Day 17: What's Your Hook?

We’re halfway through October and if you’ve been participating in this ‘workshop’ every day, you should be getting confident about the story you’re telling. But is it strong enough to be worth the weeks and months you’ll spend on it?

The problem is, there are a lot of stories out there, probably many with similarities to yours. Before you start writing, you’ll need to identify what’s going to make your book stand out of the pack.

This is your hook.

Your inciting incident isn’t necessarily your hook. In fact, your hook may not be a specific moment in your story, so much as it is the concept you are showing us with that moment. A hook is your unique storytelling element—the most crucial part of your query or your pitch, but it might not necessarily be a specific scene in your story.

Some examples:

Every year Panem twenty-four children are chosen to fight to the death.

In dystopian Chicago, independent thinkers, known as Divergents, are being hunted by the government.

As an infant, Harry Potter inexplicably defeated the world’s most powerful and evil wizard and was left with a lightning shaped scar.

So with your characters, inciting incident, and the potential scenes you’ve brainstormed in mind, it’s time to identify your story’s hook.

Today’s Links

Sharpen Your Hook

Hook vs. First Plot Point

A Better Way to Open Your Novel