A Mile In Their Shoes...

In my quest to discover what makes bestselling writers consistently bestselling, one of the most universal skills I came across was their ability to grab the ordinary person with an opening scene that included the use of some ordinary impulse that everyone has expierenced. It didn't seem to matter what, as long as it was a common reaction that we all have. This proved true no matter what type of writing it was attached to. Here are a couple that pop immediately to mind:

• It is five pm. A woman discovers that the package from the freezer she set out earlier in the day is not the chicken she expected, but the entire month's worth of lunchmeat she bought on sale and divided up only two days before. ("Crap!" response)

• At night in an airplane. Three special ops soldiers decide to smoke only minutes before they must jump out of the plane. After lighting his cigarette, the man with the match shares it with one of the others but not with the third. Because three on the same match is unlucky. ("No crap!" response)

• It is dusk, at a lonely gas station out in the middle of the desert. While a man is waiting for his gas tank to fill, he notices a lone car headed in his direction, driving erratically. ("Holy crap!" response)

These three incidents really didn't have all that much to do with the rest of the story. However, they were riviting in their few moments. Each caused me to say, "I must read a little more of this," even though -- in all three cases -- that particular catagory of literature was not my preferred reading fare. Somewhere along the line, each of these books either went past my "willing suspension of disbelief" or detoured into places I don't particularly enjoy travel

ing. But I still read the books.

Why? I really don't know. I could only conclude that these authors are masters at choosing the perfect hooks for their intended audiencces. Once hooked, we readers seem to willingly allow them to introduce us to all manner of information that is outside of our expierience, whether strange, wacky, or even bizzarre. Sometimes (at the end) I have asked myself why I wasted so much time reading such things. Then they come out with another book, and I say to myself, "Surely, they couldn't do it, again." And -- believe it, or not -- I actually go through the process all over.

You would think -- as a writer -- I could figure this out if I put my mind to it. But, alas! Even copying their oh-so-obvious-formula doesn't work for me. I can only conclude that to make so much tripe so palatable to so many people only proves one thing... they are professionals extraordinaire, and my hat is off to them. Which leads me to do some moral soul-searching. Would I do the same things if I were in their shoes?

What -- are you kidding? The only thing stopping me is I don't know how to get a pair.

Hook, Line, and Sinker...

Let’s see… where did we leave off?

"I believe Lilly got an idea and we all adjourned. Did anything pan out, Lilly?"

"Of course. Things always pan out when you add more ideas. I decided to make the format, itself, a hook, and I think it’s going to work out beautifully."

"My dear, so far you’ve got a hook in the first line, one at the end of each chapter, your main character is also a hook -- and now – you’re telling us you’ve fashioned the format into a hook? I should think at the moment, it would be too frightening for anyone to pick up."

"People like frightening, these days, Professor."

"Well, then they’re living in the right era. Personally, I prefer the last century. There seems to have been more thinking going on then. Anyway, you can’t just have a mass of hooks, we get that with the evening news. One shock, jab, or prick after another and not a thing you can do about most of it. Too many of those tangle up the lines – which are the truly essential part of any story. Wouldn’t you say so, Ann?"

"I agree everything has to end up going somewhere. But I can also see that if people are doing less thinking, one might have to shock, jab, or prick a little more to get any reactions. Then again, it depends what you’re fishing for."

"Which brings us to the most important facet of hook study. There are different kinds of hooks for different kinds of quarry. One has to know who the audience is before preparing any type of a hook. For the simple reason that what appeals to one might have little or no effect on another. Have you thought about your audience, Lilly? Do you know who they are?"

"They’re ordinary people like us."

"Too vague."

"Who don’t particularly like change. They’d rather ignore most of the irritating stuff one hears on the news, but every once in a while, something comes along to dump them into a catastrophe, and they have to deal with it."

"Better, but keep going. Are they young or old? Male or female? Working or unemployed?"

"All of the above."

"Good grief – what is this thing? Another War and Peace, only this time, with survival tips?"

"Something like that, yes. Look how worried people are over the war these days."

"Well, I’m stunned. I thought we were dealing with one of your light, experimental manuscripts for the purpose of practicing the craft, and now you’ve got us going in so many directions, I hardly see how anything beneficial can come out of it. What kind of a person is this Stella Madison, anyway? And who the blazes is the devil?"

"I beg your pardon, ladies – may I propose that we have sufficiently covered the subject of hooks?"

"What?"

"Well, it seems that if we are now demanding explanations of the who and why of these characters, we might as well get on with the subject of characters."

"Lilly’s a character, if you ask me."

"Thank you, Ann."

"I move that tomorrow we go on to the next subject. Lilly, will you be responsible for the demonstration this time? The thought of what the Professor might concoct in his lab to show character gives me the chills just thinking about it."

"Certainly. But I might at least have to get some advice from him."

"Oh, for heaven sake! I can see where this study is headed, already."


What’s happening on the farm today: Fourth day of arctic weather. Still have electricity, although the woodpile is going down fast and we now have to carry water to the animals. I used the ax to break through the ice in the horse trough this morning, but it is frozen nearly halfway down. Now is when it begins to show how really out of shape I am, and how much of a pansy I am when it comes to being out in the cold.

