# Opening hooks



## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

I was thinking the other day about how different openings have hooked me over the years. Despite conventional wisdom that says action scenes and first lines hook readers, I think it's the opening scene as a whole that does it. Sure you need tension. But I don't think action is necessary, though I think voice can be. Here's one of my favourites (from Patrick DeWitt's Sisters Brothers), which doesn't have much action at all:



> I was sitting outside the Commodore's mansion, waiting for my brother Charlie to come out with news of the job. It was threatening to snow and I was cold and for want of something to do I studied Charlie's new horse, Nimble. My new horse was called Tub. We did not believe in naming horses but they were given to us as partial payment for the last job with the names intact, so that was that. Our unnamed previous horses had been immolated, so it was not as though we did not need these new ones but I felt we should have been given money to purchase horses of our own choosing, horses without histories and habits and names they expected to be addressed by. I was very fond of my previous horse and lately had been experiencing visions while I slept of his death, his kicking, burning legs, his hot popping eyeballs. He could cover sixty miles in a day like a gust of wind and I never laid a hand on him except to stroke him or clean him, and I tried not to think of him burning up in that barn but if the vision arrived uninvited how was I to guard against it? Tub was a healthy enough animal but would have been better suited to some other, less ambitious owner. He was portly and low-backed and could not travel more than fifty miles in a day. I was often forced to whip him, which some men do not mind doing and which in fact some enjoy doing, but which I did not like to do; and afterward he, Tub, believed me cruel and thought to himself, Sad life, sad life.


I'd be interested in reading others' favourites, especially those that break with convention.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Sadly not in print right now, my all-time favorite hook:

*Lying, left hand for a pillow, on the shingled slant of the roof, there in the shade of the gable, staring at the cloud-curdles in afternoon's blue pool, I seemed to see, between blinks, above the campus and myself, an instant piece of sky-writing.

DO YOU SMELL ME DED? I read.
*

_Doorways in the Sand_, by Roger Zelazny

PS: In case anyone would like a used print version:


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

NogDog said:


> Sadly not in print right now, my all-time favorite hook:
> 
> *Lying, left hand for a pillow, on the shingled slant of the roof, there in the shade of the gable, staring at the cloud-curdles in afternoon's blue pool, I seemed to see, between blinks, above the campus and myself, an instant piece of sky-writing.
> 
> ...


Why do you think it hooked you? This is not trick question by the way. I ask because sometimes I can point to something definite, sometimes I can't. Sometimes I think it probably has something to do with other books I've read. I leave the floor open.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

WHDean said:


> Why do you think it hooked you? This is not trick question by the way. I ask because sometimes I can point to something definite, sometimes I can't. Sometimes I think it probably has something to do with other books I've read. I leave the floor open.


I think it hooked me by starting out with a short paragraph of wonderfully concise imagery (one of Zelazny's major strengths -- like a master artist who can say more with a few brush strokes than some can with an entire painting), and the situation seems a bit odd: why is he lying on a roof, possibly atop a building at a college? (It turns out he's packed a fair amount of info about the protagonist into that short paragraph.) That's then followed by a one-sentence pargraph that made me think, "Huh?". (You later find out that "DED" is not a misspelling of "DEAD".  )

Long story short, I think it was a combination of style and ambiguity/confusion that hooked me, making me want to consume more of that style while resolving that confusion.


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

NogDog said:


> I think it hooked me by starting out with a short paragraph of wonderfully concise imagery (one of Zelazny's major strengths -- like a master artist who can say more with a few brush strokes than some can with an entire painting), and the situation seems a bit odd: why is he lying on a roof, possibly atop a building at a college? (It turns out he's packed a fair amount of info about the protagonist into that short paragraph.) That's then followed by a one-sentence pargraph that made me think, "Huh?". (You later find out that "DED" is not a misspelling of "DEAD".  )
> 
> Long story short, I think it was a combination of style and ambiguity/confusion that hooked me, making me want to consume more of that style while resolving that confusion.


