Story Craft Forum Hooks and Ladders

I have been doing a LOT of study on writers cafe about how people express themselves.  I notice that once you get past the population who don't really understand the English language; use irritatiing sentance structure; terrible spelling; and egos the size of Mt Rushmore; there is something to learn here. I have gotten kind of snobbish about who I read.  If I want to learn how to set up a story, I am not going to find it from a writer who has been around a while, and is rated #15,975 out of 16,000

I wanted your opinion on Hooks, and story building (for the sake of the title, Ladders).  First let me tell you how I set up a story outline for a novel and see if I am doing this right.

My first goal is to get the reader to finish the first page and want to read the second. (My first hook)  It can be anything that piques the curiosity. (What is the guy looking for? Why is it so important to him?  Who is this guy anyway?)

The second page I set the hook by giving just enough detail to make the reader want to know a little bit more.

He is going to look at page three to see if it is there.  A little bit will be, but another hook will be introduced while the other hook may or may not be resolved. ( I may tell you who the guy is, but he may not find what he is looking for until 11 chapters from now.)  The second hook will bring a different plane to the story, like a diamond is the most sparkly if it is a brilliant cut, meaning it has lots and lots of little planes catching the light.

I tend to do this: tell me if I am doing it right;

Intro a character, what he sees, feels, smells, wants.  There by producing the first hook

The reader wants him to have what he wants, or hopes deperately that he cannot have it, depending on the light shone on the character.

The character interacts with something, there must be action to keep the tale interesting.  Action can be just that, movement, or dialoge, or conflict.

Conflict needs to be on at least every other page of some kind.  No conflict, flat story.  I like to place the conflict in the middle of the two pages the reader has facing him (unless he is defacing the book by turning it backwards on it's spine)  Hooks go on the second page, just before it gets turned to get the reader to move forward.  Conflict does not have to be a brawl.  It can simply be trying to get to the next town to an important event.  ( I have seen this way overdone by other writers though. Some books spend all their time traveling, and very little time actually doing anything interesting.  These books; nine chapters of traveling to three chapters of story line; I get bored with and never finish)  

Continuity is really important and gets my highest focus during editing.  Did the strawberry plant get planted early enough in the story to produce fruit, or is the plant full grown and chunking berries at you in 3 days?  Did the good guy get the something he needed off the bad guy BEFORE the bad guy storyline was finished, or did he just happen to stumble over it and magically remember how to use it after the bad guy is on a different planet?   Remember the bad guy would kill someone for the possesion of the something the good guy now has, so he did not just casually toss it away.  Did a third party intervene in a goal somewhere?  Who has what now and why?

I use the parts of the page where I am setting a hook to flesh out the characters.  I want these guys to be real to the reader.  I want even my bad guys to have hopes and dreams and ambitions and frailties.  The only real difference between my bad guys and my good guys is their regard for their fellow man.  The bad guys don't give a hoot who they hurt to fulfill the goal, the good guy is careful along the way to lift and help others to gain their goals too if he can while trying to reach his.  Sometime helping others reach their goals IS the good guys' goal.  I guess it is the ensemble approach isn't it?

Sometimes a good brawl is just what the reader needs, if it isn't done too often though.  I usually have at least one good brawl in every book.  The bad guy is hell-bent in getting his way, and everybody else is saying "I don't think so!"  The brawl is usually right at the end of a character story line.  After all who wants to read further about the guy who was put in jail finally?  The rest of the book was world peace for the good guy.  The reader wants the world peace part.   The trickiest part for me is setting backwards hooks in the World Peace section to get the readers who read the last chapter first to actually want to read the book. 

The World Peace part usually ties up MOST but not all of the loose ends if the book is a series.  Dad leaves to complete the task he began in chapter 5, Mom enrolls the kids in school and finishes her goal, whatever it was,  the neighbor is happy to finally get his grass to grow now that the bad guy has stopped tearing it up (or whatever I hope you get the point)  Life goes on, the reader gets to see all the good things happen he has been hoping for, except.... The rest of the story in the next book.

Anyway, this is how I write books.  I am brand new to the industry, and could use any pointers and suggestions you guys might have.  I really want to be an interesting writer.  I love to write.  I want to let the reader have as much fun as I am having.  So what do you think?

