Are You "Hooked" Yet?

When our blog subject for May was announced my first newbie thought was again, SAY WHAT? Writer’s jargon, great, now I have to learn more new words?! Aacckk! I’m still reeling from genre and what’s really scary is that we were supposed to pick one for ourselves. I’m thinking; how do you come up with something for yourself when you don’t know what they are to start with, and the few you do know, you don’t fully understand? But after bubbling around in my brain for awhile, what I learned from WARA’s “Right Hook” contest, finally popped out.
After my, aha! moment: I was hooked!

Hook, that’s it, my writer’s jargon. Not Captain Hook or Hook, Line and Sinker but a writer’s hook. So, what is it you ask? I will attempt to explain, and if I’m wrong someone wiser than I will correct me thus educating us all. You ready?

Hook: Something to hold or catch your attention in a story placed in the first few pages of a book.

This also applies to cover blurbs which are designed to catch and hold the interest of potential buyers, and queries and partials which are created to catch and hold the attention of editors and publishers. All of which are extremely important to the life of a writer who wishes to eat!

It may be a sentence: She sighed with fatigue as she approached the front door when the musical strains of, Crazy, sung by Patsy Cline wafted from within, freezing her body with fear while tremors of shock and panic seized her mind and heart screaming, how had he found me again?

Or a paragraph: As Nick looked around the yard, his face registering shock and disbelief, he realized that he could not find Julie, his wife. He began to frantically run towards each small group of neighbors clustered together in the red tinged darkness of the secluded clearing. Fear lashed at him as he realized that she must still be inside. He shook off the protesting hands of his concerned neighbors and rushed back into the house. His friends waited, watching in fear for Nick as the burning maelstrom that had been his home began to collapse upon itself.

Or a theme: Historical settings such as wars, lifestyles (Amish, pioneers), hospitals (Doctors) and etc. are fertile grounds for picking a theme. Writer’s often base a series of books around a central town or family (Jillian Hart’s, The McKaslin Clan) thus ensuring that once hooked, you’ll be back for more.

So now that you have been ed-u-ma-cated you are out of excuses.
Get to writing; hook ‘em good and reel ‘em in!