The Hook (Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 2 of 12)

Readers are like fish. Smart fish. Fish who know authors are out to get them, reel them in, and capture them for the rest of their sea-going lives. Like all self-respecting fish, readers aren’t caught easily. They aren’t about to surrender to the lure of your story unless you present them with an irresistible Hook.

Naturally, our discussion of story structure begins at the beginning, and the beginning of any good story is its Hook. Unless you hook readers into your story from the very first chapter, they won’t swim in deep enough to experience the rest of your rousing adventure, no matter how amazing it is.

What Is the Hook?

The Hook comes in many forms. Stripped to its lowest common denominator, it’s a question. If you can pique readers’ curiosity, you’ve got ’em. Simple as that.

The beginning of every story should present character, setting, and conflict, but in themselves, none of these are the Hook. You’ve created a Hook only when you’ve convinced readers to ask the general question, “What’s going to happen?” because you’ve also convinced them to ask a more specific question—e.g., “What scary reptilian monster killed the worker?” (Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton) or “How does a city hunt?” (Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve).

Writing a good opening scene can be tricky. Not only must you engage readers, you must do so with a scene element that creates and foreshadows everything to come. The most obvious way to do this is to think of the Hook as setting up cause and effect for the next thing that happens, which will create a new cause for a new effect, and so on throughout the story.

You can also go deeper by considering how the Hook operates within the larger pattern of story structure and how it relates to other structural beats. Particularly, consider how you can design a Hook that foreshadows the First Plot Point. As the first major turning point in the story, the First Plot Point (which ends the First Act and begins the Second Act about a quarter of the way into the story) is the first moment that requires significant foreshadowing.

It is important to understand the protagonist will not become inextricably engaged with the story’s main conflict until the First Plot Point. Because the First Plot Point is such a big moment in the story, it requires setup. The entirety of the First Act is about foreshadowing this moment. Therefore, although the Hook should be causally important in leading up to the First Plot Point, it will not likely involve the protagonist directly with either the main plot goal or the main antagonist. Rather, it will begin crafting the milieu and motive that will lead to those encounters. We will talk more about the First Act in next week’s post.

Foreshadowing in your story’s Hook need not be explicit. It can be as simple as setting the tone or, more practically, setting up the pieces that will set the main conflict into motion. The intent is to create a solid line of cause and effect beginning with the Hook and leading to the First Plot Point. This ensures your story’s opening will be pertinent and effective in pulling readers into your main plot.

Another approach, which can be used simultaneously in some instances, is to start thinking about your story’s finale. The two halves of a story mirror each other, with the beats in the first half setting up and reflecting the beats in the second half (something I talk about in my book Next Level Plot Structure).

Consider what your story’s Resolution might be. How might the events of your story’s first chapter reflect the events of your last chapter? This might be very obvious in that the initial circumstances are entirely reversed by the end. It might also be that your character returns to the same setting in the end to witness how it has or has not changed. This mirroring can be extremely subtle and still be effective. At this point, you can use it merely to help inspire a solid beginning scene.

3 Techniques for Hooking Readers

You can use many different techniques to create a Hook that both engages readers and sets up your story. Following are some of the most efficacious options, which can be used in combination with each other or any of a myriad other approaches.

1. Open In Medias Res

In medias res means “in the middle of things.” It describes the technique of creating a Hook that plunges readers right into the center of the action. The idea is to avoid the unnecessary throat-clearing of telling readers about the characters and the story world and to instead create a dynamic scene that shows readers who your characters are, what they want, and what kind of entertaining action they will be engaging in throughout the story. Depending on your story, the “action” may be fist fights and car chases, or it may be relational drama and witty banter.

There are many misconceptions about in medias res, particularly that it means cutting to the middle of the structural story with the protagonist already immersed in the main conflict. However, even in sequels that pick up wherever a previously developed plot left off, the full structure must still be present to create the story arc. The function of the Hook remains the same even in stories that begin with the intensity of the action already dialed to 10. The Hook will always set up and lead into the subsequent structural beats of the Inciting Event and First Plot Point, which in turn create the main conflict for this particular story.

2. Open With a Characteristic Moment

In most stories, the strongest opportunity to hook readers is the introduction of your protagonist. This central character should be the primary reason readers are interested in this story. You want to introduce your protagonist in a Characteristic Moment. This is a scene designed to show readers who this person is. In almost all instances, this does not mean showing readers your protagonist going through a normal daily routine. Rather, craft this scene around a scenario that shows readers how your protagonist reacts to an interesting and pertinent situation.

Not only should this situation initiate the line of cause and effect leading to the Inciting Event and then the First Plot Point, it should also showcase your protagonist’s pertinent strengths and weaknesses. If your protagonist’s wit or strength or kindness will be important to the story, create a scene demonstrating these traits. Likewise, if your protagonist’s shyness or short temper or moral grayness will be pertinent, showcase those. This is also your opportunity to introduce important and entertaining relationship dynamics, which will allow you to immediately get the dialogue flowing while also setting up crucial supporting characters.

3. Open with the Scene Goal/Conflict/Disaster

When identifying the most interesting moment to begin your story, you can hack scene structure to help you choose. The three basic elements of scene structure are Goal, Conflict, and Disaster. Depending on your story, emphasizing any one of these aspects can help you find your story’s best Hook.

