Hooks, Lines, and Sinkers, by DiAnn Mills

By the carefully crafted words of the first line.

The first sentence in your manuscript can reel in your readers and keep them hooked to the page, or it can sink your story. I want to help you bait your hook so a reader snatches your book off the shelf and clutches it to her chest while she races for the check out.

When you walk into a book store to purchase a new adventure, what is your pattern of selection? I bet it's much like mine. You read who wrote the book. You look at the cover and make a snap decision as to whether it is appealing. You flip the book and read the back cover copy. You check the endorsements. If the book has passed all of those tests, you turn to the first page: chapter one, line one--the HOOK. And if the hook doesn't snatch your attention, you move on.

All of that in about what? Thirty seconds? Not much time when you consider the hours and hours spent on writing the book and polishing it for publication.

The opening line should be in the middle of action - arousing your reader's curiosity to find the answers to some question. But this is merely the opening, a taste of the conflict to come. The writer has carefully chosen the bait to hook your reader.

I like to think of the beginning hook as an invitation to a party. The reader is hooked, excited about what was said in that critical first sentence. "Come along with me on this adventure. I promise you that every word and sentence will be as thrilling as the first line." None of us want to disappoint our readers. In actuality, the writer may never receive another opportunity to bring that reader along on another adventure.

What can be incorporated in a good hook? A quote? A Bible verse? A song title? A universal phrase, possibly misquoted? Dialogue? It's not so much the method as the words used to draw attention to your story.

Think about the following opening lines.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times ... Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents." Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Behind the wheel of the Ford Expedition, Amy Redwing drove as if she were immortal and therefore safe at any speed. The Darkest Night of the Year by Dean Koontz

Dear Sidney, Susan Scott is a wonder. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffure, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a manchild was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte. Roots by Alex Haley

It was going to be bloody, but it could be done, if they moved fast. Dead Heat by Joel C. Rosenberg

Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charms as the Tarleton twins were. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

So what does the writer need to know before the hook is crafted?

The writer is then ready to write a dynamic hook.

This sets the stage for a disturbance in the opening of your story, but it is not the call to adventure. That happens later--in another writer's workshop. J

Hooks, lines, and sinkers ... How does your story measure up?

That's it for now. Me? I'm going fishing. Got a bucketful of bait and I'm going to hook some readers.

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Award-winning author, DiAnn Mills, launched her career in 1998 with the publication of her first book. Currently she has over forty books in print and has sold a million and a half copies. DiAnn believes her readers should "Expect an Adventure." DiAnn Mills is a fiction writer who combines an adventuresome spirit with unforgettable characters to create action-packed novels. Six of her titles have appeared on the CBA Best Seller List. Three of her books have won the distinction of Best Historical of the Year by Heartsong Presents. Five of her books have won placements through American Christian Fiction Writer's Book of the Year Awards 2003 - 2008, and she is the recipient of the Inspirational Reader's Choice award for 2005 and 2007. She was a Christy Awards finalist in 2008. Website: www.diannmills.com