Hook Story Writing — for Writers
A Short Primer for Authors and Copywriters
Hooks in stories promise intrigue, enjoyment, or answers to any question they are asking. No more bait-and-switch marketing tactics, hooks give readers insight into the pleasures you expect from your book fiction writing. Learn how to begin strong using story hooks: They should: Encourage curiosity, generate interest, ask questions, and guarantee action.
What Is A Hook?
How can hooks work? It’s a poetic technique that captures the reader into the first line. Generally, hooks are essential to writing and are meant to attract readers’ interest to keep on reading. An author has several methods to create good hooks for various types of writing, but the techniques used are different.
“She stumbled upon the hidden door by accident. One minute Lucy was feeling along the bookcase for her favorite novel, the next she was tumbling into a pitch-black room. Heart racing, she shone her phone flashlight around the small space. That’s when she saw it — a gleaming silver safe tucked discreetly in the shadows. What secrets did it hold?”
A hook will immediately immerse the reader into the story by presenting an intriguing scenario, unanswered questions, conflict, and mystery. The unique details and perspective entice the reader to keep reading to uncover more. An effective hook promises an exciting tale filled with suspense, drama, or discovery.
What are Marketing Hooks?
A marketing hook is a message or tagline which captures the your target audience’s attention or convinces a user to act. Marketing hooks attract potential customers either by making another purchase or completing the next task in order.
Marketing hooks are compelling and intriguing elements used in advertising or messaging to grab a consumer’s attention and interest them in a product or service. Here are some examples of effective marketing hooks:
“Lose 10 Pounds in a Week with No Diet or Exercise!” — An appealing but questionable claim that piques curiosity.
Showing beautiful “before and after” pictures. — Dramatic visuals demonstrate desirable results.
“What Your Dog’s Breed Says About You” — An intriguing personality test based on pet ownership.
Presenting odd statistics — “Did You Know the Average Person Will Spend 2 Years of Their Life Untangling Headphone Cords?”
Using humor and wit — “Our Bank is So Easy, Even a 5-Year-Old Could Do Your Taxes!”
Offering free samples, discounts, or giveaways. — Free stuff is enticing.
Provoking controversy or debate. — “The 10 Most Hated Cars of 2022.”
These hooks spark interest by being funny, shocking, informative, or valuable. The goal is to create a compelling reason for consumers to engage with your brand by capturing their attention in a crowded marketplace. An effective hook makes them want to find out more.
How To Write A Story Hook — Authors
Finding the perfect story hook takes effort. Find the best story for you. Do they have a character? Is there something that I can’t solve? A bizarre place! Once you have determined a reasonable answer, then you’ll have a strong connection with the answer. Story hooks help the reader get interested and learn more.
- Start in the middle of the action — Plunge right into a tense or pivotal scene to hook the reader from the very first line.
- Set the scene vividly — Describe the setting with vivid sensory details to immerse the reader right away.
- Disorient the reader — Start with the main character coming to or waking up in an unexpected and confusing situation that immediately raises questions.
- Start in the middle of a conflict.
So a strong hook can make readers think about several different kinds of topics or more importantly questions in their minds. It just takes a long page to figure it out.
Why Is a Good Hook Important?
A catchy first sentence or scene will grab your reader’s attention. A compelling hook will allow your reader’s brain to keep concentrating on what you’re trying to write, allowing your audience a full immersion into persuasive essays and fantasy worlds you create. Hooks are crucial at every stage of writing, both fiction novels (length stories of any genre) or nonfiction books (academic papers and narrative essays) have exciting openings.
It is possible to use famous marketing hooks to brainstorm new ideas for the marketing message for a service or product launch. How to create good hooks is important and should always be a strategic decision. There are many examples of amazing marketing hooks for creating good first impressions. Sasha’s Biz Coach content totally caught my attention while I was browsing Tik Tok. So much so that I took notes and put them together into a nice pdf.
Make a clear statement. The shorter the pitches, the better the results, the researchers said. Use emotion. People feel something. You need persuasiveness. Show your products’ benefits to consumers.
For instance: a report describing new research. The longer pitch is, the better it is, research suggests. Get emotional. It is the emotional state of the person that responds. Make a compelling point. Describe the advantages that you are providing customers. Talk values, not prices. Describe something you find interesting and include links.
Startle The Reader With Your First Line
If you use a captivating opening sentence or opening line often, you can surprise the reader and make them interested in your stories. How can we have a bright green casket? The words and sentences serve the purpose of presenting readers with a quick hint of what is going on in the setting and demonstrate that a person who saw the oddly colored casket is shocked as a viewer. You can also write your own startling introduction and ask yourself unexpected questions or a surprising observation of someone else’s life.
Begin At A Life-Changing Moment
Another good literary technique can start at the life-changing moments of your protagonist. It usually occurs at this time in when the person enters the middle of the conflict of the story and usually provokes a fight. If the reader experiences these life-transforming moments with their characters, they will have no other option. Here is one perfect example of metamorphosis (1914) by Franz Kafka. Are insects really big? I know nothing about you, so I need to learn about this situation!
