Writing Active Hooks: The Complete How-to Guide

by Mary Buckham

Are you struggling to keep readers engaged for an entire book? Discover an often-overlooked system for capturing reader attention from start to finish. Do your stories start strong but lose momentum as they go? Are you worried that your writing may hold you back from building a fan base? USA Today bestselling author Mary Buckham has decades of experience teaching writers in all genres how to hook their readers. And now, she’s here to help you do the same. Writing Active The Complete How-to Guide contains practical examples for creating the hooks you’ll need to craft a page-turner. The book teaches you which hooks are the most effective and where to position them for optimal results. With Buckham’s expert instruction and in-depth walkthroughs, you’ll master hooks and compel more readers to finish your work. In Writing Active Hooks, you’ll - The ten most common universal hooks and how to use them in fiction and nonfiction - How to determine which hooks are best suited for each of your stories - Why readers respond to hooks and how to give them additional reasons to keep reading - Step-by-step examples showing how to transform zero-hook sentences into multi-hook sentences - How to craft hooks consistently for every novel, and much, much more! Writing Active Hooks is your guidebook for creating stories your readers won’t want to put down. If you like actionable advice from a leading expert, practical exercises, and the idea of taking your writing to the next level, then you’ll love Mary Buckham’s must-have writing resource. Buy Writing Active Hooks to supercharge your stories today! “WRITING ACTIVE HOOKS is a powerful combination of fresh insights, practical examples, and how-to advice on the often overlooked but critical element of Hooks…written in a quick-to-read and easy to understand style, and packed with useful application exercises.” ~KELLY L. STONE, author of THINKING The Secret to Freeing Your Creative Mind “The Writing Active series takes an all too often overlooked technique, and elevates it to a next-level game changer for powerful fiction.” ~CATHY YARDLEY, author of ROCK YOUR PLOT

Genres: Writing

309 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 20, 2017

About the author

USA Today bestselling author Mary Buckham credits her years of international travel and curiosity about different cultures that resulted in creating high-concept urban fantasy and romantic suspense stories. Her newest Invisible Recruit series has been touted for the unique voice, high action and rich emotion. A prolific writer, Mary also co-authors the young adult sci-fi/fantasy Red Moon series with NYT bestseller Dianna Love. Mary lives in Washington State with her husband and, when not crafting a new adventure, she travels the country researching settings and teaching other writers. Don’t miss her latest reference book Writing Active Setting.

Currently she is neck-deep into writing an Urban Fantasy series centered around five women drafted to combat preternatural beings agitating for world domination. The INVISIBLE RECRUIT series combines a fantasy/paranormal element with high stakes and the pace of action adventure stories. Mary loves creating thrills, spills and spells as she follows the ups and downs of fascinating characters starting with Alex Noziak, the heroine of INVISIBLE MAGIC, INVISIBLE FATE and INVISIBLE POWER.

Reviews

[L. O'Donnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writers must master the use of hooks to keep readers engaged. It's the critical opening sentence to your book, chapter, or scene. Get the hook wrong (or miss it altogether), and your readers may bail. Mary Buckham does an amazing job of discussing different types of hooks, how they impact pacing, their uses in different genres, and how to layer them for maximum impact.

A hook is a key component of a solidly structured scene. You need them at the beginning (entry hook) and at the end (exit hook). Master these, and you'll have two critical parts of your scene done.

Mary cites many examples from popular authors to illustrate the use of hooks. She often shows a "first draft" of how an author may have started a scene before the hook is sharpened and polished. It's easy to understand and will help elevate your writing.

A must have for a writer's (and editor's) bookshelf.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers the different types of hooks that can be used In stories to keep readers engaged. There are many examples across different genres used throughout the book. I liked that Mary discusses which hooks are better for a genre and how many are good to use to set pacing. She also covers the places where hooks should be used.

There are also exercises to help you practice creating the various hooks.

This book is a great reference and I learned a few things that I will keep in mind for any future writing projects.

[Book-Lover-49 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource filled with examples.

[Dorothy Callahan]

If you're a writer... IN ANY GENRE.... you need this book. With examples and explanations, HOOKS will help you take your writing to the next level.

[Tezozomoc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid book on craft.