Interesting.


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## jeffaaronmiller (Jul 17, 2012)

I've always really loved the opening paragraph of John Kennedy Toole's A _Confederacy of Dunces_. It says so much about the main character and paints such a strange picture.



> A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs. In the shadow under the green visor of the cap Ignatius J. Reilly's supercilious blue and yellow eyes looked down upon the other people waiting under the clock at the D.H. Holmes department store, studying the crowd of people for signs of bad taste in dress. Several of the outfits, Ignatius noticed, were new enough and expensive enough to be properly considered offenses against taste and decency. Possession of anything new or expensive only reflected a person's lack of theology and geometry; it could even cast doubts upon one's soul.


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

jeffaaronmiller said:


> I've always really loved the opening paragraph of John Kennedy Toole's A _Confederacy of Dunces_. It says so much about the main character and paints such a strange picture.


That book has been on my list for a while. What do you think hooked you?


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## PaulLev (Nov 2, 2012)

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." - William Gibson, Neuromancer


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## JETaylor (Jan 25, 2011)

This is the entire first chapter and it hooked me so completely that I had to keep reading...

"When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week, then there's either something wrong with your skills or something wrong with your world. 
And there's nothing wrong with my skills." 
― Jonathan Maberry, Patient Zero


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## jeffaaronmiller (Jul 17, 2012)

WHDean said:


> That book has been on my list for a while. What do you think hooked you?


The first paragraph gives such a clear sense of the main character, and he's such an odd character, that I just wanted to keep reading to find out more about him. The book is not everyone's cup of tea because it's more of a character study than a plot-driven story. And the character being studied is a weird, weird man.


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

jeffaaronmiller said:


> The first paragraph gives such a clear sense of the main character, and he's such an odd character, that I just wanted to keep reading to find out more about him. The book is not everyone's cup of tea because it's more of a character study than a plot-driven story. And the character being studied is a weird, weird man.


Yeah, the last line got me too:



> Possession of anything new or expensive only reflected a person's lack of theology and geometry; it could even cast doubts upon one's soul.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

So there is some evidence here that one potentially "hooky" characteristic is some sort of uncertainty that teases the reader into wanting to find out what's going on, as opposed to making it obvious from the get-go, perhaps?


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

NogDog said:


> So there is some evidence here that one potentially "hooky" characteristic is some sort of uncertainty that teases the reader into wanting to find out what's going on, as opposed to making it obvious from the get-go, perhaps?


My hookiness theory is that it generally takes more than one line or an action scene. It's possible that one-liners and action hook people too. But my experience suggests it's more than just that. There has to be something about the voice or situation that's "compelling." That's not the tightest theory every conceived, but it probably doesn't get tighter than that.


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## Carrie Rubin (Nov 19, 2012)

NogDog said:


> So there is some evidence here that one potentially "hooky" characteristic is some sort of uncertainty that teases the reader into wanting to find out what's going on, as opposed to making it obvious from the get-go, perhaps?


I think that's it. I'm currently reading Before I Go To Sleep: A Novel by S.J. Watson. It opens with a woman waking up in a room she doesn't recognize next to a man she doesn't know, and she has no idea how she got there. Little action but lots of intrigue. Hooked me in the first paragraph.


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## EC Sheedy (Feb 24, 2011)

This thread is great! My writer friends and I are currently studying opening pages, the why and how, that makes us want to read on. Interesting to see that not every book has to open with the equivalent of a gun shot. 

Recently on our group blog, Vanessa Grant, talked about the opening of GONE GIRL, by Gillian Flynn. She really took the opening apart. I found it fascinating. For those who are interested: http://penwarriors.com/in-the-beginning/


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## aimeeeasterling (Sep 22, 2014)

I was struck by the opening scene of Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer (a young-adult novel from a decade ago):

"I leaped onto the sliding ladder in the back room of Gladstone's Shoe Store of Chicago, gave it a shove, and glided fast toward the end of the floor to ceiling shelves of shoeboxes. My keen retailer's eye found the chocolate loafers, size 13, I slid the ladder to the Nikes, grabbed two boxes of easy walkers (white and beige), size 4 1/2 narrow, pushed again to the women's saddles, found the waxhides, size 6, rode the ladder to the door one-handed. Children, do not try this at home. I am a shoe professional."