Form An Emotional Connection — Copywriters
If you don’t want to take your reader to some action, try connecting them in some way emotionally. Seeing an emotion in a character helps the reader to connect in sympathetic ways and this connection causes the reader to become interested in the character’s fate over the rest of the remainder of the story.
Identify the reader’s frustration: Constantly forgetting your passwords is beyond frustrating. You find yourself locked out of important accounts when you need them most. Wasting time trying to reset passwords leaves you stressed and wastes your precious time.
Appeal to their desires: Imagine finally being able to log into all your accounts seamlessly, without the headaches of forgotten passwords. Our secure password manager makes this a reality. With one master password, you can access all your accounts and have peace of mind knowing you’ll never be locked out again.
Use relatable analogies: Trying to remember countless complex passwords is like having to memorize 100 different phone numbers. It’s almost impossible! Our software is like having all those numbers stored in your phone under one name — simple and stress-free.
Tell a story: Jen used to stay up late trying to think of new passwords and reset the ones she’d forgotten. She’d stress about being locked out of her email before important work meetings. Since using our password manager, Jen’s life has completely changed. Now she logs into her accounts easily and finally has time for the things she loves.
Convey you understand: We get it — you feel overwhelmed and exhausted from the relentless chore of managing passwords. The constant frustration makes you want to give up. But our solution can lift this weight off your shoulders for good.
Copywriting frameworks are useful tools at this point to structure your writing. Problem-Agitate-Solve, Attention-Interest-Desire-Action, Clear-Concise-Compelling-Credible, Storytelling, and Before-After-Bridge and more in some way use a Hook to get your attention and make an emotional connection too.
Startle The Reader With Your First Line
Confusion leads to questions. In the opening scene of a novel, introducing uncertainty and raising questions in the reader’s mind can be an effective hook. When characters are unsure of their circumstances in the initial pages, it sparks curiosity and a desire to learn more. This technique can be used by having the protagonist wake up disoriented, with gaps in their memory, or placed in an unfamiliar situation.
For example, the story could open with the main character waking up deep in a forest with no recollection of how they got there. As they look around bewildered, taking in the towering trees and sounds of birds calling overhead, the reader shares in the character’s confusion. Where are they? How did they arrive here? What will they do next? The character’s uncertainty mirrors the reader’s, drawing them into the story, eager to uncover answers.
Rather than starting with explanations, opening on a note of mystery and unanswered questions captivates the reader’s interest. It creates momentum that carries the narrative forward as hints are dropped and pieces of the puzzle gradually revealed. While not every protagonist needs to awake with amnesia, placing them in a setting or scenario that disorients them initially can provide that essential hook before the story proper gets underway. By introducing the unknown, the writer piques the reader’s curiosity, sparking the desire to read on and unravel the secrets and mysteries presented right from the start.
A couple of examples:
- The crack of the starting pistol still echoed in his ears as David blinked and took in his surroundings. The track, the crowds, the other runners — all gone. David now stood alone on a dirt path hemmed by ominous looking trees. What just happened? Where am I? David peered anxiously into the forest, his heart pounding.
- Water lapped at Jennifer’s face as consciousness returned. She sputtered and sat up, taking in the pristine beach and turquoise waters. But instead of the cruise ship cabin, she was now on an island. Jennifer pinched herself hard. When I open my eyes, I’ll be back in my room, she told herself. But the deserted beach remained when she looked again. How did I get here? Jennifer shivered, her mind reeling.
Build narrative tension — Narrative Hook, Copywriters
A narrative hook is something that captures attention ina story and makes the reader what will happen next. In an abstract way ‘narrative’ is the story being told and ‘hook’ is the idea that pulls you along in the story.
In copywriting this looks like this: Mystery — Pose an intriguing question or open-ended headline that creates curiosity to draw readers in. (“What They Don’t Want You To Know About X”)
- Suspense — Break up long copy into sections, ending each on a teaser to entice clicking to the next part. Use “cliffhanger” lines at the end of sections. (“You Won’t Believe What Happened When…”)
- Conflict — Set up a problem/solution dynamic or share a struggle people can relate to. Identify desire versus roadblocks. (“Tired of X Problem? Here’s Finally a Solution That Works”)
- Urgency — Impose a deadline, limit availability, use time-sensitive language. (“For a Limited Time Only, Hurry To Get…”)
- Obstacles — Share common objections/concerns that your product overcomes. (“Even If You’re Skeptical About X, Here’s Why You Should Still Give It a Shot”)
- Withholding — Provide some but not all details, like testimonials without specifics. Enough to intrigue readers to find out more. (“What Men Over 40 Discovered Shocked Them…”)
- Dramatic Irony — Allow readers to feel “in the know” about your product’s advantages that others remain unaware of. (“Think X Doesn’t Work? Here’s What Most People Don’t Realize…”)
- Anticipation — Reference an exciting improvement on the horizon. (“Coming Soon: A Faster, Better Way To X”)
