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Mary Rosenblum
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Hello all.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I hope you had an excellent
weekend and that spring has finally arrived everywhere.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I wanted to talk about hooks
today, because I've been seeing a lot of hook problems in student
manuscripts lately
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Mary Rosenblum
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as well as manuscripts that
I've been working on for a conference workshop.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It seems to be a topic worth
touching on again.
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Mary Rosenblum
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A hook is simply an enticement
at the very start of your piece that encourages the reader to keep reading
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Mary Rosenblum
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and not to put the book back
on the shelf or flip to the next story or article in the magazine.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Readers, consciously or
otherwise, use those opening lines or paragraphs as a test...does this look
like something I want to read?
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Mary Rosenblum
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So it is important!
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Mary Rosenblum
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In nonfiction, your hook and
lead not only entice the reader, they also let the readers know just what
the article is about.
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redwagon
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Are there any forbidden 'hooks'?
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Mary Rosenblum
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There's no forbidden anything
in writing, red. The only criterion is It Must Work.
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illegible
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Are there exercises for
practicing hooks?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Just do them. See how exciting
you can make it sound! You'll find writing books on the subject.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Actually, that's going to be a
writing prompt for the LR newsletter. Stay tuned.
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rrmama
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Are a hook and a lead the same
thing in nonfiction?
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Mary Rosenblum
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No, although they're connected
rr.
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Mary Rosenblum
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The hook entices the reader. "Throwing
out those florist tulips? Think again."
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Mary Rosenblum
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That's your hook. The reader
who's about to dump that post of gift flowers, now yellowed' reads on.
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Mary Rosenblum
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With a quick repotting and a
little TLC those flowers can live again.
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Mary Rosenblum
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The lead tells the reader that
this article is about how to report those faded tulip bulbs and get them to
bloom again. The body of the article will be the steps...the how to.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Now in fiction, you're donig
the opposite of Nonfiction where you want to make it clear to the readers
what the article is about.
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Mary Rosenblum
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In fiction you're using the
reader
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Mary Rosenblum
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curiosity to suck them into
the story. What's happening here???
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gre23
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How do you know if your hook
works?
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Mary Rosenblum
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The only real way to know if
anything works, gre, is to get reader feedback.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's a good idea to find some
other novice writers or experienced readers who can give you useful
feedback on your work.
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Mary Rosenblum
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This is okay or this is awful
is not useful feedback.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But...'I thought this article
was about dog training and it's about parenting issues' is useful feedback.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You've confused your reader.
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Mary Rosenblum
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When you give something to a
reader ask specifically -- did my opening make you want to read on?
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Mary Rosenblum
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In fiction, it's a good idea
to begin with action or dialogue rather than a big blob of backstory.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Now short story hooks and
novel hooks can be quite different.
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Mary Rosenblum
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In a short story your words
are limited, so you want to propel the reader directly into the first plot
element.
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Mary Rosenblum
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What I see a lot in short
stories are a page of backstory setting up the character and the setting,
then the story finally begins.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Not good. Most readers will
jump ship by then.
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Mary Rosenblum
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In a short story, start with
action and weave the backstory into the action and dialogue. All this
readers need to know is enough that the scene makes sense.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That can be very little.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You can add backstory right up
to your climax.
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kish100
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Immediatly following the hook is
important too isn't it?
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Mary Rosenblum
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It is, Chris, good question!
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Mary Rosenblum
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What I have seen a lot of
lately is what I call a 'disconnected hook'.
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Mary Rosenblum
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The writer dutifully gives us
a nice sharp hook. Jennie snatched up the broken rake and drove the
splintered end into the vampire's chest.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Then we instantly leap
backward three weeks in time to : Jennie peered out the grimy bus window as
the ancient vehicle bounced and groaned its way up the mountain...
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Mary Rosenblum
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and for the next page and a
half or more, we hear all about how she arrived at the castle where the
vampire lived.
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Mary Rosenblum
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This is not good. :-)
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Mary Rosenblum
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Your hook has the readers on
the edges of their seats. What happens next!!!!???
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Mary Rosenblum
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So when you drop the scene
cold and retreat into backstory you not only ruin the suspense of the
moment as our eyes glaze over but you annoy readers.
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speckledorf
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And Jennie wouldn't be thinking
about having to run to the store to get a new rake darn it all:--)
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Mary Rosenblum
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Yeah, there is plausibility of
character thought, word, and deed, too.
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Mary Rosenblum
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If you start with an exciting
event...