I'm not sure what really struck me --- maybe the imagery since I've always wanted to be in a similar arrangement, but with shelves of books instead of shoes? Or maybe how much the main character clearly cared about the intricacies of the product she was selling. Regardless, this was the first scene that came to mind when I read this thread, even though I finished the book a year ago.


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## Daniel Harvell (Jun 21, 2013)

Great thread. As a writer, I struggle with the opening paragraph more than any other section of my books. How are you supposed to hook people? Or rather, since you can't please all the people all the time, how do you hook as many people as possible in four or so sentences? Humor? Action? Compelling protagonist? Imagery? I often go back and forth between all of these options before finalizing the opening. I can't tell you how many times I changed that first paragraph in The Survivors ...


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

I always thought Dick Francis did it as well as anyone. Of course after the first couple of his books I read, he never needed to hook me right at the start, I was a fan.

From _Straight_:

I inherited my brother's life. Inherited his desk, his business, his gadgets, his enemies, his horses and his mistress. I inherited my brother's life, and it nearly killed me.


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## Adrian P (Aug 5, 2014)

I always liked the mystery/intrigue aspect more than the "one-liner" action scene start type of hook.
I like all these responses I've seen here.

I did once read an author talk about opening with something that stops the reader.  I think he started one of his stories literally with,
"Stop.  Listen."
I can't really find my full notes from the occasion, though.


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

ellenoc said:


> I always thought Dick Francis did it as well as anyone. Of course after the first couple of his books I read, he never needed to hook me right at the start, I was a fan.
> 
> From _Straight_:
> 
> I inherited my brother's life. Inherited his desk, his business, his gadgets, his enemies, his horses and his mistress. I inherited my brother's life, and it nearly killed me.


It bears mentioning that your example, the I-remember-how-it-all-began style intro, is an old standby with a million variations. Denis Lehane's Live by Night features one of those variations. It seems to start with a tense action scene. But the scene (an event that takes place much later in the story) shows the protagonist reminiscing about how the journey that brought him to this point in his life began when he met a woman. And meeting that woman is where the story begins.

A lot of other stories begin this way too, so Lehane isn't that special. But the form is hooky, I think, because we want to see how things played out before and after this moment. In my opinion, however, Lehane's intro is a little weak because the protagonist says it all began with a woman. Doesn't every man who finds himself in dire straits think it all began with a woman? There's nothing really intriguing about that. Of course, I did read the book, so the weak hook didn't turn me off.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

WHDean said:


> It bears mentioning that your example, the I-remember-how-it-all-began style intro, is an old standby with a million variations.


Is there anything that isn't an old standby? It's always the skill brought to the particular instance that makes it good or ordinary. This is from Francis's _Dead Cert_ and is very different, but for me equally effective:

"The mingled smells of hot horse and cold river mist filled my nostrils. I could hear only the swish and thud of galloping hooves and the occasional sharp click of horse-shoes striking against each other. Behind me, strung out, rode a group of men dressed like myself in white silk breeches and harlequin jerseys, and in front, his body vividly red and green against the pale curtain of fog, one solitary rider steadied his horse to jump the birch fence stretching blackly across his path."

Yes, I'm a horse person, and that's the most evocative description of riding in fog I've ever read.

One thing that strikes me even in reading the examples we're giving here is how different we all are and how what hooks one person doesn't work for another or even is a turn off. Fortunately - or there would be a lot fewer books that attract a core of fans.


