Hello, Rock Stars!
Recently, I went through some feedback I received from an editor on the first 50 pages of my WIP. I also took a week off from any writing and simply read as much as I could. I managed to inhale four YA novels, and it was amazing to pick up on certain patterns that confirmed what the developmental editor had suggested but I was fighting to implement. I wanted to share her two top pieces of advice with you today.
1. Your hook sets the tone of your entire story, and should encapsulate a theme more than just tease.
I absolutely love this, because a lot of times I only think of a hook as simply a phrase that gets readers going, but in truth it is much more than that. Here are three of the hooks I read that helped me see this:
“Our dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley.” -Uprooted by Naomik Novik
You have no idea how much of the story is wrapped up in this simple, yet effective sentence. Does it intrigue you? Yes. But when you read the entire book, you realize that it does more than that. The dragon (or wizard protector of the valley), and the girls he takes every ten years play such an intricate role in the underlying magic that rules this land that another sentence would have fallen short.
“The myths of my people say only a true bride of the Sea God can bring an end to his insatiable wrath.” -The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
This sentence achieves the same goal as the first one. The entire story surrounds the Sea God and the search for his true bride, and it also (though you don’t know this yet), plays with the natural changes of truths and lies built up over time through folklore storytelling. Spoiler alert: the Sea God was never angry.
“The bell hanging outside the curiosity shop knew the human was trouble from the way he moved through the door.” -Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
Another great sentence that pulls you not just into the story, but introduces you to a concept that plays a role throughout the entire series (Evangeline being able to hear bells as guides). It sparks curiosity immediately, and even though it doesn’t encapsulate the theme of the story like the other two do, it still gives you more than just a hook to keep reading.
2. Your inciting event should be introduced in your first chapter.
I was fighting this one with the editor, because I felt that I had to set some things up for future chapters. But after reading these four books in a week (and actually there were 5, if I include the sequel to one of them) I realized that for the reader to truly jump into that launcher and be completely submerged as fast as possible, we can leave no room for the story to slow down or take forever to take off.
It was incredibly eye opening to experience this epiphany so fast in such a short period of time with so many books. It really made me look at my overall approach to the first chapter, and how I need to see my own writing and pacing.
I hope you found these just as valuable as I did. Here’s to another week of dreaming away at the keyboard!
Have a wonderful weekend!
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M.C. Muhlenkamp 