Draw Your Reader In: Write a Hook
As a writer, you only have a short moment to impress the reader. A good opening line draws the reader’s attention and make a teacher, publisher or editor pay a little closer attention to your article or story. It draws them in and tells them that you know what you are doing.
For some, writing a hook comes naturally. My 12-year old son for example, writes amazing hooks. For writing assignments in school, he writes hooks like ”Guess why I had to go to the principle this time?” or “Guess why I argued with the lunch monitor again?” Reading it I wonder, why did he get sent to the office again? I read on. The hook has done its job.
Hooks don’t have to come in the form of a question, although questions make powerful hooks. You can also offer an interesting fact, an analogy, a quote, an observation, or a strong statement about the theme of the story.
Some examples:
Do you know what the birds and animals say? (from Paul Goble, Her Seven Brothers)
When I was fifteen, I got hepatitis. (Bernard Schlink, The Reader)
I am home for my daughter’s first birthday. (Joan Didion, On Going Home)
In Moulmein, in Lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people—the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me. (George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant)
They’re out there. (Ken Kesey, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest)
