How do you HOOK a Reader?–Understand Great Beginnings Part I

 

Anyone in publishing will tell you that one of the most important parts of your novel is the beginning. As an editor I hear, “Oh, but wait until you get to the good part on page 50. This is all the lead up.” Um, no. Doesn’t work that way. You might have a humdinger on page 50, but you are competing against authors who hook readers in the first three-ten pages. Many agents freely confess that they can tell by page two if they will even bother reading the entire sample submitted.

Why? Because they sit up all night thinking of ways to crush writer egos. Kidding!

To be blunt, agents want to be good at what they do and make a lot of money doing it (like the rest of us :D). How do they do this? By helping writers sell a lot of books. They understand that a novel’s beginning is the “hook” that will make or break a novel when it comes to readers. I actually believe that, as e-readers become more popular that beginnings will become more important than ever. I know that I frequently download free samples. I figure if a writer can interest me (sell me) in 3 pages, then I will read 5. If she can hook me in 5 I will read the free 30 pages. If I make it through 30, then this writer deserves my money and my time. But, remember, she had to make it past 3. Good writers do their homework and know what goes into a great beginning. I recommend studying great beginnings so you know what they look like.

So what makes a great beginning? So glad you asked. There are a lot of components that can go into a great beginning, but I am only going to discuss one of those components today—normal world. I believe if you can understand why normal world is important, the functions it serves, then you will be less eager to cut it out completely.

Normal world is vital. It is easy to feel the pressure to be interesting and begin our books with a car chase or a shoot-out.

**Hey, there isn’t a mistake I haven’t made as a writer or seen as an editor. So lighten up. It’s okay to goof up and live to laugh about it.

We as writers are so eager to be interesting in the first three lines, that we can easily forget an essential component to fiction…the normal world. Not wanting to bore readers, we toss them in a tank of sharks and grin—That’ll hook ‘em for sure.

The problem with that thinking? When we thrust a reader right into the heart of the action immediately, they haven’t been given a chance to care about or connect with any of our characters. Thus, what can easily happen is that we end up creating melodrama instead of drama.

1. Normal world lays the foundation for genuine drama.

Les Edgerton, in his book Hooked explores this problem in detail if you would like to read more, but to keep it short and sweet I’m going to explain it this way. Most of us have driven down a highway at around rush hour, so picture this scenario. We notice emergency lights ahead.  The oncoming traffic lane is shut down and looks like a debris field. Four mangled cars lay in ruins, and there are still figures draped with blue blankets surrounded by somber EMTs. Do you feel badly? Unless you’re a sociopath, of course you do.

Now…

You look into that same oncoming lane, and two of the cars you recognize. They belong to friends you were supposed to meet for dinner.

Before you cared…now you are connected.

That is how good characterization makes the difference. If you open your story with this gut-wrenching scene in a hospital where someone is dying, you are taking a risk. We readers will certainly care on a human level, but not on the visceral level that makes us have to close the book and get tissue.

Whether in books or on film, this is why normal world is critical. It gives the observer a chance to see the world as it would have remained had the inciting incident never happened. Would Luke Skywalker have been nearly as interesting if his aunt and uncle hadn’t been killed? And since we as the viewing audience were afforded a glimpse of Skywalker’s loved ones at the beginning of the movie, it had more impact on us when they were brutally murdered. It also helped rally us to Skywalker’s side as he set off on his journey.

2. Normal world gives the audience a baseline for character.  

By understanding how our hero is at the beginning, we also get a picture of what must be developed by the climax so our hero can be victorious. In the beginning of Romancing the Stone Joan Wilder is a single older woman who lives alone with her cat and writes about love and adventure because she has neither…and she is to afraid to pursue them. Because we see normal world, we then recognize the inciting incident when we see it—the phone call from sister who has been kidnapped. Additionally, because we have witnessed this fraidy-cat writer, we observers are now seated in real conflict as we wonder—How on earth is she going to pull this off? We have seen this woman who is afraid of everything and wonder HOW she will develop the courage she will need to triumph. We are…hooked.

Joan’s life from the moment she receives the call from her sister will no longer be the same. A series of events have been set in motion and conflicts must be resolved to restore the natural order of things. But, since we are storytellers, we know that we must leave the world better than when we found it. Joan, at the end of her quest, must have love and courage to live the life of adventure she only could dream about in the beginning, which leads to my next point…

Normal world gives us an opportunity to see the character’s starting point on his or her arc. Joan at the beginning was afraid of her own shadow. Joan at the end has been tested and tried by bad guys, jungles, snakes, and alligators, and has come out victorious. She as a person had to change in order to triumph. Your protagonist, if pitted against the antagonist in the opening scene (for one reason or another) should FAIL. Why? Because then victory at the end is far sweeter.

3. Normal world also allows the reader to see what is at stake.

In The Fellowship of the Ring the story begins with the Hobbits. The wizard Gandalf the Grey is riding into town for a visit with fireworks in tow. There is a reason for these initial scenes of carefree laughter on a beautiful summer day. We as the audience get to see what is to be lost should our heroes fail.

In the beginning we witness a lush green world that is lovely and innocent…but in danger. We are told in the prologue that the Ring of Power was not destroyed. Thus the Ring represents an invisible, but ever-present threat. But, because we witnessed this world in an almost perfected state, it is more psychologically disturbing to us as the darkness grows. As the tale unfolds and Sauron grows stronger, we see progressively that the days literally grow darker and darker, the shadows deepen, and no one smiles or laughs any more.

