Setting the Hook - How do you start your story?

One of the most important steps in writing a story, any story, is your beginning. The opening sentence, the beginning paragraph, the first page - That's your chance to hook your reader into turning the page and being so intrigued that they are compelled to buy the book.

Sounds easy, right?

Not as easy as you'd think. One of the mistakes new writers tend to make is to start the story in the wrong place, or opening with an action that isn't exciting, like waking up in the morning. Many of those in the know suggest starting in media res, that is to start in the middle of the action.

Out of curiosity I decided to pull a couple of my favorite books and see how they started:

From the book I'm currently reading: THE RED NECKLACE by Sally Gardner: "This is Paris; here the winds of change are blowing, whispering their discontent into the very hearts of her citizens."

From GRACELING by Kristin Cashore: "In these dungeons the darkness was complete, but Katsa had a map in her mind."

From HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins: "When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold."

From TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer: "I'd never given much thought to how I would die - though I'd had reason enough in the last few months - but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this."

From HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE: "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."

What do you think of those opening lines? Which one is your favorite?

My agent, Kate Schafer Testerman and another agent, Kristin Nelson, held a first pages panel in Denver recently and Kristin blogged about their thoughts on how to best start your story. You can read the entire post here. I can tell you this much: They would have requested to read one (1!) out of the 20 first pages that they read.

There's another good article on setting the hook from editor Alan Rinzler which you can read here.

Here's the opening line of my current WIP:

From PULSE by Kiki Hamilton: "The day they found the first dead girl on campus started out like any other day."

What's the first line of your current WIP? Post it here and let's share!!

Insider look at promoting your book

I love business. I love the process of understanding the features and benefits of your product and identifying market demand. There's an art to devising the best method to bring a product to market, pricing the item correctly and maximizing exposure, not only to your target market but to ancillary markets that you might not have orginally identified. I've been fortunate enough to work in several different industries where we are selling something and while the products change, the underlying process does not.

As I've returned to a first love of writing it's been an interesting process to understand how the business of writing and publishing works. I've learned in stages. First, the art of the craft - one must learn the essential first step of writing well enough for someone to consider publishing your words. Not as easy as an outsider would think. Second, the mystery of acquiring representation. Learning who the agents are representing your genre and then finding those that will recognize and understand your voice. Third, finding an editor that shares your vision for your book and wants to publish it. (I'm in the middle of the learning curve on this one....stay tuned) and now returning back to the idea of business - fourth - working with a publishing house to form a successful business model to publish your words and maximize their exposure. And did I mention the profitable bottom line part? Everybody in business likes that idea.

So, to that end, I'm posting an excerpt from Alan Rinzler's blog, (Alan is an industry insider who's been in the publishing world for 46 years) which is actually entitled 'How to negotiate a bigger book advance' but really speaks to the reality of an author's responsibility in marketing and selling their own book in the ever-changing publishing industry. If you want to read the entire article go here. Otherwise, here are Alan's thought-provoking tips:


What you can do to negotiate a higher advance

1. Be a celebrity ~ Tina Fey just got upwards of $6 million for an unspecified humor book. Incredible, yes? That’s an exceptional figure by any stretch, but if you can claim a measure of celebrity status in your particular field, it can help boost your own advance.

2. Be honest and smart about your platform ~ Be sure to have that web site up and working, and a blog posting going out at least two or three times a week, before your book goes out for sale.

3. Tell the publisher how many names you’ve captured for own your email list ~ We know that a certain percentage of any blast to a personal email list will buy the book, and they’ll add in those numbers to their total units sold first year.

4. Tell us how many email lists you’re going to purchase yourself ~ These are not very expensive, and they’re key for ongoing email blasts. Publishers know that these lists work and are delighted to keep adding in more units. I know an author who sent out two million emails for his first book and it worked so well he’s committed to sending seven million the next time around. If you get the right lists for your book’s market, it can definitely pump up those numbers.

5. Commit to hiring your own publicity professional or web site marketing specialist ~ Every successful author I know these days has their own publicity and marketing people to fill in all the gaps left by conventional publishing efforts. Publishers will increase their projections when they hear you’re planning on this, so do this for at least a few months before and after pub date, and further, if all goes well.

6. Sell a chapter from your book to a respected periodical ~ That proves your work is already recognized and that it has a real market. For fiction there are many excellent literary journals. They may not have a huge circulation but publishers respect their taste and judgment. For non-fiction it depends on your topic, but there are good magazines and journals in every field.

7. Include a DVD in your proposal ~ Whether it’s you on a big network show or at the local Kiwanis, we want to see who you are and how you present. In one case, a first-time author sent me a home video her husband took of her full-face, just talking into the camera. She was so telegenic and persuasive that we doubled our numbers and paid her a larger advance.

8. Get endorsements from recognizable names ~ Go for published authors, respectable experts, folks with good affiliations and credentials. Sure there’s a lot of mutual back-scratching in the blurbs business, but it really does work to have an outside quotation, publishers do want them, and it affects their estimated numbers.

9. Meet the editors, sales and publicity people ~ Offer to come into our offices, especially when your dollar expectations are high. Making the human connection can greatly strengthen your case. As an editor, I sometimes bring an author in to meet with key decision-makers on my team.