Setting Your Hook

They - whoever 'they' are...I'm never really sure - say that the first line is what hooks a reader to read the first paragraph...and that first paragraph is what keeps the reader going through the first page...and then the first chapter...and then to keep on reading to the very last sentence on the very last page. But it all hinges on a first line, a first hook, a first 5 to 20 words. That is a lot of pressure to put on just a handful of words!

A first line should set the tone of the book, and...