Hook Your Reader

Hook Your Reader: Or How to Save a Sinking Manuscript by Ruth D. Kerce

Readers today have a very short attention span. If you don't "hook" your reader from the beginning of the story, you risk losing them altogether. Therefore, it's essential that your story draw them in immediately and in such a way that they need to continue reading to see what happens next. Let's look at three different beginnings for the same story:

1. Carmen sat in the over-stuffed chair, lost in her own thoughts. Though she'd lived alone for years, tonight the house seemed exceptionally quiet. Maybe she should get a dog. That would at least be some company. Of course, that also meant "commitment"--something she preferred to avoid since her affair with Kent. She'd broken it off with him, and he hadn't taken it well, telling her that somehow she'd pay.

2. A creaking sound from the entry-way caught Carmen's attention. It sounded like the door, but that wasn't possible. She lived alone in the house. Carmen uncurled herself from the over-stuffed chair. She'd barely gotten her feet on the floor when a dark shadow rounded the corner. Her heart leapt to her throat. Kent! He had a deadly-looking knife in his hand. He'd told her that she would pay for breaking up with him.

3. Carmen lay on the floor in front of her favorite over-stuffed chair. Her side hurt. Kent, her former lover, had surprised her. She didn't know how he'd gotten into the house and didn't much care at the moment. She just knew that she was bleeding from the stab wound he'd given her, and she needed help.

In the first example, the story starts too soon. We get background information that isn't necessary and could be filtered into the story later. Carmen's thoughts are distracting and don't set the proper tone for the plot.

The second example starts with action. This is the best kind of beginning. It hooks the reader immediately with a serious situation that demands a response. The reader has to continue reading to find out what Carmen does, and if she gets away from Kent.

The third example starts too late. The action has already taken place, and the reader is forced to experience it through Carmen's thoughts. This is the least desirable beginning, because it relies on the author "telling" what has occurred in the story, instead of "showing" the reader by letting him/her live through it as it happens.

Remember that detailed information can always be introduced into the story later, a little at a time. Don't force your reader to digest it all at once. Make the start of the story exciting. You can start with action, like the above, or a witty conversation between the hero and heroine, or a love scene, or anything else that will grab a reader's attention and hold it. If you do that, then most likely your story will be read all the way through. A manuscript is useless if only the first paragraph gets read, so don't let up--entertain, thrill, and surprise your readers. Play on all their emotions, and you'll produce compelling stories.

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Writer of historical and contemporary romances,

and webmaster of Addicted-to-Romance.com

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