Hook Checklist

 

BEGINNINGS ARE THE sales pitch for your entire story. Doesn’t matter how slam-bang your finish is, doesn’t matter how fresh your dialogue is, doesn’t matter if your characters are so real they tap dance their way off the pages. If your beginning doesn’t fulfill all its requirements, readers won’t get far enough to discover your story’s hidden merits.

 

Exercise: Although no surefire pattern exists for the perfect opening, most good beginnings share common traits. Answer the following questions to help you check off the necessary components in your hook.

 

Question #1: What moment is the true beginning of your story?

 

Question #1.1 At what moment in the story could you delete everything prior to it without confusing readers?

 

Question #2: What character(s) does your opening scene introduce?

 

Question #2.1 Have you introduced him by name?

 

Question #2.2 If not, why not?

 

Question #2.3: Can you identify one way to introduce the essence of his personality or story role through action and one way to introduce it through dialogue?

 

Question #3: In your opening scene, what does your protagonist want?

 

Question #3.1: What is preventing him from achieving his goal?

 

Question #4: What can your characters do in this scene that will keep them in motion?

 

Question #5: Where does your opening scene take place?

 

Question #5.1 How can you offer at least a sense of the setting in the opening line?

 

Question #6: What tone does your opening create?

• Optimism
• Pessimism
• Defeat
• Fear
• Hope
• Sadness
• Joy
• Cynicism
• Idealism
• Anger
• Awe
• Disappointment
• Remorse
• Contempt
• Aggression
• Other

 

Question #7: What specific words or images have you used to achieve this effect?

 

Reference: Structuring Your Novel, chapter 1, pages 10-18.