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

ellenoc said:


> Is there anything that isn't an old standby? It's always the skill brought to the particular instance that makes it good or ordinary. This is from Francis's _Dead Cert_ and is very different, but for me equally effective:
> 
> "The mingled smells of hot horse and cold river mist filled my nostrils. I could hear only the swish and thud of galloping hooves and the occasional sharp click of horse-shoes striking against each other. Behind me, strung out, rode a group of men dressed like myself in white silk breeches and harlequin jerseys, and in front, his body vividly red and green against the pale curtain of fog, one solitary rider steadied his horse to jump the birch fence stretching blackly across his path."
> 
> ...


I like that intro.

That aside, I don't think the _Sisters Brothers _intro and some of the other examples are standbys, except in the broadest sense that every story has to begin somewhere. I also think that the *way* different things hook different people is more important than the fact that there are differences. For example, you mentioned being a horse person, which no doubt attracts you to a lot of horse-themed books. But what hooks you into the ones you do read? Surely, you've read some because they hooked you, and ignored some that didn't.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm with you, Ellen.  Dick Francis always hooked me from the start like no other.

Betsy


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

WHDean said:


> For example, you mentioned being a horse person, which no doubt attracts you to a lot of horse-themed books. But what hooks you into the ones you do read? Surely, you've read some because they hooked you, and ignored some that didn't.


I can give examples but can't put it in words. For instance, your example references horses, but it doesn't hook me, it repels me. I don't care how sad the POV character is about it, I don't want to read about horses burning or have the image in my head, and if something like that is in an opening paragraph, I simply assume it's not a book for me and don't investigate further. Obviously other readers are tougher minded and wouldn't react that way at all.

And a hook isn't everything. Out of what's posted here the one that appealed to me was the Patient Zero quote. But then I see the word zombie, and I'm instantly unhooked. 

Maybe some people can define a good hook, but for me it's one of those I know it when I see it things.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

It's not so much the genre or subject--the hook has to make me ask one of two questions (or both):

What happens next?

How did the character get into this place?

Or more simply perhaps--"Wait, What?!?"

There's a reason so many of us know at least the first few words of A Tale of Two Cities (though the rest of it is a little wordy, those first 12 words definitely make me go -- Wait, what?):



> It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.


Betsy


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

I'm not that big on opening "hooks". I mean, it has to sound good and be well written but I don't look for something that really super duper impresses me. I pick books for the subject matter, not because the opening line or paragraph "hooked" me. By the time I've finished the book, I'll never remember the opening line anyway, therefore I have no memory of any one opening being better than any others.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Yeah, I don't HAVE to have a hook if there's something else that motivates me.  But if I pick up a book I know nothing about, a hook will get me to keep reading.  That's how I started reading Dick Frances books.

Betsy


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

ellenoc said:


> I can give examples but can't put it in words. For instance, your example references horses, but it doesn't hook me, it repels me. I don't care how sad the POV character is about it, I don't want to read about horses burning or have the image in my head, and if something like that is in an opening paragraph, I simply assume it's not a book for me and don't investigate further. Obviously other readers are tougher minded and wouldn't react that way at all.
> 
> And a hook isn't everything. Out of what's posted here the one that appealed to me was the Patient Zero quote. But then I see the word zombie, and I'm instantly unhooked.
> 
> Maybe some people can define a good hook, but for me it's one of those I know it when I see it things.


I couldn't have taken horse abuse either, because I like the animals too. One of the things about the MC is his sympathy toward the horses throughout the book, which is one of the things that makes us sympathetic toward him -- well, for me at least.

I didn't comment on the line from Patient Zero because, as I pointed out in the OP, I'm interested in openings that don't rely on actions scenes or first lines. That particular line no doubt appeals because of the parallelism in "something wrong with your skills or something wrong with your world." I'm mentioning it now because I'd prefer it if the thread didn't go in that direction.

