The All-Powerful Reader Trap: Hooks

Article by Carter Cada - Written 10/24/2023

Hooks are, perhaps, one of the most important, yet, least understood parts of writing. A good hook can make people finish an article they never even would have begun.

And there’s good proof for this. Aside from the fact that you likely clicked this article in the first place due to a hook, there are many example across various types of media, especially advertising where reader engagement is imperative.

So what actually is a hook, and how do you make a good one? Thankfully, there are a few tricks that should get you well on your way to better reader engagement.

Table of contents:

  • What is a hook?

  • Keep it simple

  • Keep it interesting

  • Keep it relevant

How to keep readers reading - The humble hook.

What is a hook?

Think of the last time you saw an advertisement. Maybe it was a billboard, a commercial, or even a quick ad on social media. Did you see all of it? Probably not. A study recently published by IPG found that almost 65% of people skip ads, walk out of commercial breaks, or don’t finish written adverts. They also found that, of this pool, 75% skip simply out of habit.

Yet, you’ve probably also seen a few commercials that were really good. Whether they were interesting, informative, or just really funny (my personal favorite), something compelled you to watch to the end. But what?

That’s the job of a hook. A short, concise idea or statement to keep you interested in finishing an advertisement. Maybe it was a witty quip, maybe it was a joke, or maybe they lured you in with curiosity. Whatever it was, it compelled you to stay.

If a book takes too long to get to anything interesting, readers will find it becoming harder and harder to continue. Hooks solve this issue.

Much like in advertising, as a writer or storyteller, your goal in the first few words is to get your audience “hooked” into your presentation, to keep them reading or watching or listening to what you want them to hear.

I’ve read many good book that had an intro that dragged on forever. In fact, probably most of the good books I’ve read were written that way. What’s interesting about these books, however, is that, while they are often highly critically acclaimed, they have often not been read by a majority of people.

But if a book is so good, why aren’t more people reading it? Hooks. If a book doesn’t contain a hook somewhere within the first chapter (and preferably, early in the chapter), then readers are not likely to continue to the next. This is especially true for a generation with a decreasing attention span.

1) Keep it simple

There are many stories that try to be a lot of things: a mystery, a romance, an adventure, a tragedy. Most fail to do any of them well, and many of the rest only do an adequate job of each. The very few books that can do all of these well become classics that stand the test of time.

A quick way to guarantee that your story ends up in the first group, however, is to try to do all of them right at the beginning.

Trying to tell the whole story at once will leave you with a disorganized mess of plot holes and depression (beleive me). Take things one plot-point at a time.

A good story can be like a smoking meats. To make sure it’s good, it needs to be done over a long period of time, developing slowly all the way. At the end, you’ll have something that people can’t get enough of. Rush it, however, and you’ll end up with a charred, dissatisfying mess.

In your hook, choose one aspect of the story to focus on. Maybe your main character is destined to become hero of the world, meet the man or woman of their dreams, and rule the land with peace and justice.

Even if that is the case, you can’t start your story with all of these. Maybe, in the beginning, they aren’t special at all. Maybe they have a hard life. Choose just one of these to focus on.

2) Keep it interesting

If your hook is a math teacher sinking into depression over failing a CTA exam, you’re writing for the wrong field. But if your hook is that same teacher struggling, trying to develop his principles of time travel, now you’ve got a story.

People will read only as long as the story is withing either what they can grasp, or what they want to grasp. People read to escape the ordinary. We read about heroes on quests, detectives solving murders, and conspirators overthrowing wicked governments. Reading, listening, and watching stories are how we add spice to life.

So what makes for an interesting hook?

The stakes are high.

Your story opens with a chase scene, or maybe the disarming of a bomb. Your protagonist is in the narrow place between life and death…maybe for the first time, or maybe again, as they have many times before. Whatever the case, high stakes are one of the best ways to capture immediate attention.

The game is afoot.

Your protagonist arrives home to find no one there…or maybe, someone who shouldn’t be. Something went missing: a friend, a relic, or a treasure. Perhaps that family member is beginning to look more suspicious every day…

Mysteries are, by far, one of the most popular genres in writing, both fiction and non-fiction. Launching right into the depth of the situation is a near-guarantee that your reader will be hooked from page one.

A good mystery author is the master of many plot points, incluidng hooks, as thier genre depends very heavily upon them. For ideas to strengthen your plot points, pick up a good mystery!

The struggle is real.

They get home. They’ve been bullied, berated, and belittled. Teased, tormented, and tortured. Your protagonist suffers from the same calamities as all of us do…and we love it. But why?

We love to relate to characters. We love to see them face the same struggles we do, because we want to see them overcome them, and be stronger because of it; and all because we want to do the same thing in our own life.

Perhaps the most popular type of hook, character relatability is a sure-fire way to draw in readers. They develop a bond with the protagonist, watching for every twist and turn in the grand adventure they are about to embark on.

The day it happened…

There they stood, facing death in the eyes. If only they could have known it would lead here all those years ago when they started…

Foreshadowing is my personal favorite way to start a story. Especially for stories where the plot unfolds later on, foreshadowing is a great way to clue the reader into what is going to be seen in the future, and keep them around to see it for themselves.

Or maybe, instead of using one of these examples, you try something all your own! Whatever you choose, there are a plethora of ways to introduce a hook.

3) Keep it relevant.

One of the worst things a storyteller can do is raise the expectations of the audience, only to never fulfill them. As silly as it sounds, there are writers who struggle to bring fruition to their initial promises.

Often, this leads to “retconning” (short for retroactive continuity, where the author or storyteller will change something that happened in the past to line up with what is going on presently), or sloppy worldbuilding. Characters appear and disappear for no reason, motives and personalities change, and the story seems directionless outside of some funny or sappy moments between a few main characters.

Make sure that whatever you use as a hook is relevant to the story.

I have begun work recently on my first full-length novel, and one of the initial challenges I faced was creating a hook that matched with the theme of the book without giving away too much of the plot right away.

They way I ended up resolving this was by creating a hook centered on the character development of the protagonist, something sure to develop as the story unfolds.

Many stories for older kids and younger teens open with the protagonist being picked on, or excluded. Why? Because, for many, the story is relevant. As adults, we are little different. We love to see those who face the struggles we call our own, and overcome them.

When trying to keep a hook relevant, be sure to avoid hinging it on a minor event of the series, or something too close to the end of the story. The first will leave your audience disappointed, and the later will make them feel as though they’ve heard a report with a long introduction, but no main points.

Whatever you choose for your hook, don’t forget to keep the heart of your story in the spotlight! Don’t get so focused on wording and pattern that you forget the story you were trying to tell in the first place. As I said near the beginning, I have read many classics with terrible hooks. Yet, I, and may others, have read them. And what’s more, is we enjoyed them. VERY much.

A good hook is a great help to your story, but wont make or break you. But…if you are looking for a few tips to step up your storytelling game, here’s another great article for you to check out.

I hope you find our tips inspiring.

About the author

Carter John Cada is the founder of and main author for Quips from the Quiver. In his free time, he loves to read, spend time with his 10 siblings, read, work out, read, work on his manuscript, read, and read.

He also enjoys eating.