Writing your hook before you write your novel

Judg · Apr 3, 2007

You CAN'T have a great hook if you don't have a great book. As you're writing future novels, you may want to start with the hook. Build it from the idea up.

Nathan Bransford comes close in today's blog entry, talking about the importance of a good idea before you even start writing.

Way back last year, in my age of innocence, I never would have dreamed of doing such a thing. I was capable of defining a query letter, and that was about it. I did however have a central idea that I deliberately picked because it was unusual.

I find myself thinking about this more and more now as I approach the crucial turning point in my story. I've written tentative hooks, trying to get a grip on what this story is Really All About and rather wishing I had done it earlier.

What do you think? Do you write your hook before the book? Does it work for you? If not, do you think it would help?

Claudia Gray · Apr 3, 2007

I have done this -- it works surprisingly well. The hook you craft may change as your book changes, but I find that having the hook set out (this is who we're interested in, this is what that person's problem is, this is why you should care) makes me feel directed. This is much the same way I feel about outlining, but I understand that some people do not like to outline; pre-writing the hook might provide some of the same benefits as the outlining process without the cons some people dislike.

zornhau · Apr 3, 2007

Me too

It's one way to ensure you write something larger than life, and don't get bogged down.

Spiny Norman · Apr 3, 2007

I suppose the hook is the "Wouldn't it be cool if...." part of an idea.

I started my idea with three hooks. I was reading Jung and was thinking about the trickster archetype, and thought "Wouldn't it be cool if one of the old trickster gods was alive and went to Las Vegas and had a noir mystery?"

Then I was reading Wodehouse after reading Chandler, and I read that Chandler was born in England but moved to America, so I said, "I wonder what would have happened if he had stayed in England. Would Philip Marlowe be some drunken, chatty twit reeling around through mysteries?"

Then I just had an idea out of the blue: "Wouldn't it be cool if you were on a transfer flight through an airport, casually walking by, and you saw someone just standing there holding a sign with your name on it and you had no idea who they were or what they wanted?"

Are these hooks? Maybe so.

RG570 · Apr 3, 2007

I've done this-- trying to think of what I'd put in a query letter before I've written the novel. It really works.

Garpy · Apr 3, 2007

Hmm, see this changes from genre to genre. With thrillers (my genre) the idea...the 'hook' is king. I suspect, I'm no expert of other genres (nor of my own) that with...say...a literary work, narrator's voice is the trump suit. In a chiklit book, it might be character...in a fantasy book, the hook might be the world etc etc

Ah...(gleefully contradicting myself) but then one could argue the 'hook' is not neccesarily a plot device, but in fact any aspect of a book that attracts a customer's attention.

*edited to actually answer the question raised*:
Yes, always, from my limited experience...every book I've written needed to start with a bloody good idea.

Judg · Apr 3, 2007

I'm using "hook" in a technical sense: that part of the query letter that lays out the essence of the book and tries to seduce the agent into asking to read the manuscript. A really cool idea would be part of that hook obviously, but not the whole thing. It would lay out the central conflict of the story and show what makes this story stand out from others.

The Grift · Apr 3, 2007

i have a couple of WIP's that have been undergoing constant evolution (though they're not necessarily being written

) Thinking about how I would describe them in a query has helped me focus on what I want to be stressing at any given moment in the novel.

As far as the hook as in first sentence of the novel, I don't think I can really write that until the novel is more or less fully formed at least in my head. That way I can focus on what I want that first sentence to tell the reader about the book they are picking up. Until that point, I have a filler first sentence...

Sage · Apr 3, 2007

I think part of what made my last novel work so well (Rachel liked my hook, btw), was that, while I didn't say, "Oh, here's a hook, let's work on a book for that," I did start with a cool idea for the MC, and then worked on an exciting concept for the story before I sat down to write it. In fact, I stopped after the second chapter (working on another project) but when I was describing WIPs I hadn't finished to my friend, I realized that this one had the most marketable concept & got all excited about it again, so I returned to it.

engmajor2005 · Apr 3, 2007

This sounds basically like starting with a prompt, and there is no shame in that.

Shady Lane · Apr 3, 2007

I do it in my head, doubtlessly, before I start, and then between drafts I usually write it out, just to get myself more focused when I start to veer.

Ms.Write · Apr 3, 2007

For some reason, this makes me think about "high concept." Is the idea original and compelling? I need to know this in my planning stage and then start with the hook - problem is set out and characters are in action.

I still have to keep shoving background information out of the way, as I am tempted to put more in than needs to be, but with a good hook the action starts rolling right away.

Judg · Apr 3, 2007

It looks like most (all?) of you either do it or something close to it or least think it's a good idea. It's interesting that she went on immediately afterwards to say this:

Many writers write organically--they have an idea for a character, they envision a world, they invent other characters, then they come up with some conflicts to throw at their characters and they play god and just see what happens. That's a great exercise for fun, creativity, your own enjoyment, etc., but it isn't likely to lead to a fantastic book other people will be dying to read. If it is, it may be an accident that you stumbled upon a great hook, but you'll have no idea how you did that and your next book will stump you all over again.

which might be a tad more controversial. Even if she doesn't go quite so far as to say you need an outline.

I find for myself that trying to write a good query for my novel before I've even finished it is making me re-evaluate a few things about where I want it to go. It seems when I try to write a hook, I end up emphasizing things I haven't pushed that hard in the actual writing. I'm thinking I'm going to have to add that emphasis, because it looks like it would make a more compelling story.

