Hooking the reader in at the start

[Jess A]

Heck, speaking of statistics, here's something you can do: Go to the library and get a big stack of best-selling fantasy books (the first of their respective series if applicable), check all the first sentences and see if they have anything in common. At least then you have math on your side.

Yes, we've all probably done that. The first thing I do is go to my shelf and check some examples. But the purpose of this thread (for me) was to see what common threads other readers had noticed in first chapters in books they had read or written. The question for me has been answered some time ago.

We are all diverse readers and there are so many diverse opinions. It is a great thing that people are willing to discuss things in such depth here, even if I got what I wanted a couple of pages ago. I think it is an important topic, even if I am one those annoying people who stands near the bookshelves (in my own shop sometimes) scanning through various chapters and even reading the end of the book before I decide whether I want to invest my limited time in reading it thoroughly.

 

[Kit]

What else? Someone made the point that you need to make sure the first sentence is awesome, because there are supposedly people who think it is reasonable to judge an entire work of fiction on the very first impression? I don't buy it. Oh, I'm sure people like that exist but do you really think the average reader is that absurdly picky? You are going to have to show me some hard statistics if you want me to believe that.

And you know what? Even if that's true, you are going to lose some of those guys anyway. I guarantee it. You will never write a starting sentence with 100% reader retainment, simply because different people have wildy different ideas of what is interesting. The best you can hope for is probably to luck out and appeal to the majority of these sentence snobs. (Plus, you know, all the people who actually read more than the first five words before discarding a book.)

It's not necessarily about being "absurdly picky", it's about 1)the general ADD nature of today's society combined with 2)an overload of options, especially now with digital media.

Picking out something to read these days is like trying to drink from a fire hose. THAT'S why you MUST grab readers hard by the throat with the very first sentence.

 

[Jess A]

It's not necessarily about being "absurdly picky", it's about 1)the general ADD nature of today's society combined with 2)an overload of options, especially now with digital media.

Picking out something to read these days is like trying to drink from a fire hose. THAT'S why you MUST grab readers hard by the throat with the very first sentence.

Another point here is that a lot of people offer first chapters as teasers on Kindle editions.

 

[TWErvin2]

I don't believe you have to grab the reader by the throat in the very first sentence, but by the end of the first few paragraphs or page, the reader is going to be making some assumptions and decisions. Also, if your goal is to find an agent/publisher, they often decide based on the first page. Maybe they can decide by the first sentence to reject it if it's very poorly written, for whatever reason.

Over the years I've spoken with editors at both small and large publishing houses (one of the neat things about attending/being a guest at writing conferences and also SF/Fantasy Cons). There isn't one single process they go through. I remember one editor at Tor, for example, said he begins with the first three chapters in the submission package. If he gets through the first three chapters, he'll look at the synopsis to see where the novel goes. Then if still interested, it's the cover letter. Another editor, he said, reads the letter first, and if interested, then will try the first few pages, then go for the synopsis. At any part of any of the stages, they may immediately stop (even after the first three lines) and send out the form rejection. Then it's the next submission in the stack's turn.

 

[Zireael]

1. Introduce a character immediately.
2. Put that character in a situation that provokes a change in that character's life.
3. Show the reader what that situation means to the character.

I tried to do that in my story, yet I am told I need to improve...

 

[Addison]

I think Writer's Digest has an article about this. If I could find the link I'd post it. What I remember from classes about hooks is that: begin with an action. Introduce the character as quickly as you can. Bring the readers into the first conflict as soon as you can. Begin with active prose.

And what doesn't work is: starting with a dialogue (the reader won't know who's talking to who or why)
Don't start with the character waking up from an alarm clock. (mundane, cliche)
Don't start with a flashback or a dream. (Eventually you come to present and the reader is either confused or let down because the flashback/dream was exciting)
Don't start with passive voice.
Don't start in the middle of a conflict. (Unless the character is getting thrown out of a bar, a conflict not integral to the story, then okay.)

Once I find the link on Writer's Digest website I'll post it.

 

[Jess A]

Great stuff, Addison. I think the link will be incredibly useful to a lot of us. I am going to leave the start until I am 100% sure on how I want to begin. I am starting further in the book. It's the same advice given for almost anything. Scientific writing - do the introduction last. Journalism - write the lead paragraph last.

