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Nov
26
[Author's Clinic] Captain Hook’s Writing Clinic
November 26, 2007 |
Did you ever think that a story about grammar would begin in a hospital? This is one of the more innovative hooks I’ve ever seen.
A hook is something that pulls you into a story. It grabs you by the collar, so to speak, and makes you immediately want to know what the story is about.
Good titles are the hook that makes someone want to read your book, story or article. Naturally once you have their attention you want to hold it. Check out this excellent hook:
Boost your immunity to the illness that kills your credibility: subject-verb inflammatory disease.
This is an article in the current issue of Writers Digest Magazine. Read the whole story. Bonnie Trenga, the author of the article, tells us a few things in this title:
1. There is a literary illness that kills credibility and we may have it
2. She is going to use a medical hook for a grammar story.
Right there, before reading the article, I am intrigued. I want to find out where she is going with this unusual angle.
The title is enough to make you pick up the article or book, but the beginning of the story has a big job too. The first paragraph needs to be compelling enough that the reader feels it was worth the time and effort to start reading. I would like you to notice how the author begins her story. She does not give a boring grammar lesson.
She hooks you in with a story:
“GOOD GRAMMAR instincts never die—even when the grammarian is lying dazed on a hospital gurney. As I was being rolled to the OR early in my copy-editing career, a grammar error jumped out and got me. When I pointed a weak finger and gasped sharply, my husband must have thought I needed more morphine. A blue sign dared to warn: ‘The use of cell phones and pagers are prohibited.’ “
She and I must be twins separated at birth. I notice things like that on signs and in anything I read as well. But this is the point and a writing challenge for you.
Whether you are writing an article or a book, working from an intriguing hook will amp up your writing AND pull people into your subject.
Your Homework:
1. One of the best places to get ideas for arresting titles is The National Enquirer. You can check it out online, but the feel of something in your hands can make a difference. Pick one up at the store or go to the bookstore with a notebook and jot down some of the titles taht grab your attention.
2. Take an experience from your life that may seem like an unlikely connection to your subject and think of a way to link them. The author did this in her story using her hospital experience and the medical angle to hook you into her grammar lesson.
The more you write, the more you develop your own style — your own “writer’s voice.”
Tags: MLM, legend, Kama Sutra of Storytelling, storyation, Blog Talk Radio, Awaken The Author Within
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Ronda Del Boccio, The Story Lady of Storyation.com is an author, dynamic speaker, author coach, story coach.
She is the author of I'll Push, You Steer: The Definitive Guide to Stumbling Through Life with Blinders On
The Kama Sutra of Storytelling: Positioning, Power and Profit
and her upcoming book...
The Geometry of Success: 5 Simple Shapes that Shape Your Life
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