Fiction Writing Tip – Hooks

Let's face it, there are readers who will abandon your story.  There's little worse than a boring ending to a chapter.  Give readers a reason to hang in there with you, to turn the page.  A recent review of mine on Gerry's War proved I'd kept at least one reader's interest:

"This book was really a great Sequel to Old Flames. I stayed up till 3 am finishing it and can't wait for the next in the series. The characters feel real and they act like normal people."

I did my job to keep the pages turning.  I think my best hook ever is in my upcoming firefighter story Too Late For Spring(first two pages are posted on this site):

*The men shouted and shoved back chairs as they shot to their feet to block me.  George surprised me by positioning himself in a fighting stance, albiet a wavering one.  As I jostled through the men, his arm moved swiftly to the counter.

He turned in a flash; a knife from the butcher block gripped in his hand.*

Yeah, killer hook.  Actually, this eBook will have some of my best hooks, only because it's my most violent.

One from my juvenile chapter book Archie's Gold:

*When I turned to look right I caught a glimpse of something like a curtain dropping at the corner of my eye, almost behind me.

My arm blazed with pain as if a steel vise clamped it.*

It's not difficult to write a hook if you arrange things, just don't give anything away.

 

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