 

[Addison]

Here's the link. (I'll post other useful links later) How to Write a Great Opening Line | WritersDigest.com

I read, or heard from a teacher, that you do't have to start writing your story from the beginning. You can start wherever the story begins in your head and fill in the blanks as you go.

 

[Leif Notae]

I read, or heard from a teacher, that you do't have to start writing your story from the beginning. You can start wherever the story begins in your head and fill in the blanks as you go.

There are a lot of writers that wait until the piece is over before they work on the first sentence. Some can even finish the entire work and let it sit for six months to a year before hitting that right one...

 

[Guru Coyote]

There is a very good reason to finish the work before you compose the opening line(s):
In the first sentence or paragraph, the central question of the narrative is set up. And how can you know what for sure, what the whole thing is about, before you have it all written?

In regards to "hooking the reader," I think all these rules are nice if you see them as guidelines. The one most important thing is this tho: The reader must be intrigued, have a question he/she hopes the following story will answer. As such, as long as you can set up this intriguing mystery at the start, you are good.

One of the "rules" mentioned before that I tend to disagree with for example is the "don't start with dialog." This is a good advice if you are new and not sure you can pull it off without comfusing the reader. But I've seen it done to great success (see intriguing mystery above) in many cases.

As in so many things, this is always a balance. You are balancing between "intriguing mystery" and "confusing the reader." I guess good advice would be to try and stay on the safe side and just add "a bit of mystery."

 

[Jess A]

Agreed - as I mentioned above, writing the first line (or introduction) last can be useful in journalism and academic writing as well. I tend to write a basic one out, then come back and change it or re-write it. Sometimes writing a basic introduction can get me started, even if I'm going to discard it later. Which is almost inevitable in my experience

 

[Guru Coyote]

Agreed - as I mentioned above, writing the first line (or introduction) last can be useful in journalism and academic writing as well. I tend to write a basic one out, then come back and change it or re-write it. Sometimes writing a basic introduction can get me started, even if I'm going to discard it later. Which is almost inevitable in my experience

Yeah, you need to start somewhere!

Which reminds me... one of my best openings actually got me totally stuck with one story. Thing is, as an opening sets the tone for the story to come, in this case I managed to set the tone so that it's very hard to continue... my story needs character interaction, but the opening set the tone for a very ananymous and paranoid society... Continuing in that tone would make for a solo adventure, and that's not what I want the story to be. Time to kill a darling here.

 

[Jess A]

Yeah, you need to start somewhere!

Which reminds me... one of my best openings actually got me totally stuck with one story. Thing is, as an opening sets the tone for the story to come, in this case I managed to set the tone so that it's very hard to continue... my story needs character interaction, but the opening set the tone for a very ananymous and paranoid society... Continuing in that tone would make for a solo adventure, and that's not what I want the story to be. Time to kill a darling here.

Indeed. Slice its head off before you lose your nerve

I've had to cut enormous amounts of stuff I consider to be well-written. But do you find sometimes stories go in directions you don't want - almost automatically? I find it happens when I write in a fit of muse and don't actually think about what I am doing properly. The characters and such control my pen! I then read it back and decide that it wasn't the direction I wanted to take the character or the story.

 

[Graylorne]

Indeed. Slice its head off before you lose your nerve

I've had to cut enormous amounts of stuff I consider to be well-written. But do you find sometimes stories go in directions you don't want - almost automatically? I find it happens when I write in a fit of muse and don't actually think about what I am doing properly. The characters and such control my pen! I then read it back and decide that it wasn't the direction I wanted to take the character or the story.

Funny, this happens to me quite often and most of the time I go with what my characters want. As long as the final ending stays the same.

 

[Jess A]

Funny, this happens to me quite often and most of the time I go with what my characters want. As long as the final ending stays the same.

That's lucky, then. I find sometimes it just moves in the wrong direction. Sometimes it works well and I ride along with it. But there are definitely times when I read back and think 'that seems out of character' or 'it's not going to serve the plot, what was I thinking?!'. But I tend to write at night before bed, and I find that whilst it is when I have the most muse to write (and often the only time I get in the day to write), I am generally also very tired.

 

[Rullenzar]

I agree with coming back and reworking your idea at the end. However, you need to start somewhere and often times you need to come up with something just so you can start writing. Once you've started to write everything starts to fall into place and that one piece of the puzzle that was eluding you at the start slowly peeks its head over the writers mountains.