At the end of the trilogy, in Return of the King we get to the ending scenes and see that the world of innocence and joy have been saved, but we see it has come at a price. The little Hobbits who were so naïve and bedazzled by the dreams of adventure are now war veterans, home from a journey that no one in the Shire will ever fully comprehend. We see them sitting quiet at the table. We hear the unspoken words between them because we witnessed the darkness they faced and defeated. We, the audience comprehend the price they paid so the world could remain innocent. Yet, we know it was all worth it in that, unlike the beginning, the Ring will never threaten this world again. The world is restored…only better.

Points to remember:

  1. Normal world lays the foundation for genuine drama—we have to get to know the characters in order to care and be vested in them
  2. Normal world gives us a character baseline—we need an initial glimpse to see how our hero is not in a position to succeed in the beginning. This creates genuine conflict in that we want to read the story to figure out how that protagonist could ever take down the antagonist.
  3. Normal world lets us see what is at stake—We need to see what could be lost. We also need to see what the hero may be clinging to that is keeping him from answering the call to adventure. The inciting incident must pry away something meaningful (Joan Wilder and security) or offer blessed escape (Harry Potter—escape from abuse).

What are some of the great beginnings either in film or in books? What would you recommend we study?

Happy writing!

Until next time…

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  1. Introduce a problem straight away. LEs Edgerton’s book ‘Hooked’ is excellent on this subject.

  2. What a great post. Thanks so much. I always come away from your blog a better writer.

    I like the beginning of the movie, The 13th Warrior. It opens with an Arab fellow in a longship with a bunch of Norsemen. As the narrator, the Arab starts, “It was not always thus. . . .” It immediately cuts to his luxurious life in Baghdad, and how he was banished because of an illegal love. Right away, I’m really wanting to know how he ends up in a stormy ocean with Vikings. Now, whether it’s the 13 hunks of eye candy in the ship or the story, itself, that grabbed me, I can’t honestly say, but the opening worked for me.

    All the best.

  3. To hook a reader. What a great post. Thanks for your advice. I´ll be waitting for the part II.

    • 4george6 on September 21, 2010 at 2:13 pm
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    Great post. Hooked is a great writer’s book! Check out my latest post about great beginnings — http://georgeayres.wordpress.com/

    • D on September 21, 2010 at 3:01 pm
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    I find that this is absolutely critical and something that I’ve been learning in my novel writing adventure. I’m currently attempting to craft a world and characters people can relate to so that when I throw them out of alignment in the first chapter it is that much more devastating to the reader.

  4. Good stuff here. I’ll be back again for sure. I’ll send my students to check this one out.

  5. I’m surprised I’m the only one who “liked” this!
    It makes me feel motivated to begin writing a story, even though I’ve never done it before. Hmm…
    Can’t wait for part II!

  6. What if your main character isn’t normal? How can a writer hook a reader with a not normal character, like a spy or a super hero? I think the main character having relatable reactions and emotions to an unusual situation can hook, but I am not a lit agent nor have I been published. I was wondering what your take on it is.
    I love reading your blog by the way. It is full of really useful information that never would have crossed my mind before. Thank you!

    1. Even if your main character is a super hero or a spy, they will still have what is “normal” for them. A lot will depend on genre. Thrillers and suspense novels generally begin with prologues (to be discussed Monday) or a chapter that will introduce the problem. Then we likely will see a glimpse of what that “hero” does every day. In James Rollins’s “Doomsday Key” for instance, the first chapter is very similar to “Da Vinci” code. It begins with a murder. But, the first chapter that introduces the protagonist is different. We see “normal world” as members of Sigma are racing each other on high-speed motorcycles, unaware the inciting incident has occured. They are having fun when it is interrupted by…news of the inciting incident. This allows the reader to see that the members of Sigma are normal, but in an extraordinary way. In “Black Order” the main hero is running surveillance when he is introduced.

      Serial killer books frequently begin with the murder from the perspective of the murderer. The next scene is our cop protagonist showing up at a crime scene, which is what they do. Working homicides is their unique normal world. Is it weird for me (a writer) to be at a homocide scene (ok, one NOT in my head)? Yes. But for a homocide detective, that is another day at the office. We get to see how she approaches her job on a daily basis….until she realizes this is no normal killing. Make sense?

      Now, make no mistake, these types of stories will kick into high gear quickly, but we have to have a few pages to get our bearings. If you begin in the middle of a battle or an action scene, your audience will feel as if they got tossed into a dog-fighting arena with no warning. I hope this helps, and I am really glad you like the blog and find it helpful :D.

  7. Excellent post. I’m so glad I found you. You are on my blogroll.

    1. Wow, thanks. I will have to stop by :D.

    • *S on January 31, 2011 at 2:45 pm
    • Reply

    Can you give links to the rest of the series “great beginnings”? I see the title of this post includes Part 1 and I’d love to read your follow up blogs on how to begin a novel, but I can’t find them in your archives.
    I am currently struggling with the first ten pages of my book…when in time do I begin, how to hook the reader but also give enough backstory, exc. Your blog is SO helpful and have made a great impact on my writing and progress of my memoir (which I’d like to read more like a novel than a typical memoir). Thank you!

    1. The 7 Deadly Sins of Prologues is the only other lesson. I started a long series on structure after that. Hope this helps! 😀

  8. Well darn it… Now I’m questioning my opening. XP Again.

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