Hooks and Scrabble
Scrabble is popular at our house. The game is all about words. Guess that’s why I love it.
Scrabble players can score fifty points when they have the right tiles, the perfect fit to play on the board and know the RIGHT word. Hubby-dear is our current fifty-point champion.
Scrabble players earn points from the words they create. Writers keep the reader hooked into turning the pages with their words.
A hook is what incites the reader to turn the page and read just one more chapter. Or decide to buy a book. In writing, hooks are words used at the beginning of scenes and chapter breaks. Screenwriters use hooks the same way.
The hook idea came from the 1914 silent movie series titled The Perils of Pauline. Pearl White starred as Pauline, the damsel in distress menaced by assorted villains, pirates, and Native Americans in the serialized movie. In 2008, the movie was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
In each episode the audience is convinced poor, pitiful Pauline’s situation will surely result in her imminent death until at the last minute she is rescued or otherwise escapes the danger. The damsel in distress and cliffhanger endings kept moviegoers returning.
How do successful writers use hooks like the screenwriters did with The Perils of Pauline? The simple answer is strong characters like Pauline and strong chapter breaks.
K.M. Weiland suggests these other ideas to hook readers.
1. Promise conflict to come.
2. A secret kept.
3. A major decision or vow.
4. An announcement of a shocking event.
5. A moment of high emotion.
6. A reversal or surprise that turns the story upside down.
7. A new idea.
8. An unanswered question.
9. A portentous metaphor.
10. A plot turning point.
Weiland warns: “Not every chapter needs to end with a cliffhanger, but they do need to encompass a question powerful enough to make the reader crazy to know the answer.”
Unlike the silent movie success, the overuse of Pauline-in-peril gimmicks in stories can turn a reader off. Writers use caution.
If you’re a writer, what strategy do you use for hooks? If not sure, check out Mary Buckham’s Writing Active Hooks for great ideas.
As a reader, what hook from Weiland’s list keeps you turning the page?
