How you hook your reader on the first page?

I love this quote by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who won the 1992 Nobel Prize for Literature for 100 years of Solitude.

“One of the most difficult things is the first paragraph…in the first paragraph, you solve most of the problems with your book. The theme is defined, the style, the tone. At least in my case, the paragraph is a kind of sample of what the rest of the book is going to be.”

By the way, that book sold over 10 million copies.

The hook paragraph, your first paragraph just might be the most important paragraph you write in your entire story. Yesterday, I talked about four ways to begin your story. Today, I’m going to share with you my technique on how I figure out the first sentence.

I use an acronym, SHARP which stands for:

• Stakes
• Hero/Heroine identification
• Anchoring
• on the Run
• Problem (Story Question)

Before I write anything, I start with understanding the big picture of my story and my scene.

Step One: Figure out what is at Stake.

Stakes are what is going to drive your reader through the story, whether they are personal or public, and hinting at them in the beginning will give your reader “something to fight for.”

Public Stakes: Public stakes have much to do with public values, what matters to people. Ask yourself…what matters to me? If it matters to you, then it matters to others. What’s the worst thing you could think of happening to you? Then others fear that also. And that’s where you find your public stakes.

Personal Stakes:  Personal stakes can be found in the root of our values. The things that drive us, or the things we long for. How do you find those personal values of your character?

ASK:

• What matters most to him in life?
• What would he avoid at all costs, and why?
• What defining incident in his past has molded him to the person he is today?
• What are his goals, and why?
• Find two different values, and then ask yourself: in what situation will these values be pitted against each other? These are the personal stakes.

Finally, ask yourself: What could go wrong in this scene? This is the answer of what is at stake.

Step Two: Create Hero/Heroine Identification, or Sympathy for the character from the reader.

You’re trying to create a connection with the reader by helping them identify with the character. How do you find that sympathetic element? Ask yourself: What do I have in common with my character? What need, or dream, or situation, or fear, or past experience do we share? And what about that can I extrapolate that fits into my story?

Step Three is called Anchoring, or using the 5 W’s to create a sense of place.

By the end of the first paragraph, and for sure the first scene, you should have anchored your character into the scene by using the five W’s. Who, What, Where, When and Why? The 5 w’s can evoke emotions, and give us a feeling of happiness, or tension, even doom in the scene. Ask: What is the one emotion you’d like to establish in this first sentence, paragraph, scene? Using the five 5’s, what words can you find for each W that conveys this sense of emotion? You’ll use these in the crafting of your first paragraph.

Step Four: Start your scene on the Run.

Dwight Swain says, in Techniques of the Selling Writer, “a good story being in the middle, retrieves the past and continues to the end.” Your first sentence hook should be something that begins in the middle of the action. It is a blip in time in the middle of that incident that zeros in on the character and gives us a glimpse at his life and why this situation is important.

Step Five: Set up the Problem or Story Question.

The story question is the one thematic question that drives the book. This question permeates all the decisions of the hero and/or heroine throughout the story, and needs to be hinted at in the sentence, in the first paragraph, and in the first scene. How do you find a theme? Ask: What is the lesson my character will walk away with? The question that accompanies that answer is the theme.

Take these five elements, and sift them together, looking at each one. Can you highlight one of  these elements to serve as the first line?  Of, could one of the four openings from yesterday’s blog offer the biggest curiosity? Try this – if you are writing in Deep POV, ask: what is my character thinking right now? Could this thought serve as the first line?

Quick Skills:  Know all the key elements of your first scene before you begin writing the first line.  Make it compelling, interesting and raise curiosity.

Happy writing!

Susie May

P.S. By the way, if you sign up for the daily Flashblog reminder in your email box, you receive the 5 Elements of a Best-Selling  Novel.  A quick class on those foundational elements ever editor is looking for!  Sign up at: http://forms.aweber.com/form/35/866611135.htm

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