A.L.:

Your hooks and ladders go more into story detail placement and mechanics than I ever thought to look. Brava! Those hooks and ladders landing at specific places on pages of a book might be a tad difficult unless you specifically get involved with the actual typesetting of the book or short. Fonts, pica, kerning,... those are typically the publisher's purview and not the writer. While understanding writing to that level is certainly a plus, for me it would get in the way of the writing and story creation portion of the exercise. And, that is the part I like most about writing. But,... you do bring out some really good points that I haven't considered before. Hmm.

 

For me, the story crafting part of writing is taking the concept into a "real" moment. What is this person or persons like? What is their world like? What are the variables to their world? Whether it is a rural Kansas farm girl with far away dreams or a big city dock worker with dreams of more, it is their stories and the world around them that creates 'the story' and the telling of it.

 

There is a more 'main stream' or mechanic methodology to writing. I find it difficult to sit through movies sometimes because I start analyzing scenes ... especially when blatant ... and the transition points between acts. Most movies are 5 act plays. Intro+build+turning point+build+climax. It is a literary/visual rollercoaster. When the acting is done really well and I forget I am watching a movie, movies are enjoyable and I am taken on a journey with those actors. But, bad acting, direction, editing, script,... et cetera comes down to poor story crafting. It isn't one element or mechanic that makes story crafting wonderful. It is the fun mix of all of those elements. Much like a chef mixes the same things as the short order cook would, it is the production, planning, placement, and presentation that makes all of the difference.

 

In my wirting, I try to make the story compelling. If I like it. If I can see it as cinema. If it starts to live, then I can try to communicate it. If I communicate well, readers will enjoy it. I do not 'worry' over the mechanics of it until after the story becomes real to me. Then, I will let the story 'play' until I see where it is going. Where is the story taking me? Or, where do I want the story to conclude? I think on these things as I write, and before I write as I develop the concept.

 

If hooks and ladders work for you, then go for it. It may not work for everyone. Just as, I am sure, my methodologies will not work for everyone. WC is a workshop. Toss out them ideas. Let others play with them. See how they go. The best coaches are the ones striving to learn better their own writing craft. The ones that have already arrived, well... :|

 

I hope this helped a bit. I do tend to ramble at times. The main goal is to keep writing, keep studying writing, and keep writing... emphasis on the keep writing part. Keep writing.

 

Cheers!

Doc.

I think of hooks on a more basic level.  At the beginning, I call it the 500-word rule. 

In the first 500 words (two pages of a book), I must:

1. Introduce the main character in some way, even if he/she doesn't appear right away.  There must be a hole for the missing character to fill, a mystery.

2. I must give at least a basic setting to place the action.  The reader must be able to visualize the atmosphere almost immediately.

3. I must present a conflict which may either touch on the plot or lead to it.  A kernal of the plot must be there.

4. I try to get the reader to ask a question, a question that will drag them, perhaps unwillingly to page three and onward.

5. (optional) I prepare a hook for my target audience.  I write in a number of genre, and if for example, I'm writing romance/erotica (not what ordinarily passes for it on the WC), I must initiate some kind of relationship or lack thereof, a desire, a need.  I want something magical to get the reader in the mood (for whatever I'm writing).

Thinking more mechanically, I try to make the first sentence punchy or unusual right away - that creates an immediate mystery.  For me, starting off a story with a panorama is death.  Some action must happen before it.  Give a hint of the action and then place it.  The first 250 words must be exquisite, and getting close to 500 words, I consciously try to clearly enunciate an issue that must be resolved.

I usually think of the story in scenes (often 3 related ones per chapter), and each should propel the reader into the next.  I don't do it often, but a good device/hook at a chapter break is to leap sideways, either to another character or a distant scene.  Leave something from the previous chapter unresolved for another chapter or two.  That's what keeps me reading (or even writing) until 2 am.

That is what all of us wants: to never give the reader an opportunity to put the book down.  I don't mean it has to be action-packed.  It just has to have enough questions to keep the reader searching for the answers - and not quite finding them.  Seduction - that's how I think of it - to keep the readers interested, even if the content isn't their usual fare.