Gabe Redel's Blog: FRYING POTATOES BLOG - Posts Tagged "hook"
Hooking Your Reader
When I was a child, some books just pulled me in until I had no idea that I was still reading. I remember reading "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls and completely losing all composure at the end, sobbing and sniffing like I had lost my best friend.
The truth is that it is rare to find a book that does that to me. Perhaps you feel the same way.
What is it about some books that can make a reader forget they are reading for hours at a time?
Is it the author? I would say that it isn't. I've read multiple books by the same author, and sometimes I like the book and sometimes I don't.
Is it the genre? Well, who can say that they've loved every sci-fi/fantasy novel they've ever read?
So what is it that makes a book great?
For me, with "Where the Red Fern Grows," it had to do with the companionship that was shared between the boy and his dogs. Those dogs truly were his best friends, and they were pretty cool best friends at that. Those dogs could do more than most humans could do. And that's why the story made me feel so good. I believed I was the boy in the story. I believed that because of those dogs, I had two of the coolest best friends in the world, and nobody could take that away from me.
For a child who doesn't feel left out or inadequate while growing up, perhaps "Where the Red Fern Grows" wouldn't appeal to him or her as much as it did me. But because I read it at a time that I felt like I really could use two of the coolest best friends in the world, I was hooked.
The trick to hooking a reader is to find an element of their lives that they really wished were different, which is called relating to your reader. If you can write a story that makes a reader feel like he or she is writing it themselves, then you know for sure that you have written something great.
The truth is that it is rare to find a book that does that to me. Perhaps you feel the same way.
What is it about some books that can make a reader forget they are reading for hours at a time?
Is it the author? I would say that it isn't. I've read multiple books by the same author, and sometimes I like the book and sometimes I don't.
Is it the genre? Well, who can say that they've loved every sci-fi/fantasy novel they've ever read?
So what is it that makes a book great?
For me, with "Where the Red Fern Grows," it had to do with the companionship that was shared between the boy and his dogs. Those dogs truly were his best friends, and they were pretty cool best friends at that. Those dogs could do more than most humans could do. And that's why the story made me feel so good. I believed I was the boy in the story. I believed that because of those dogs, I had two of the coolest best friends in the world, and nobody could take that away from me.
For a child who doesn't feel left out or inadequate while growing up, perhaps "Where the Red Fern Grows" wouldn't appeal to him or her as much as it did me. But because I read it at a time that I felt like I really could use two of the coolest best friends in the world, I was hooked.
The trick to hooking a reader is to find an element of their lives that they really wished were different, which is called relating to your reader. If you can write a story that makes a reader feel like he or she is writing it themselves, then you know for sure that you have written something great.
