H - Hook

This post will be about hooking the reader. :) I have asked several friends of mine to write for this post, so here are their thoughts on the matter of hooking the reader. (Thanks girls for doing this!)

Writers, make sure to leave a comment sharing your thoughts on the matter. :)

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By Stephanie

H is for Hook.
No, not this kind of Hook. :)

So what is a hook?
And how does one “hook” the reader?

Well, according to the dictionary, hooked is:
Hooked |ho͝okt| 
adjective
1 having a hook or hooks: a hooked gold earring.
2 captivated; absorbed: he was hooked on a video game.
3 (of a rug or mat) made by pulling yarn through canvas with a hook.

And to hook a reader, it’s quite simple, really. The first part is explained by the above definition... you captivate the reader. You make the reader be intrigued and want to read your book. The next part would be how to do captivate/hook the reader. And it all depends on the opening/first chapter of your book.

What would be the best way to captivate a reader at the beginning of a book? Well, DON’T start it out like this (and yes, I’ve done this before when I was a kid):

“The Smith family has 5 kids, and Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad’s name is John and Jane. The kids are Sarah, who is 12, James, who is 10, Mary, who is 8, Tim, who is 6, and Beth, who is 4. They have two dogs, Spot and Buddy. Buddy is all golden color and loves to chase a ball. Spot is old and lazy.”

Kind of uncaptivating, right? Let these kind of details come out naturally in the story. It would be okay to do a sentence like “As soon as twelve-year-old Sarah came downstairs that terrifying morning, she knew something was wrong” in the first paragraph, instead.

 You want the reader to want to know what is going to happen, wonder how this will affect the character, and to feel suspense. Just think, “what kind of opening would get me hooked on this story?”

Cheers,
Stephanie

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by Natalie Noel

I'm the type of person who doesn't like to read unless it's a really good book. As a high school student, writer, and part-time athlete, I just don't want to waste time on a book that is both dull and nonprofitable. So what causes me to pick up a book? What causes me to continue reading it? 
When walking through the library, the number one thing I am drawn to is the title. Once I find a title that looks intriguing, the back cover blurb is the final deciding factor. For me, I will take the book home if it seems to have a strong Christian message, a cute love story, and/or topics that are problems in the current world (abuse, suicide, etc.). 
It takes me a long time to decide which book to read, when I'm ready to start a new book. Often, I decide this by the first sentence. If the book doesn't have something interesting happen before the end of the second chapter, I most likely will put it down--unless the book was recommended by someone; then I'll read more of it.

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by Adriana Gabrielle

What hooks me as a reader? Hmm, thats a hard one because if a book is good, I just continue to read. If a book really doesn’t hook me, I just put it down without any regrets… So I guess I’ll say that what hooks me as a reader would be The story itself.

The plot of the story is one of the things to hook me first. I guess thats not too specific, huh? Maybe it is, I don’t know.

But the plot and how the story starts and where….all that stuff…hooks me instantly if it’s good. You can have great characters and setting and everything but I will usually put down a book if the plot isn’t very good.

So, yeah, as a reader, the plot hooks me the most.