Creating strong 'hook,' Part 3

February 22, 2012

Suzanne Collins'  hook in 'The Hunger Games'


God! Look at that opening!

'When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out; seeking Prim's warmth but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. Of course she did. This is the day of the reaping.'

The mood here is so ominous - hook. The word selection is so dangerous - hook. The final sentence in the paragraph provides such tension. Your eyes have no choice but to leap forward to the next paragraph - hook. Your mind is already at war with your emotions - outstanding hook.

No wonder this novel raced to the top of the YA charts. You are tossed 'smack dab' into the middle of this scene, with little choice about it, and absolutely no escape route. Collins has you, and she has worked too hard at crafting this opening to let you go. You are putty in her hands, and isn't that a great feeling?

Notice also Collins's powerful use of nouns, not adjectives. One more adjective might have killed this scene. The paragraph seems simple enough, but if you think it was easy to craft, think again.

Short, choppy sentences. Say it! Don't mess around with words. Don't insult your reader, go for their heart. This is the key to good writing and a great opening to a novel.

I admire so much that Collins created such a powerful opening scene using rumination - a character's thought process. She does not utilize back and forth dialogue or fast action, but instead relies on a first-person glimpse into the mind of her character. A mind that is insecure, fearful. In fact, so ominous is this scene, that it leaves the reader unsettled. Big time unsettled. Unsettled a'la Stephen King.

All of us who write fiction strive to achieve what Suzanne Collins succeeds with in 'The Hunger Games.' Give your readers great escape, great connection. Make them feel for your characters. Empathy - ask for their heart and give them closure in return.