, equally well as the series The Perfectionists. Her newest thriller The Elizas is out now ! She graduated from New York University and has an MFA from Brooklyn College. Follow her on BookBub here.
