Writing Active Hooks Book 2: Evocative Description, Character, Dialogue, Foreshadowing and Where to Use Hooks: Writing Active Hooks, #2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Writing any book does not happen in a vacuum, especially a how-to craft book. I’d like to thank the hundreds and hundreds of writing students who helped define the assignments and the need to explore how to better use Hooks in our novels. I’d also like to thank my early readers, all writers who gave invaluable feedback on the format and content of this book: Dorothy Callahan, Laurie G. Adams and Tiger Wiseman. Any of your great advice I did not take was my fault alone. Another huge round of thanks to my Street Team members, who also act as early beta readers. A huge shout out of debt to Liette, Elizabeth, Nancy, Donna-Dee, Heather, Debra, Lynn, Alyssa, Kimberly, Virginia, Sherry, Judythe, Cari, Heidi, Marcella, Mark, Sandra, Judith, Misty, Diane, Lisa and Jan. It truly takes a village to read and reread a manuscript—I appreciate you all more than you know. Thanks also to Matt, Donnamaie, Barbara Rae, Jeanne, Robin and Dawn B., who also were kind enough to look at early versions of this book. A huge hug to my husband, Jim, who not only makes all things possible in my world, but barely cringes when I tell him he’s an amazing hooker!

Last, but not least, a huge thank you to my readers. To those writers who are always working to hone their craft to make their current manuscript, and the one after that, better and better. Without you, I’d have no craft to teach.

Thank you!

Table of Contents

HOOKS INTRODUCTION

SECTION 1: HOOKS

Hook 1* UNIQUE CHARACTER HOOK

Hook 2* EVOCATIVE HOOK

Hook 3* FORESHADOWING WITH OR WITHOUT WARNING HOOK

Hook 4* SURPRISING OR SHOCKING DIALOGUE HOOK

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SECTION 2: HOOK PLACEMENT

Part 1* OPENING PARAGRAPH AND PAGE

Part 2* PROLOGUES

Part 3* OPENING A CHAPTER

Part 4* ENDING A CHAPTER

Part 5* OPENING AND ENDING SCENES

Part 6* END OF BOOK

Part 7* MOST COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT HOOKS

Bibliography 

HOOKS

INTRODUCTION

If you’ve read the first book in this series—WRITING ACTIVE HOOKS: Book 1—thank you! For those of you who have, and haven’t, I’ll clarify the differences between that book and this one.

In the first book, I examined the five most common hooks writers can use—Action/Danger, Overpowering Emotion, Surprising Situation, Totally Unexpected and Question(s) Raised hooks—and gave some information on where using those hooks can really pay off for the writer in terms of pacing and guiding a reader deeper into your novel.

In this book, we’ll touch upon those five initial hooks and expand on additional hooks only lightly touched upon—the Unique Character hook, the Evocative hook, the Foreshadowing with or without Warning hook and the Surprising or Shocking Dialogue hook. We’ll also go into more depth about hook placement throughout your novel and why specific placement matters.

Some of the information may overlap, in large part because it’s important to repeat salient points. Most of the information will be new, as we'll be discussing four specific types of hooks and how and why they work. So let’s get started.

Hooks are a tool to engage readers, and to keep them engaged, as they read deeper into your story. They are used to raise questions for—and elicit responses from—a reader to compel them to read a little further.

It’s that simple. And that hard.

Let’s be clear about this last point. In any book there are always story hooks—the premise, or implied promise—depending on your specific story and the readers’ expectations. If you are writing a mystery, romance, sci-fi, thriller, or any genre/commercial fiction type of book, your implied promise is to find justice, discover love, save a species or planet, or stop a threat. Yes, there are nuances to these promises, but the reader picks up these novels knowing that by the end of the story, certain expectations will be met. The killer is found and justice balanced. The hero and heroine (or hero/hero; heroine/heroine; etc.,) will find love or the strong possibility of love. A planet, people, remaining hope of a species, etc., will survive an external threat, or that the race to stop something bad from happening will resolve squarely in the fact that the good—or mostly good—guys will overcome the threat.

If you are writing literary fiction, there still remains a story premise. The reader will finish the novel with a change in their understanding of what the human condition means and how we function. There are no clear happy-ever-after endings; in fact, it’s often just the opposite. The promise to the reader in a literary novel is that they will be compelled to rethink their assumptions and expand their understanding of whatever issue is the glue that holds the story together: survivor’s guilt, abandonment, betrayal, abuse, or whatever other issue is being explored.

NOTE: Writers can write anywhere along the continuum between strong literary and strong commercial fiction or they can lean toward one end of the continuum or the other.

The following definition might help:

Commercial fiction derives from myths and fairy tales, and is often called genre fiction. It is based on the readers’ belief that if they try hard enough they can achieve something and make a change in their world for the better. Romances, mysteries, suspense, thrillers, science fiction (often called sci-fi), fantasy, etc., are commercial fiction genres.

. . . Literary Fiction is based on the readers’ belief system that they cannot change their world, but they can understand it better. The plot structure of literary fiction does not move toward a specific goal but involves peeling away the emotions and dark secrets of the human condition in an attempt to better understand. The protagonist in literary fiction need not grow or change over the course of the story.

—Mary Buckham and Dianna Love—Break Into Fiction®

If you don’t know what it is you are writing—and many writers don’t until they’ve been writing for a while—go to a brick-and-mortar store and walk down the aisles. Look at the selections and consider where your novel might fit best. If it doesn’t fit under one of the Section headings—Mysteries, Romance, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Westerns, etc.,—you have a 50/50 chance of writing more literary than commercial fiction. Keep in mind that this is an approximation, as some modern commercial fiction doesn’t fit cleanly into those categories, such as paranormal, urban fantasy, speculative fiction, which may be shelved under romance, mysteries, sci-fi or in general fiction.