Opening with a scene goal can help you craft a solid Characteristic Moment, showing exactly what your protagonist wants. This can then tie into the larger plot goal that will develop later to inform your entire story’s throughline. Emphasizing the scene goal can also create an immediate sense of momentum for the scene, ensuring your protagonist starts out in motion, moving toward something.

However, if you instead choose to open later in the scene’s structure, you will automatically gain some benefits of in medias res. Beginning with the scene conflict allows you to skip right to the heart of the moment and show readers what type of action will be most prevalent in your story and how your protagonist deals with adversity. After getting into the action, you can then step back and offer any necessary information about what led to this moment.

Finally, opening with the scene’s outcome means you’re opening even deeper in medias res, after the character has encountered difficulty in overcoming the conflict to reach the goal. Depending on the nature of your story, this outcome might be quite tense and exciting, but it might also simply offer context as you immediately introduce the character’s next goal.

Learning more about scene structure (which I talk about in the second half of Structuring Your Novel) can help you decide which of these options might be best for your story’s Hook.

Where Does the Hook Belong?

The Hook should be present as early as possible in your first scene. However, the hook must be organic. Teasing readers with a killer opening line (“Mimi was dying again”) only to reveal all is not as it seems (turns out Mimi is a Broadway actress performing her 187th death scene) not only negates the power of your Hook, it also betrays readers’ trust.

Stories contain many hooks. Indeed, you don’t want the impetus and curiosity created by one hook to die down without planting the next hook. This is true for every scene in your story. However, when we consider the Hook as a specific structural beat, we are talking about the first hook. Not only must the Hook pull readers into your story, it must also offer the first domino in the row of dominos that will create your plot.

The Hook takes place at the 1% mark in your story, the very beginning. A witty opening line can sometimes be enough to create the initial question that piques reader curiosity. However, don’t overvalue the opening line. Most stories use the opening line as part of an opening paragraph that plants the Hook in a more deliberate and leisurely manner. Depending on the pacing and tone of your story, you may even be able to introduce the Hook more slowly toward the end of the opening scene. This requires skill, since you have to trust readers to be patient enough to get that far.

Examples of the Hook From Film and Literature

Now that you know what a structural Hook is and where it belongs, let’s consider a few examples. I’ve selected two movies and two novels to use as examples throughout this series so you can follow the story arc as presented in popular and successful media. Let’s look at how the professionals hook us so effectively we never realize we’ve swallowed the worm.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813): Austen begins by hooking us with her famous opening line:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

The subtle irony creates a sense of conflict from the very first and hints that neither the wife in search of the fortune nor the man in search of the wife will reach their goals so easily. Austen deepens the pull of her Hook into her opening paragraph by further highlighting the juxtaposition of her opening statement with the realities of her plot. She deepens it still further throughout the opening scene, which introduces the Bennet family in such a way that we not only grow interested in them, but also learn both the thrust of the plot and the difficulties of the conflict.

It’s a Wonderful Life directed by Frank Capra (1947): Capra begins with a framing device that hooks viewers with a sneak peek of the Climax. The movie opens at the height of the main character’s troubles and has us wondering why George Bailey is in such a fix that the whole town is praying for him. Next thing we know, we’re staring at an unlikely trio of angels, manifested as blinking constellations. The presentation is not only unexpected, it succinctly expresses the coming conflict and stakes while engaging us with specific need-to-know questions.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1977):

The opening line to this award-winning science-fiction novel is packed with hooking questions:

I’ve watched through his eyes, I’ve listened through his ears, and I tell you he’s the one. Or at least as close as we’re going to get.

Just like that, Card has us wondering how the speaker is watching and listening through someone else’s mind. Who is “the one”? What is “the one” supposed to do? And why are they settling for a “one” who is less than perfect? Card then builds into a scene that introduces his unlikely hero, six-year-old Ender Wiggin, just as his life is turned upside down.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World directed by Peter Weir (2004): As a brilliant adaptation of Patrick O’Brian’s beloved Aubrey/Maturin series, this film is unorthodox in many ways, not least in its non-formulaic tone and plot. Nevertheless, it demonstrates structural integrity, beginning with a stark opening that shows the morning ritual aboard the man-of-war HMS Surprise. Aside from arousing our natural curiosity about the unique setting, the Hook doesn’t appear until a minute or so into the film when one of the midshipmen spots what might be an enemy ship. The film carries viewers through a few tense moments of uncertainty and indecision, then, almost without warning, plunges them into a horrific sea battle. We are hooked almost before we see the Hook coming.

Top Things to Remember About the Hook

1. Hooks should be an integral part of the plot.
2. Hooks don’t always involve action, but they always set it up.
3. Hooks never waste time.
4. Hooks almost always pull double or triple duty in introducing character, conflict, and plot—and even setting and theme.

Your Hook is your first chance to impress readers. Plan your Hook carefully and wow readers so thoroughly, they will never forget your opening scene.

Stay tuned: Next week, we’ll talk about the First Act.

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! What Hook begins your story structure? Tell me in the comments!

Related Posts: Part 1: 5 Reasons Story Structure Is Important

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