In reading some of the recent threads, advice from some of the more successful indies often includes "write hooky books". I'm not disputing that books with solid hooks are more likely to be successful (although I would be interested in any insights about how to market/promote non-hooky books that still have compelling, intricate plots and characters).
What I'm really curious about right now is: what makes a hook, and does it vary by genre?
As I was thinking about hooks, I found that it was easy for me to imagine hooks for the romance genre, probably since it seems like tropes are so heavily used by writers and often relied upon by readers to find books they want. So a hook becomes, as I understand it, trope + spin. The familiar thing plus the unique spin that this book puts on it.
In other genres, tropes aren't seen as much like a good thing (or so it appears to me). So maybe for them it would be more like: familiar thing + spin.
I think having that familiar thing up front gives the reader something to latch onto right away, so their attention doesn't wander by the time you get to the second part of the sentence. It can also serve to immediately turn off people who probably are the wrong audience. Then, if they're on board with whatever the familiar thing is, you offer up the spin to show them why they should read *this* book instead of all the other ones with that familiar thing.
"It's a Cinderella retelling, but--"
Wrong reader: "Pass."
Right reader: "Tell me more."
At which point, the wrong answer is, "That's it," and the right answer is something interesting, like, "she turns back into a man at midnight."
So it's easy for me to come up with hook ideas for romance, because tropes are common and appreciated and usually immediately imply what the romantic conflict/plot is, but how are hooks different for other genres? Or are they different? Maybe I'm just not thinking the right way about them.
What I'm really curious about right now is: what makes a hook, and does it vary by genre?
As I was thinking about hooks, I found that it was easy for me to imagine hooks for the romance genre, probably since it seems like tropes are so heavily used by writers and often relied upon by readers to find books they want. So a hook becomes, as I understand it, trope + spin. The familiar thing plus the unique spin that this book puts on it.
In other genres, tropes aren't seen as much like a good thing (or so it appears to me). So maybe for them it would be more like: familiar thing + spin.
I think having that familiar thing up front gives the reader something to latch onto right away, so their attention doesn't wander by the time you get to the second part of the sentence. It can also serve to immediately turn off people who probably are the wrong audience. Then, if they're on board with whatever the familiar thing is, you offer up the spin to show them why they should read *this* book instead of all the other ones with that familiar thing.
"It's a Cinderella retelling, but--"
Wrong reader: "Pass."
Right reader: "Tell me more."
At which point, the wrong answer is, "That's it," and the right answer is something interesting, like, "she turns back into a man at midnight."
So it's easy for me to come up with hook ideas for romance, because tropes are common and appreciated and usually immediately imply what the romantic conflict/plot is, but how are hooks different for other genres? Or are they different? Maybe I'm just not thinking the right way about them.