Another example of hookiness without a classic hook is_ The Martian _ by Andy Weir, which I'm reading right now. Again, it was really the *voice * that brought me into the story. Lots of books do this kind of thing, but the mix of dread and humour that doesn't feel contrived is a good sell (bad words edited):



> I'm pretty much f**ed.
> That's my considered opinion.
> F**ked.
> Six days into what should be the greatest two months of my life, and it's turned into a nightmare.
> ...


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I just finished _The Martian._ I read it because my co-mod Ann rated it five stars and raved about it to everyone she knew. Which is good, because I didn't much care for the opening. I don't think it would have hooked me on its own. And I'm not sure why, it seems like it should be a good hook to me--but perhaps I didn't care for the voice. The log entries are my least favorite parts of the book....

Betsy


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

So rule number one of opening hooks is, "There's no rule number one!" (to paraphrase Monty Python).

Or to mix metaphors, "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy" -- not that I want authors to think of us readers as the enemy.


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

NogDog said:


> So rule number one of opening hooks is, "There's no rule number one!" (to paraphrase Monty Python).
> 
> Or to mix metaphors, "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy" -- not that I want authors to think of us readers as the enemy.


While it might not be possible to reliably predict and plan a hooky voice, I don't believe there's nothing to it. The first and most obvious reason is that people read some books but not others, and some of those books rely heavily on the appeal of the voice-Craig Johnson's Longmire series is a good example.

The second is common experience. I didn't plan to read _The Martian_. I got it because I'd heard the plot was "science driven," and I was curious to see how he pulled it off. But I became engrossed in the story as soon as I started reading it. And it wasn't the situation or style that reeled me in. It's been done many times before. I was taken in by the voice and especially can-do attitude: the guy trying to smile in the face of the odds and come up with one more trick to keep things together.

The reviews suggest that this voice didn't appeal to everyone. I can understand why, too. But Weir's success in getting the voice just right for many, many people is hard to deny.


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## shadowfox (Jun 22, 2012)

NogDog said:


> So rule number one of opening hooks is, "There's no rule number one!" (to paraphrase Monty Python).


Yeah, and no.

There's no perfect hook. Obviously. Different beginnings will appeal to different people.

But there are standard openings.

[Person] in a [Place] with a [Problem]
[Unusual Event] happening [to Person] who [Has to Act]
[Person] in [Place] experiences arrival of [Unexpected Guest] 
[Person] who is [Dying|Grieving] reminiscing about [Past Event]
[Son|Daughter] asks [Parent] about [Something Important]
... and dozens of other standard openings.

And it's important to realize that you can have a different opening hook per character, and probably ought to put in one at the beginning of each scene and each chapter.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

The first paragraph of Deanna Raybourn's _Silent in the Grave_ pulled me in and made me want to know more about the situation and the characters.

"To say that I met Nicholas Brisband over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor."


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## Z. Rider (Aug 15, 2014)

_The Martian_ didn't hook me either, but I kept reading because the blurb had hooked me.

As a reader, I typically read the first page, not just the first line (because the author can have a great first line--people do put a lot of effort into them--then follow it up with a back-track to mundane stuff that winds up being more reflective of the book). (Plus I want a better idea of what kind of writing I'm in for.)

One thing that often sends me away from a book is an opening with people being actively inactive: standing, watching, thinking. But then there was this one:



> Malorie stands in the kitchen, thinking.
> Her hands are damp. She is trembling. She taps her toe nervously on the cracked tile floor. It is early; the sun is probably only peeking above the horizon. She watches its meager light turn the heavy window drapes a softer shade of black and thinks,
> _That was a fog._
> The children slept under chicken wire draped in black cloth down the hall. Maybe they heard her moments ago on her knees in the yard. Whatever noise she made must have traveled through the microphones, then the amplifiers that sat beside their beds.


And I clicked Buy because what followed the opening line contrasted so starkly with the mundanity of it...and I needed answers. I think that's what a really good hook is: less a punch in the face than a tease of information that makes the reader _need_ to know more. An unanswered question that scratches at the brain. The opening chapter of this book (Josh Malerman's _Bird Box_) was _full_ of that. (In the end, I didn't like the whole book as much as I liked the opening chapter...but man, I still love that opening chapter.)