PeeDee · Apr 3, 2007

I don't write it down, but I usually have my novel's premise down in a paragraph before I start, because usually my poor wife has to hear me describe it to her.

Shadow_Ferret · Apr 3, 2007

This all just sounds so shallow to me. Of course the agent wants a great hook, they have to try to sell the book idea. But it makes me wonder if the "greats" worried about the hook before they wrote their "classic." Or if they didn't just write the book first and then come up with what the hook was. Or if they even bothered with a hook at all.

I don't know. This just sounds so... formulaic to me. Like why everyone hates Journey or Styx or Foreigner. Because their songs had great hooks and little substance.

PeeDee · Apr 3, 2007

For me, the "hook" is just the part of the idea that's different and interesting. The part that makes me go "Oh. I wonder what that does. I wanna write that!"

That's it. I don't sit around thinking, "okay, will it sound better if I phrase it Two men and a Rabbi in a boat, and one of them's a robot, stay tuned to find out WHO!" I just have an idea and then figure out how to write it.

Raphee · Apr 3, 2007

I have not done this before. However, I think it is a good way to get focussed and then re examine your initial idea and its strength or weakness as you start writing.
My hook or story premise is all in the head and then I start writing.

aadams73 · Apr 4, 2007

I write the hook first now. It's a good way to test whether my idea is exciting or just blah. It goes through several metamorphoses while I'm brainstorming until I'm sure I have a solid(and logical) idea.

Aside from that I'm not an outliner.

KTC · Apr 4, 2007

I could see writing the hook if it is something that you yourself could use as motivation to get things done, but I wouldn't bother with it myself until -30- is typed.

Oddsocks · Apr 4, 2007

I'm not entirely sure, but I think I do this accidentally. No matter how many or how well developed the characters and worlds in my head might seem to me, I never get that impulse to write something unless there is some key idea for a plot that strikes me as really weird/interesting. So I guess it's the hook that drives me. But it isn't a well worded hook designed to get anyone else in, it's just a few sentence description of the main structure of the plot.

zornhau · Apr 4, 2007

Judg said:
It looks like most (all?) of you either do it or something close to it or least think it's a good idea. It's interesting that she went on immediately afterwards to say this:
which might be a tad more controversial. Even if she doesn't go quite so far as to say you need an outline.

I find for myself that trying to write a good query for my novel before I've even finished it is making me re-evaluate a few things about where I want it to go. It seems when I try to write a hook, I end up emphasizing things I haven't pushed that hard in the actual writing. I'm thinking I'm going to have to add that emphasis, because it looks like it would make a more compelling story.

I think you don't have to have an outline to have a hook. Stephen King seems to start with a high-concept situation and characters, and then improvise organically from that.

Jamesaritchie · Apr 4, 2007

Hook

That same post also says: Many writers write organically--they have an idea for a character, they envision a world, they invent other characters, then they come up with some conflicts to throw at their characters and they play god and just see what happens. That's a great exercise for fun, creativity, your own enjoyment, etc., but it isn't likely to lead to a fantastic book other people will be dying to read.

Gee, if this is true, then I wonder why so many bestselling writers go against this advice? Anyone who really believes this knows pretty much nothing about how huge numbers of bestselling writers go about writing bestselling novels.

Siddow · Apr 4, 2007

I always have the hook before the book. That's my outline; a paragraph. I wasn't going to write down anything but my research bits for the book I'm working on now, since it seemed pretty solid in my head, but then I was swapping emails with a writer buddy of mine and decided to fill him in on my latest and wham! Wrote my hook. I had to print it out and keep it, since my pal was all like, 'Hurry up and finish it so I can read it! dang!' (and no, this isn't the type of pal I keep around because he thinks everything I do is golden. He's the type of pal who'll tell me, 'What is that smell? Is that your book?'

)

It will probably be the same paragraph I put in my queries.

After the draft is done, I'll write the synopsis, and then I'll know whether the book works or not.

And James, you're right about the best-sellers. I thought there was something wrong with me because I'd heard about so many outlining writers and I didn't work that way. Finding out I'm not the only idea-and-start-writing writer was a relief. And that I'm in good company; my favorite writers are all pantsers. Phew!

Anthony Ravenscroft · Apr 7, 2007

Jamesaritchie said:
Anyone who really believes this knows pretty much nothing about how huge numbers of bestselling writers go about writing bestselling novels.

Dude, sometimes I could so (almost) seriously marry you.

(You busy tonight...?)

You might not have intended, but you appear to have noted the limp "dichotomy" that supposedly exists between the largely imaginary "two types" of writing. I mean, though I often vociferously defend the Structuralists against the Mulchers, fact is that there's few absolutes -- & anyone who strays too close to one fence or the other is probably begging trouble.

I've written a few good stories & a dozen published (paid!) op/ed pieces from simply taking a burning knot in my gut & cranking the keys & ranting a.k.a. telling an extemp story -- which I think you'd agree is about as far from "outlining" as can be gotten.

So often, I run into the "I write organically, you know" claim looking a whole heckuva lot like And there I was, lost in the wilderness! with nothing but my trusty Swiss Army knife! and my trusty Winnebago! and my trusty gasoline tanker! which the first chunk you quoted reminded me of.

With the possible exception of Lawrence Block & Jack Kerouac, there's very few published writers who've knocked off a book-length manuscript almost-done in beginning-to-end fashion.

Writing your hook before you write your novel

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