Hook, hook, where's the hook? Hook, hook, show us the hook!

Seriously though, all nostalgia aside, show me a good hook. What do I mean by 'hook'? I mean something that grabs my attention about a story, something that will catch me and keep me reading. A literary hook is a device that is intended to keep a reader's interest in a story by promising them something that might pique their interest.

A good hook is what makes a reader answer 'yes!' when they ask themselves, 'Do I really want to spend my time reading this?'

There are many ways to hook a reader, and usually they are present within the first thirty seconds of reading a story. Some common ways to hook a reader are:
1: Ask a question with no straight answer. This hook itself can be subdivided into two smaller types of questions.
- A large question like 'will the hero be able to save the day?'
- Or a smaller question that may not actually be a question. Are you familiar with Moby Dick? Remember the first line from that classic novel? "Call me Ishmael." Why do we call you Ishmael? Is it your real name, or a pseudonym that you prefer to use to protect your identity? Such self questioning by the reader will propel them forward through your story.

2. Utilize the literary device of in media res, a Latin phrase that quite literally means 'in the middle of things.' Aka, start in the middle. Give us a scene from around the climax of your story, and then go back to the beginning and work your way back up to it and eventually write past it and down to the resolution.

3. Using a completely new concept. Originality is an absolute must in every genre, and the more outlandish and unique something is, the more likely it is the catch someone's curiosity.

All these things aside, the hook and the opening of a story are where you must go all out with your writing skill! You can relax and allow yourself to tone it down in the later sections, but here is where you are being judged the absolute most! If you can't make a good opening with a good hook, you won't have very many readers.

More than just a vital point, but oh so easy to forget sometimes, or so it seems.

A hook, you say?

Seriously, though, it really pisses me off when people use a generic, essay-like sentence to start their story. In my opinion, the "hook" should be written as sort of a memorable catchphrase - the first line is always the most important.

Pegasausage, don't you think every genre should have its own sort of hook styling? You wouldn't use the same type of sentence in both a comedy and dark story.

440373 Absolutely. Every genre should have a hook that is fitting to it. But that hook also can't be a cliche or a complete stereotype.

440373 I mean, consider the following. If you are a fantasy nerd like me, the line 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.' will be burned into my mind until my dying day. It's simple, but memorable. It encourages slight wonder and a sense of fantasy in ten words.

443415
I hope you're reading this, Mark.

First of all, awesome Hook reference. High Five! Wait, wait, on second thought maybe not.

I'm glad this is here because it is always important to remember there are several different kinds of hooks.

Your first sentence to set the interest for your story...
An Ending hook at the tail of every chapter, also known as cliff hangers...
Plot arc hooks which are on a grander scale to keep the main theme going...

There are several factors worth remembering to make sure that your story stays interesting. Yet it's still a balance because you don't want your story to be too... hookie(?). If you have too many plot devices going at a time then the story can get confusing or the reader can have trouble remembering just how many mysteries are taking place at once. When this happens, maybe try lengthening your story to stretch overlapping hooks apart from each other.

But anyways, what do you all think?

6776818
No single lesson can encompass every aspect of story writing. While it is important to learn how to use hooks effectively (and to use them to begin with, an issue with a lot of amateur writing that this lesson is a response to), I think it is better overall to go "too much" than "too little."

Worst case scenario of too much: you have tons of things packed into your story that interest your readers and get them to keep reading. At the end, they may reflect and realize they read something bad, but at least they read it to the end. You can improve from there.

Worst case scenario of too little: your readers don't read at all, or nope-out early.

In the former case, you're much more likely to receive criticism and feedback than the latter. At the very least, you'll have written something that matters or feels like it matters to readers.