What Should a Reader Find in a Scene or Chapter?

When you read a chapter or a scene of a novel, look for the opening hook. Does the author grab your attention in some way that raises the stakes for the characters? Do the opening sentences and paragraphs hold your interest?

The different genres hook you in their own ways. A romance might hook you through the beauty of the narrative description of the location, or it might start with a surprising kiss from a stranger. These are considered soft hooks. They grab your attention, but they don’t put you on the edge of your seat like a good thriller does. That’s because romance isn’t about the edge of your seat. It’s about the depths of your heart.

In a horror thriller, like my new novel Hags, each scene and chapter opens with a grabber. Something happens to set the stage for action. The best hooks do what the name implies – they grab your attention like a fish hook and pull you into the murky depths of the story.

As you move into the chapter, you’ll find the author revealing more of the secrets of the tale. In the early going for a horror, something is happening but you’re not sure what. Then, BAM, out of nowhere you catch a glimpse out of the corner of your eye. What was that? Well, that’s all you’re going to learn in this scene, but you have moved the story forward and you learned some other stuff, like the girl really does like the guy even if she does give him a hard time and doesn’t believe him about the events in the cave a few chapters back.

But you can’t rest on a few new facts and quick peek at the monster. The author has to move you forward into the next scene or chapter. And the means of moving you on is the hook. Oh, my gosh, Cecilia just fell through that hole in the floor we didn’t see before. I think she was about to kiss the guy. Can the hero find a way to save her? (BTW, none of these examples are in Hags.)

Read a healthy chunk of Hags free by clicking on the book cover icon after you click over to the Kindle version on Amazon. Available for your Kindle reader by clicking here.  The paperback version is available by clicking here.

Don’t have a Kindle reader? Download the free version for your computer, tablet or smart phone from Amazon by clicking here.

Here’s another novel idea…
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