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## Tommy Muncie (Dec 8, 2014)

I don't like his work as much as I used to, but my favourite opening line ever is from Chuck Palahniuk's _Choke:_

'If you're going to read this, don't bother.'

I also like the opening of 'La Familia de Pasual Duarte' by Jose Camilo Cela which reads (in translation from the original Spanish):

'I sir am not a bad person even though I don't lack reasons for being that way.'


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## Chuck Habakkuk (Dec 12, 2014)

I still don't think there's been a better opening than "Call me Ishmael." So simple, and it fills the reader with questions. "Is this his real name? Does he want to be linked with the Biblical character? Why did he choose to phrase it this way?"


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Chuck Habakkuk said:


> I still don't think there's been a better opening than "Call me Ishmael." So simple, and it fills the reader with questions. "Is this his real name? Does he want to be linked with the Biblical character? Why did he choose to phrase it this way?"


For me, "Call me Ishmael" is a very _memorable_ first line, but it's not what _hooked_ me. What hooked me were the pages of prose that followed.  But then I think that whole "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." stuff was an anti-hook for me, regardless of how memorable it might be; so what do I know?


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## Chuck Habakkuk (Dec 12, 2014)

NogDog said:


> For me, "Call me Ishmael" is a very _memorable_ first line, but it's not what _hooked_ me. What hooked me were the pages of prose that followed.  But then I think that whole "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." stuff was an anti-hook for me, regardless of how memorable it might be; so what do I know?


My book starts with, "I asked for help, once."

How does that get you?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Chuck Habakkuk said:


> My book starts with, "I asked for help, once."
> 
> How does that get you?


Well, technically, you shouldn't be talking about _your_ book here (outside of the Book Bazaar or Writers' Cafe). But since I'm feeling generous; for me, that's (a) not enough text to set a hook in my gaping maw, and (b) might be enhanced (if it makes sense with what you're trying to say) as:



> I asked for help.
> 
> Once.


(Even though I generally dislike sentence fragments outside of dialogue, except in very rare cases where you really want/need to grab my attention)

But as alluded to in (a), it's the next couple of paragraphs or even pages that are actually going to hook me before I go swimming off to find the next dangling participle worm that might entice me.


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## Tommy Muncie (Dec 8, 2014)

I know this hasn't stopped legions of fans from reading it, but the opening of Lord of the Rings really put me off. I know it's of its time, but an encylopaedia-style info-dump about hobbits just didn't do it for me. I didn't read the rest. Tell me I missed out, but when my reading time is limited I very rarely feel like persevering with a book that bores me during its opening pages. Books don't have to start with action (I love the opening of Ishiguru's _Never Let Me Go_ just as an example of one that doesn't) but there does have to be a hook. The Hunger Games is a series I loved that I thought had a pretty boring opening. I only gave it a second go on the insistence of a friend.


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## Chuck Habakkuk (Dec 12, 2014)

Sorry Nogdog! Won't happen again, I promise!

A lot of people recognize that Tolkien did a lot of things that just wouldn't work in today's book market. He was just at the right place and the right time, I guess.


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

There's no formula for this, or anything in writing come to that. There's certainly no need for an action opening -- that might put off as many people as it attracts. I dislike the term 'opening hook,' because it sounds mechanical and soulless. But if, on the first page, you can catch the interest of the reader in some way -- What's going on? Who is this guy? What is this place? What precisely does that mean? -- you're off to a good start.

And so I suppose the real trick is to pose the reader a nagging question that cannot be answered without continuing to turn the pages.


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

NogDog said:


> For me, "Call me Ishmael" is a very _memorable_ first line, but it's not what _hooked_ me. What hooked me were the pages of prose that followed.  But then I think that whole "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." stuff was an anti-hook for me, regardless of how memorable it might be; so what do I know?


