Hook Your Reader by Regina Olson

How many times have we heard that the first line of your story or novel needs to hook the reader? What does it mean and what makes for a great opening line?

I attended a class once where the instructor said the best opening line she’d ever read was, “I knew it was time for him to die.” Wow! That was a story I wanted to read.  I was hooked. Why? Because all sorts of questions and scenarios were firing off in the synapses of my brain. My imagination ran off to the races and required I came along.

What makes that line a great beginning? It has the power to cause the reader to ask questions – lots of questions. Why does he need to die? Is he sick and suffering? Is he rich and she wants his money? Is he inherently bad and the world would be better off without him? Did he wrong the protagonist and revenge is required? Did he commit some atrocity? Does he abuse her and she’s taken a beating for the last time? Why does he need to die?

If you asked any of these questions, you were hooked – or at least curious. A brief analysis of the opening line reveals why this is, and what makes it a great first sentence.

1. This sentence created immediacy. His death hasn’t happened, but it needs to. The death isn’t scheduled for some far-off future time that requires you to wade through pages to start the story. The story starts here because the protagonist said it needed to happen now (implied). Still, we don’t know when now is. Where in the coming paragraphs or pages will we arrive at now? To find out, we must read on.
2. There is suspense. What happened that she came to such a brutal decision? How does she intend to carry out his death? If it needs to happen soon, what’s the plan? Will there be a plot involved? Will his death be subtle, as in a poisoning, or is she angry and the death will be raw and messy. Will she make him suffer first, or will it be quick? There is suspense in the why and how of this man’s death. That suspense is partially created when we wonder if she gets away with his murder or will be caught. Will his demise be carefully planned or carelessly carried out in a chaotic rage?
3. The reason is nonspecific. There are no details supplied, no trail of evidence leading to his crime. All we know is that he’s male and she wants him dead. When we consider this fatal decision, we don’t know what circumstances drew her to this dire conclusion. There are no facts stated in this opening line that we can use to judge her wrong or right. How can we form our own opinion? We don’t know if we would feel so distraught that his death presented itself as the only solution. Would we, could we, follow a different path and a less egregious form of justice?
4. It’s a surprise and a shock. Plotting someone’s demise is not normal. We might be angry with our spouse, boss, friend, the rude person in the store, or the guy who cut us off in traffic; but murder isn’t an option. We might scream, yell, cuss, kick something, or do a middle finger salute – but how bad does it have to be to plot someone’s demise? Maybe we’ve secretly thought about it, even dreamt about it, but sanity brings us back to the reality that we can’t follow through with these thoughts.
5. Emotions have been raised. Should I feel sorry for him, or does he deserve this fate? Should I feel sorry for her, or will a world with him no longer in it bring her peace. Are there others suffering because of him and will they find solace? Who, if anyone will cry at his funeral, or even attend? Will her actions be viewed as heroic or cowardly? Can there possibly be a happy ending for her or will she be forever tormented by what she did?
6. The mood has been set. The opening line sets the reader up for the conflict that’s on the horizon. Will the remaining paragraphs, or pages, be filled with romance, be a coming-of-age story, or an adventure filled with intrigue and gut-wrenching decisions. We need, must, read on to peel back the layers and discover if we would make the same decisions, or tread in a different direction. Her conflict becomes ours, as we are drawn into her conflict and ensuing drama.

This is a lot to ask of an opening line, a single sentence designed to hook the reader. A good opening doesn’t need to give away your plot, but it does need to tease the reader. In the example given above, we have no idea when this thought entered the protagonist’s mind, why, or what circumstances led to this deadly decision?

So, when you draft your opening line, design it to draw the reader into the story – before the story even begins. Make your readers so curious that they can’t resist reading the next sentence, paragraph, page, or chapter. Make it so your readers can’t help themselves, they have to seek the answers.

Regina Olson grew up as the oldest in a family of seven. In this sometimes-chaotic life, she found refuge in books and became an avid reader. As a teenager, she had several poems published in a Christian periodical and this success led her to start writing short stories. She is published in books available on Amazon: Every Beast Has a Secret, Released from Reality, With Music as Our Muse, and We Were Warned. This latest book, We Were Warned, is now available on Amazon in paperback or as a Kindle download.