As a novelist, comprehension of hooks is super important, but stopping at having an early hook for your novel is not enough.
I'm of the opinion that you should also have a hook in each chapter. What does that mean? A reader should come away from your chapter being able to tell you in short, what was it about? or was there a defining point of this chapter. Sometimes I'll have multiple hooks in a chapter, but I always try to have at least one. This can sort of make each chapter like a short story that is connected to other short stories.
When agent and audience read your work, having a defining moment in each chapter gives more credence to the idea that you have direction in your story. It makes you seem like a person who writes with purpose.
Chapter hooks can be written quite differently from novel hooks. While I recommend that you place your novel's hook as early as possible, the same isn't always true for a chapter's hook. It's not always advisable to place those hooks in the beginning. That can give your chapter a feeling of disinterest as you've covered the important stuff. You don't want your chapters to feel as though they've hit their high point... and it's all down hill from here.
I've even placed my chapter hook in the very last line. It can be a moment where you bring the chapter together with one line or paragraph. A flash where the reader goes, "Oh man! So that's what that chapter was about?!”
I hope you enjoyed the blog and got something out of it. I also have a twitter @advice_writing.
Comments