Much the same here. I read the unabridged _Moby Dick _ and loved it. And to be honest, I didn't even remember the first line until it came up on a list of memorable first lines.

As for the "best of times" line, I don't doubt it's an anti-hook for a lot of people these days because it's so familiar. The same goes for a few other formulas. For me at least, cutesy first lines are a turn off.


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## Chris Dietzel (Apr 2, 2013)

With so many books to choose from these days and a short time to hook the reader, it seems like that catchy first sentence is more important than ever. But my all-time favorite is still a classic:

"Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know." The Stranger - Camus


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## WHDean (Nov 2, 2011)

Chris Dietzel said:


> ...it seems like that catchy first sentence is more important than ever.


The OP was about how some popular books don't have catchy first lines (or dramatic action). They hook the reader (apparently) with the voice.

I've become sceptical of first lines, mostly because they come off as contrived. I mean that when it's obvious to me that the author spent a lot of time coming up a catchy first line, the catchiness is lost--like a joke that isn't funny.


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## JR. (Dec 10, 2014)

Glen Cook said:


> There were prodigies and portents enough, One-Eye says. We must blame ourselves for misinterpreting them. One-Eye's handicap in no way impairs his marvelous hindsight.


While I don't have a favourite, this is from the book I'm reading right now and I really like it. I've been reading a lot of poor starts recently, and this one grabbed me. The first couple of pages is one long hook. Dark military fantasy, but the humour shows through. Excellent prose but rough characters. Grunts on the villain's side in the war. It's good stuff now, it's great stuff considering it was published 20 years ago.


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## PaulLev (Nov 2, 2012)

Here's a top-10 list of opening hooks by NYU alumni including Joseph Heller, Danielle Steel, Candace Bushnell, and Suzanne Collins http://hashtagnyu.tumblr.com/post/85932771956/10-perfect-summer-reads-authored-by-nyu-alumni


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## Ken Pelham (Dec 27, 2014)

Gotta love the opening to BLUE HIGHWAYS, by William Least Heat Moon, in which he describes what caused him to chuck it all and drive around the country:

Beware thoughts that come in the night. They aren’t turned properly; they come in askew, free of sense and restriction, deriving from the most remote of sources. Take the idea of February 17, a day of canceled expectations, the day I learned my job teaching English was finished because of declining enrollment at the college, the day I called my wife from whom I’d been separated for nine months to give her the news, the day she let slip about her “friend”—Rick or Dick or Chick. Something like that.


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## soyeljefe (Dec 29, 2014)

I've found myself hooked on a lot of different openings. I think that the main way to ensure a good hook is to set a good scene with good writing. It really lets the reader get involved in the story and want to continue reading.


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## Reader-Poet (Dec 29, 2014)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Yeah, I don't HAVE to have a hook if there's something else that motivates me. But if I pick up a book I know nothing about, a hook will get me to keep reading. That's how I started reading Dick Frances books.
> 
> Betsy


This works for me, too. A great opening sentence will keep me reading the first page and give me an idea on the writing style.


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## SA_Soule (Sep 8, 2011)

Here are a few that I love from recent books that I have either purchased or read.

_MARKED by P.C. Cast_
Just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse I saw the dead guy standing next to my locker.

_VIOLET DAWN by Brandilyn Collins_
Paige Williams harbored a restless kinship with the living dead.

_THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN by Holly Black_
Tana woke lying in a bathtub.

_THE IRON HUNT by Marjorie M. Liu_
When I was eight, my mother lost me to zombies in a one-card draw.

_DARKFEVER by Karen Marie Moning_
My philosophy is pretty simple--any day nobody's trying to kill me is a good day in my book.

_THE SCORPIO RACES by Maggie Stiefvater_
It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.

_ME AND MY GHOUL FRIENDS by Rose Pressey_
Dead people won't leave me alone.

_ZOMBIES DON'T CRY by Rusty Fischer_
You know, surprisingly, they don't sell a lot of brains in the local 24-hour grocery store around the corner from my house.


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