Look in the general fiction or fiction area and see what blurbs and story descriptions resonate with your story. If at the end of the story the protagonist grows or changes, you’ll most likely be writing commercial fiction.

Unfortunately, there are exceptions to every assumption. Since this is not a book about understanding commercial versus literary fiction and the nuances in between, I won’t go into more detail. What’s important to note is that hooks are applicable no matter what you write. It’s also important to know what you are writing and what types of hooks are used most often for YOUR type of novel.

The placement of the hooks I’ll be discussing will be the same regardless of your story. The number and type of hooks used will vary depending on the type of story you are crafting and, when applicable, I’ll explain those differences.

That’s an important distinction to make, and I’ll guide you into discovering how to know what hooks you might want to use and how many, depending on the genre of novel you’re writing.

First, we have to understand in greater depth what a hook does for the reader.

Hooks, or more specifically, the questions raised by hooks, help guide your reader deeper and deeper into your book like a map. The hooks are the road signs that intentionally entice and direct them to turn the page and keep reading. Yes, it’s that straightforward. By strategically using hooks you are giving your readers strong incentives to read just a little more.

The intention of the first line of your book is to get the second line read.  The intention of the second line is to compel the reader to read until the end of the first paragraph and so on. Good hooks pull the reader, step by step, into and through your story.

You know a strong sentence or paragraph has hooked you if you continue to turn the page when you had intended to stop. This is why hooks are used in key locations—to encourage the reader to turn that page. Understanding how to do that with the four hooks detailed in this book, as well as their placement, will help you reach that goal.

NOTE: The strongest hooks raise questions or reactions in a reader.

A reaction, whether overt or reluctant, is subconsciously elicited, which makes the reader want to discover more. We’re not talking about a question or questions raised that will take the reader all the way to the end of the book to discover the answers, though some hooks may have elements of that included. For the most part, it’s smaller increments of curiosity we, as writers, raise with our word choices and strategic use of hooks. We’re seeking the kinds of responses that pay off for both reader and author.

We’ll spend a fair amount of time examining four specific types of hooks in one of the most important places to position your hooks—your opening sentence. Why? Usually if readers don’t get past that line, they won’t read the first paragraph or the first page. If they don’t get to the bottom of the page and turn it, they usually won’t buy or read your book. Unless they have another compelling reason to do so—the book club is reading it, it’s required for a class assignment, everybody and their second cousin is talking about this book so they have to find out why.

Those are exceptions, and they’ll always occur. What we want to focus on more importantly is why these four hooks work and where they work the hardest.

NOTE: Be aware that not all hooks will resonate as strongly, and in the same way, with every reader.

Hooks, by their very nature, are subjective, which means what catches your attention strongly may not work for another reader. That’s okay, because as we examine these four hooks, one by one, and why a particular hook works, we’ll also look at how to combine each specific hook with other hooks.

In the key places to use hooks, including that opening sentence and paragraph, we rarely trust ourselves with one hook only. Why? The subjective issue—if one hook doesn’t resonate as strongly with a reader—which is what an editor or agent is—then an additional hook makes sure that your reader is engaged and remains engaged.

NOTE: Keep in mind: some hooks work better in some types of stories, whereas other hooks will not work as well, so study the type of story or stories you want to write in order to learn which hooks are most common and which hooks are rare.

One other issue to consider as we dig further into hooks is to be aware of your intention and what your readers expect, given the types of books they are reading and you are writing. Using too many hooks in an opening for a story that’s not meant to be fast- paced, or conversely, too few hooks in a story that’s meant to jump you into the events at a breakneck speed, will put you, the author, in conflict with a reader’s expectations.

A cozy mystery, a literary novel, or women’s fiction for example, are not paced at the speed of a thriller or romantic suspense or action-adventure novel, so keep your hooks appropriate to what you’re writing.

NOTE: As you apply hooks be conscious of what you are writing, based on your readers’ expectations.

Be prepared to experience a certain degree of awkwardness when you first start playing with hooks. That’s natural and to be expected. When any instructor stops your process temporarily to adjust your mechanics, there can be a period of resistance, whether you are learning to write, swing a club or drive a motorcycle. You might need to slow down in your writing or revising to pay attention so that you are writing with intention. Initially, that may feel labor intensive and unnatural, but eventually, your writing process becomes easier and your writing improves.

The oral telling of a story is one thing; writing a story so readers experience what the writer intends them to experience is based on the craft of writing. There are no formulas in crafting a great story—no one way to use a hook—no hard and fast rules. Hooks are tools added to your craft toolbox, and what makes a professional writer is the understanding of how and when to use a specific tool in a fresh way and with intention. Focusing on hooks forces you, as the writer, to write with intention.

Don’t worry if you don’t include hooks in your first (or rough) draft. That’s what the revision process is all about—looking for opportunities to strengthen your writing. Use hooks whenever the opportunity presents itself, and you’ll go a long way toward accomplishing your goal of creating stronger stories.

SECTION 1: HOOKS

HOOK 1: UNIQUE CHARACTER HOOK

All writers believe, and should believe, that their protagonist characters are unique. After all, we spend a lot of time and attention understanding our characters inside and out, what makes them tick, what their fears are, their back story (what has happened to them before the current story begins), their familial relationships, their jobs, likes and dislikes, and the list goes on. 

In using the Unique Character hook, what is meant is that your POV (point of view) character, or the character being introduced (even if they are not the protagonist) must be