Mary Buckham - Writing Active Hooks Book 2:: Evocative Description, Character, Dialogue, Foreshadowing and Where to Use Hooks

Content copyright 2015 by Mary Arsenault Buckham

All rights reserved.

First Edition

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by

Cantwell Publishing LLC

2675 Wilson Street

Port Townsend, WA 98368

USA

ISBN: 978-1-939210-25-8

Cover design by

THE KILLION GROUP, INC.

www.thekilliongroupinc.com

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Writing any book does not happen in a vacuum, especially a how-to craft book. Id like to thank the hundreds and hundreds of writing students who helped define the assignments and the need to explore how to better use Hooks in our novels. Id also like to thank my early readers, all writers who gave invaluable feedback on the format and content of this book: Dorothy Callahan, Laurie G. Adams and Tiger Wiseman. Any of your great advice I did not take was my fault alone. Another huge round of thanks to my Street Team members, who also act as early beta readers. A huge shout out of debt to Liette, Elizabeth, Nancy, Donna-Dee, Heather, Debra, Lynn, Alyssa, Kimberly, Virginia, Sherry, Judythe, Cari, Heidi, Marcella, Mark, Sandra, Judith, Misty, Diane, Lisa and Jan. It truly takes a village to read and reread a manuscriptI appreciate you all more than you know. Thanks also to Matt, Donnamaie, Barbara Rae, Jeanne, Robin and Dawn B., who also were kind enough to look at early versions of this book. A huge hug to my husband, Jim, who not only makes all things possible in my world, but barely cringes when I tell him hes an amazing hooker!

Last, but not least, a huge thank you to my readers. To those writers who are always working to hone their craft to make their current manuscript, and the one after that, better and better. Without you, Id have no craft to teach.

Thank you!

Table of Contents

HOOKS INTRODUCTION

SECTION 1: HOOKS

Hook 1* UNIQUE CHARACTER HOOK

Hook 2* EVOCATIVE HOOK

Hook 3* FORESHADOWING WITH OR WITHOUT WARNING HOOK

Hook 4* SURPRISING OR SHOCKING DIALOGUE HOOK

SECTION 2: HOOK PLACEMENT

Part 1* OPENING PARAGRAPH AND PAGE

Part 2* PROLOGUES

Part 3* OPENING A CHAPTER

Part 4* ENDING A CHAPTER

Part 5* OPENING AND ENDING SCENES

Part 6* END OF BOOK

Part 7* MOST COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT HOOKS

Bibliography

HOOKS

INTRODUCTION

If youve read the first book in this series WRITING ACTIVE HOOKS: Book 1 thank you! For those of you who have, and havent, Ill clarify the differences between that book and this one.

In the first book, I examined the five most common hooks writers can useAction/Danger, Overpowering Emotion, Surprising Situation, Totally Unexpected and Question(s) Raised hooksand gave some information on where using those hooks can really pay off for the writer in terms of pacing and guiding a reader deeper into your novel.

In this book, well touch upon those five initial hooks and expand on additional hooks only lightly touched uponthe Unique Character hook, the Evocative hook, the Foreshadowing with or without Warning hook and the Surprising or Shocking Dialogue hook. Well also go into more depth about hook placement throughout your novel and why specific placement matters.

Some of the information may overlap, in large part because its important to repeat salient points. Most of the information will be new, as we'll be discussing four specific types of hooks and how and why they work. So lets get started.

Hooks are a tool to engage readers, and to keep them engaged, as they read deeper into your story. They are used to raise questions forand elicit responses froma reader to compel them to read a little further.

Its that simple. And that hard.

Lets be clear about this last point. In any book there are always story hooksthe premise, or implied promisedepending on your specific story and the readers expectations. If you are writing a mystery, romance, sci-fi, thriller, or any genre/commercial fiction type of book, your implied promise is to find justice, discover love, save a species or planet, or stop a threat. Yes, there are nuances to these promises, but the reader picks up these novels knowing that by the end of the story, certain expectations will be met. The killer is found and justice balanced. The hero and heroine (or hero/hero; heroine/heroine; etc.,) will find love or the strong possibility of love. A planet, people, remaining hope of a species, etc., will survive an external threat, or that the race to stop something bad from happening will resolve squarely in the fact that the goodor mostly goodguys will overcome the threat.

If you are writing literary fiction, there still remains a story premise. The reader will finish the novel with a change in their understanding of what the human condition means and how we function. There are no clear happy-ever-after endings; in fact, its often just the opposite. The promise to the reader in a literary novel is that they will be compelled to rethink their assumptions and expand their understanding of whatever issue is the glue that holds the story together: survivors guilt, abandonment, betrayal, abuse, or whatever other issue is being explored.

NOTE : Writers can write anywhere along the continuum between strong literary and strong commercial fiction or they can lean toward one end of the continuum or the other.

The following definition might help:

Commercial fiction derives from myths and fairy tales, and is often called genre fiction. It is based on the readers belief that if they try hard enough they can achieve something and make a change in their world for the better. Romances, mysteries, suspense, thrillers, science fiction (often called sci-fi), fantasy, etc., are commercial fiction genres.

... Literary Fiction is based on the readers belief system that they cannot change their world, but they can understand it better. The plot structure of literary fiction does not move toward a specific goal but involves peeling away the emotions and dark secrets of the human condition in an attempt to better understand. The protagonist in literary fiction need not grow or change over the course of the story.

Mary Buckham and Dianna Love Break Into Fiction

If you dont know what it is you are writingand many writers dont until theyve been writing for a whilego to a brick-and-mortar store and walk down the aisles. Look at the selections and consider where your novel might fit best. If it doesnt fit under one of the Section headingsMysteries, Romance, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Westerns, etc.,you have a 50/50 chance of writing more literary than commercial fiction. Keep in mind that this is an approximation, as some modern commercial fiction doesnt fit cleanly into those categories, such as paranormal, urban fantasy, speculative fiction, which may be shelved under romance, mysteries, sci-fi or in general fiction.

Look in the general fiction or fiction area and see what blurbs and story descriptions resonate with your story. If at the end of the story the protagonist grows or changes, youll most likely be writing commercial fiction.

Unfortunately, there are exceptions to every assumption. Since this is not a book about understanding commercial versus literary fiction and the nuances in between, I wont go into more detail. Whats important to note is that hooks are applicable no matter what you write. Its also important to know what you are writing and what types of hooks are used most often for YOUR type of novel.

The placement of the hooks Ill be discussing will be the same regardless of your story. The number and type of hooks used will vary depending on the type of story you are crafting and, when applicable, Ill explain those differences.