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Mary Rosenblum
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you need to bring that event
to its natural conclusion. Don't drop it and skip way back in time!
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redwagon
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Should you have a hook at every
chapter beginning, as well as at the start of the story? Should you, not
-do you have to...!
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Mary Rosenblum
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Well, in a different sort of
way, red.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You want to avoid the 'Indiana
Jones' style of narrative, where every chapter ends with a life and death
cliff hanger and
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Mary Rosenblum
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the next chapter starts with a
narrow escape.
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Mary Rosenblum
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What you do need at a chapter
start is a different kind of hook. You need to make the where/when/who
crystal clear in the course of the scene.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That means we need to know
where we are, when this scene is taking place relative to the previous
chapter, and who the POV is.
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kish100
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so, action runs the story
history moves readers along?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Yes. Action is the backbone of
the story -- it drives the plot forward continuously. I'm including
dialogue in action by the way.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Speaking and acting move the
story forward.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Internal narrative and visual
description give the story depth.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But internal narrative or
visuals without character action/dialogue stop the forward movement.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That's why you want to avoid
expository lumps (big chunks of telling or thinking).
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Mary Rosenblum
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BUT...action and dialogue
without visuals or internal narrative is thin, without depth and won't
engage readers strongly.
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Mary Rosenblum
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So you from your hook, you
want to keep that action flowing forward.
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Mary Rosenblum
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When you shift into the past
to load us up with backstory you stop the forward motion right off the bat.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Think about driving a car -- hitting
the gas then slamming on the brake. Ouch.
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pegram
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How can you tell when to do
narritive?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Mostly practice, pegram. Read
a scene and then objectively ask yourself what you see/hear in that scene.
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Mary Rosenblum
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If the answer is 'nothing' you
need some action!
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redwagon
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"It was a dark and stormy
night..." Honestly, isnt night always dark? I guess weather can be a
hook, even if it's obvious? Is the real hook here, the storm?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Yes, you CAN use weather as a
hook but be aware that every reader on the planet (except the ones who live
on desert islands and haven't read a book in 50 years) will be
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Mary Rosenblum
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thinking 'dark and stormy
night!' when they read that weather hook.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Alas, cliches can ruin some
great starts! :-) Yes, you can still use a weather hook, but make it a
STRONG weather hook.
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illegible
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can you shape the 1st paragraph
to accelerate using setting, character and situation and not overcrowd it?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Yes, and that's where skill
comes in, illeg.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Your hook can't confuse
readers, so you instantly have to fill in enough story details so that it
makes sense.
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Mary Rosenblum
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She plunged the knife into the
stallion's throat.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Wow, powerful image.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But reader questions are going
to demand some kind of explanation here.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That means in the next THREE sentences
we'd better have a clue about what is taking place here.
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illegible
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she had no other way of slowing
down the hurtling, crazed animal.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Only you'd show this to us, illeg...let
us see her in a stall, see the damage to the horse, she wipes the knife
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Mary Rosenblum
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on her dusty jeans and tells
Larry, who just ran into the barn, 'I should start carrying a gun.'
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Mary Rosenblum
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Now we have bad injury image,
and the context of western range and cowboys and mercy killing.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Or you show us white robed
priests and a braided leather halter, an alter piled with wood and it's the
King Horse sacrifice in ancient Elusis
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illegible
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you're right. Cause I was
picturing her riding the hurtling, crazed animal with no way to stop it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You need to do the
choreography there, illeg. :-)
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illegible
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what do you mean?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Just that any time you plan an
extreme action scene -- a sword fight, something like this, you need to
really figure out what's possible and what isn't and what it would require
to do that action.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Now in a novel, you have more
leeeway.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You don't have to begin a
novel the way you begin a short story, although it's fine if you do.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But you have your first
chapter to hook the reader.
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illegible
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an issue of plausibility?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Yes. If readers see a hole in
your story where they KNOW it couldn't happen like this, you shatter that
entire suspension of disbelief.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's worth making sure that
your facts and actions are very plausible.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Now that does NOT mean that
you can fill that first chapter with backstory.
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yarnsome
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When's the best time to write
the hook?
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Mary Rosenblum
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In my opinion if your first
five pages hook the reader strongly, you're ahead of the game, yarn.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But generally, as long as
manage to hook the reader somewhere in that chapter and include the first
plot element you should be okay.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Now you can hook the reader
with action that is not part of the main plot as you set up world and
characters.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Remember I mostly write in the
SF/fantasy universe. So I have to build a new world for readers as I go.
