Over on the Snarkology blog, we have the first guest post in the month-long ‘Paths to Publishing’ series, from author Lynn Crain. She has a lucid and compelling essay about the importance of a great opening hook.
For readers who might not know the term, the ‘hook’ is either the opening line(s), or a snappy one-sentence blurb in the query (often called the ‘logline’, too.) Hooks are so important to authors that entire workshop panels are devoted to crafting them.
Why? Readers – and agents, editors, and reviewers – will look at that first page of your work, and judge it instantly. In order to read the first chapter, they have to love the first page. A brilliant hook will keep them there long enough to read it.
Check out Lynn’s post, site, and fiction excerpt, and join the comments.