bell notificationshomepageloginNewPostedit profile

Topic : Re: How to make the first lines of my novel attractive and hooking? I am currently writing a FICTION-FANTASY-HORROR novel, and I have only written some pages. I have published the first part of - selfpublishingguru.com

10% popularity

Hooking lines make the reader ask one or more of the following questions:
What? Why? How? When? Where?

A good example are the stories of Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami (yes, I'm sick of the "Call me Ishmael", and the "they shot the white girl first" examples).

"Man-Eating Cats"

I bought a newspaper at the harbor and came across an article about an
old woman who had been eaten by cats.

What the f...? How can a bunch of cats eat a woman?

"The Ice Man"

My husband's an Ice Man

An iceman? How and where did she meet him?

"Nausea 1979"

Thanks to his rare talent for keeping a diary over an extended period
of time without missing a single day, he was able to cite the exact
date his vomiting stopped.

Why did he vomit for so long? What was the cause?

"A Shinagawa Monkey"

Recently she'd had trouble remembering her own name.

How can someone forget his/her own name?

Good hooking sentences make the reader ask one or more questions without causing too much confusion. They cause wonder and provide information and at the same time in a perfect, balanced way. The worst you can do is to leave the reader thinking: So what?

EDIT

I checked your link.

Stars… I look at them, dream of them… They are so close, and yet, so
far… They sparkle like tiny fireflies on the dark canvas of the bluish
sky. The horns of the half-moon have newly vanished out of sight from
the horizon, leaving behind them tenebrous ash. It seems the moon is
looking at me with its silver-shining beam. I suddenly remember my
great-grandfather’s old telescope of which my mother told me about an
epoch ago (I might be exaggerating). His death was very enigmatic.
Nobody knew how he disappeared. Nobody saw his cadaver.

Everyone look at the stars and dream of them, and it doesn't raise any what, why how... question. Not a good hooking sentence. Consider this:

Watching the stars, I suddenly remembered
great-grandfather’s old telescope of which my mother told me about an
epoch ago.

What is so special about the telescope? How come he still remembers it?

or

My great-grandfather's death was very enigmatic.
Nobody knew how he disappeared. Nobody saw his cadaver.

How did he die? Why was his death enigmatic?


Load Full (0)

Login to follow topic

More posts by @Smith147

0 Comments

Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best

Back to top