How to Write a Great Hook: 4 Ways to Grab Readers from the Very Beginning

From Edie: Martin Wiles shares how to write a great hook with four practical strategies that grab readers from the beginning and keep them turning pages.

How to Write a Great Hook: 4 Ways to Grab Readers from the Very Beginning

by Martin Wiles @LinesFromGod

She wasn’t a writer or an editor, but her hooks hooked. 

My maternal grandmother loved to fish. Yes, she did all the typical things most women of her generation did—cooked, cleaned, had and cared for children, washed clothes—but she fished in her spare time and sold those fish to neighbors. 

Grandmammy was not a fancy fisher. She sported a wooden (later aluminum) boat, a small motor, and cane poles (a large one for catfish and a small one for bream).

But one thing she was particular about was her hook. Actually, what was on it. She grew bait worms in an abandoned freezer in the yard and also under a piece of tin where sink water accumulated. Occasionally, she bought crickets, which she placed in a basket and hung from her front porch. Never, however, did she cast a bare hook into the water. She knew better. That would be a sure-fire recipe for disappointment and no fish to sell.

I suppose decorating her hook worked. My grandmother always had plenty of fish to sell, and when my mom was a young girl, my grandmother used her “fish money” to pay for Mom’s piano lessons.

Just as my grandmother needed the right hook to catch fish, we writers must hook readers to attract an audience, an agent, or a publisher. 

Budd Schulberg’s book, What Makes Sammy Run?—a best seller in 1941—provides a good example: “The first time I saw him he couldn’t have been more than sixteen years old, a little ferret of a kid, sharp and quick. Sammy Glick. Used to run copy for me. Always ran. Always looked thirsty.”

Or a shorter example from another bestseller, The Road Less Traveled: “Life is difficult.”

So what do good hooks do? 

Hooks Entice

Hooks tease, as my grandmother’s bait teased the fish. They make us want to know more. They make us want to taste, bite, and swallow.

Hooks Make Readers Ask Adverb Questions

In grammar, students learn that adverb questions are when, where, how, how often, to what extent, why, and under what circumstances. A hooking hook will lead a potential reader, agent, or publisher to ask some of those questions.

Hooks Sell Stories

Editors can help writers ensure their hooks appear either in the first sentence or the first paragraph. Some form of it should also be included on the back blurb if the writing is destined for a book.

Hooks Lead to Return Customers

When a good hook leads to a good story or article—hooking hooks also can and should be used, when possible, in non-fiction writing—sales of stories, devotions, and books result. Websites also experience return visitors. 

Handcrafting a hooking hook takes time and thought, but it’s worth the effort. Make sure your hook hooks. 

TWEETABLE

How to Write a Great Hook: 4 Ways to Grab Readers from the Very Beginning from Martin Wiles (@LinesFromGod) on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Martin Wiles lives in Greenwood, SC, and is the founder of Love Lines from God. He is a freelance editor, English teacher, pastor, and author. He serves as Managing Editor for both Christian Devotions and Vinewords.net and is an instructor for the Christian PEN (professional editor’s network). Wiles is a multi-published author. His most recent book, Hurt, Hope and Healing: 52 Devotions That Will Lead to Spiritual Health, is available on Amazon. He and his wife are parents of two and grandparents of seven. He can be contacted at mandmwiles@gmail.com.