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redwagon
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What chapter[s] should contain
the backstory?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Red, all chapters should
contain backstory, right up to your climax chapter.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You do not want to simply stop
and dump and entire chapter's worth of backstory on the reader.
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Mary Rosenblum
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As your characters act and
speak, weave that backstory in. We'll learn it through coversation, letters
from home, POV thoughts, that sort of thing.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Slip us a bit here, another
bit there, keep it coming.
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aelle
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Exactly what is the 'first plot
element'?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Good question, Aelle. :-)
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Mary Rosenblum
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That is the first event that
leads the characters directly toward the climax and resolution.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Here's an example. The novel
opens with a raid on a village -- a low tech world, the raiders are mounted
and use bows...
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Mary Rosenblum
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the villagers use bows and
slings. The raiders are driven off and in the process of all this we meet a
young man who is the
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Mary Rosenblum
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illegitimate son of the
headman born to a lowly mother. And after the raid, he's out searching for
a bow
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Mary Rosenblum
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that might have been dropped
by a raider because he isn't allowed to make one and he's captured by the
raiderrs.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And that event starts him on
his journey to the main city and his ultimate destiny as he finds out he's
really the High King's son, not the headman's by-blow.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That capture is the first plot
element, but the raid action serves as a hook to interest the readers in
this world.
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yarnsome
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Do you write your hooks after
you've finished your book?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Sometimes. That happened more
often when I was a novice and really wasn't sure where a story started when
I wrote it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I'd have to go back, trim off
the 'pre story' part and come up with a strong hook.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Most of the time now I have a
good hook from the get go. I love coming up with strong hooks. They're
rarely life and death action but usually
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Mary Rosenblum
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some kind of visually strong
action that allows me to build a world quickly.
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adularia2
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What are the most common hook
mistakes?
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Mary Rosenblum
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The one I see most often,
adularia, is the super sharp hook -- she stabs the vampire -- and then the
reader skips back in time to dump a ton of backstory on us.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That really turns readers off.
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Mary Rosenblum
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By the time we get back to the
vampire stabbing, the suspense is of course gone and we really don't care
any more.
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pegram
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Do you use the title as a hook
too?
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Mary Rosenblum
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If I can. Sigh. I have a
love/hate relationship with titles. They either spring instantly into my
head or they never really work.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That's why I did my title
prompt in this week's newsletter. :-) You don't even have to write the
story, just come up with a cool title.
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redwagon
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Is there a good time for
introducing subplot? Right away or more towards the middle of a novel?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Depends on how the subplot
ties in, red.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Usually it walks onstage in
the guise of a character, so whenever that character steps into the book,
he/she hauls the subplot in at the same time.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You can always go back on
revision and weave in subplots that occurred to you partway through the
book.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I have about three subplots in
my 'revision notes' file that have to be woven into the first part of the
novel I'm currently finishing.
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redwagon
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Go back and weave...thats what I
hoped you'd say ; )
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Mary Rosenblum
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Of course. A novel is rarely
if ever 'finished' after a first draft! None of mine ever have been, that's
for sure.
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kish100
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If vamp was one of many servants
to a master it would hook?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Anything can hook, Chris. It's
HOW you write it that gets the reader attention, not what is happening.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You want drama, clear action,
and you want the reader to be wondering 'what's going on?' and read on to
find out.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But then you have to answer at
least some of those questions -- not all!
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Mary Rosenblum
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You can dole out clues and
bits of information as the story unfolds.
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Mary Rosenblum
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As long as readers know enough
that the action makes sense and they sort of know what's happening, you're
fine.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You don't have to hand them
everything! And you shouldn't. Satisfying our curiosity is right up there
with eating chocolate as a pleasurable activity.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Don't feed your readers a
pound box of chocolates in chapter one!
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Mary Rosenblum
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You'll make them sick!
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Mary Rosenblum
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So remember...for fiction,
start with action and dialogue and arouse reader curiosity, then keep the
story moving forward.
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Mary Rosenblum
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for NF, arouse reader interest
then reveal what your article is going to be about.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That's your lead -- what this
article will be about.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Thanks for coming all!
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Mary Rosenblum
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I'll post the transcripts in
the usual place:
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Mary Rosenblum
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Writing Craft: Forum
Transcripts.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Go try my 'titlemania' prompt.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's in this week's
newsletter. Click on Free Writers News on the LR Website
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Mary Rosenblum
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Or go to Writing Craft:
Newsletter
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