Habit status: Day 5 second round (beginning to move right along)

Hooked Up...

Are we all settled, now? It seems we were interrupted yesterday, and we never finished our discussion on hooks. There’s a lot more to them than just snagging attention. Since this little study is going to be a very careful look at the elements, let’s not rush things by speeding on to the next subject when we haven’t thoroughly explored the first one. We haven’t even discovered the secret part, yet. Where did we leave off?

"I left off wondering how the Professor ever came up with the idea that putting a hole in someone’s best pair of slacks was an appropriate example of a hook! The only thing I got out of that was irritated."

"There’s nothing pleasant about a hook, my dear. Their sole purpose is sinister. They are meant to capture and hold, and unless cleverly disguised, even the stupidest of creatures steer clear of them."

"I think the Professor has a valid point, Lilly. A poorly embedded hook – in the literary world -- is more apt to cause resentment than interest. Nobody likes to be taken in. It’s rather like those advertisements for free things that have hidden purchases or fees attached."

"I hate those."

"Most people do."

"If you use a hook to draw someone into a story, it better make sense. It has to be a legitimate part of the whole."

"It has to have a line attached to it, if you ask me. Any hook without a line is worthless."

"I agree. A hook should always lead somewhere. It has to be connected to the next thing, and the next, and so on."

"End of the chapter cliffhangers. Do you think every chapter should end in such a way, Ann? Or is there something to be said for a bit of a change of pace."

"I think the arch enemy of suspense is a change of pace. Readers are always looking for a good place to stop. Well, that’s one thing I don’t think you should ever give them. The only place for one of those is at the end. But once, again, if there are any contrivances showing, you’re done for."

"Fiction is nothing but contrivances. Good fiction just makes you forget it. Willing suspension of disbelief and all that. Did you bring any of those chocolate things, today, Ann?"

"After yesterday? Certainly not. I brought carrots."

"Blast."

"Now let’s scrutinize Lilly’s opening. You have promised us the devil, Lilly – is he going to show up on the scene eventually?"

"I’ll say he is."

"Is this another one of those war between good and evil themes? Thery’re getting tiresome, if you ask me. Every time you turn around another one shows up on the shelves. And these days, it’s the devil that mostly ends up on top."

"All of life is a war between good and evil, Professor. But that falls more under the heading of a theme, I should think. Which is another element that should be undetectable. Heard but not seen, you might say. Actually, this is sort of a how-to manual on survival."

"A how-to manual – your ladies trapped in the wine cellar book?"

"Certainly. It’s something everyone is concerned about lately. Myself included."

"Universal, you mean. Something we can all relate to. Which things also provide the best hooks: a car being erratically driven pulling into a gas station at night, disobedient children, a strange noise…"

"That gives me an idea! I move we postpone the rest of this discussion until tomorrow."

"Fine by me. I left the cousins experimenting with the Bunsen burner back at the lab."

"Oh, good lord, Professor!"

"They could burn the whole place down!"

"Not really, ladies. Just an example of a good universal hook. But I do need to be getting back."

"He’s impossible, lately!"


What’s happening on the farm today: We are having an ice storm that is predicted to last through the weekend. Time to fill every available container with water, bring in extra firewood, and get out the kerosene lamps for when the electricity goes out. As it invariably does during such times. I think there should be rebates from the electric company when that happens but, so far, the CEO hasn’t answered any of my emails about it.

Habit status: Day 4 of round 2 (gaining focus)

Hooked...

My goodness… you certainly all got back here in a hurry. I think this is one of the shortest days we’ve had since the beginning of the experiment. Maybe it’s because we had something to look forward to. I don’t mind saying I’m rather excited about it, too. Do you realize we have never come away disappointed when we set out to perfect the craft? We always discover some treasure we can put to good use.

"I like the part about the adventure, myself. And the fact the rest of you might finally donate enough time to help me get my ladies out of the wine cellar."

"Is that the manuscript we’ll be practicing on? As I recall, Lilly, that entire project was one big experiment. I was hoping we might actually accomplish some work during these sessions and be able to catch up with the agenda at the same time."

"I beg your pardon, Ann, but what good is moving forward on the agenda if the quality is lacking? I’m all for the treasure hunt. Let’s start with you, Professor. I can’t imagine what sort of demonstration you could come up with out of that laboratory of yours that might illustrate writing rules, but--"

"I’d prefer to save it till the end, if you don’t mind – I’ve just sweetened my tea. Besides that, Ann’s chocolate things look delicious. Let’s just lead off with the importance of hooks in general. Begin at the beginning, you might say."

"Which is exactly where the first hook should go. At the beginning. I don’t know how many times we’ve had to go back and change a beginning because it didn’t have a sufficient enough hook. I realize it’s a rough draft, Lilly, but what have you got so far?"

"When opportunity first knocked on Stella Madison’s door, she thought it was the devil."

"Splendid."

"I agree with the Professor. We might not know who Stella is at this point but we’ve all had at least a passing acquaintance with the devil. Your hook, of course, is that we would now like to know what the opportunity was. For the sake of this discussion, at what point in the manuscript do you actually tell us?"

"I don’t give out that information until page eleven, at which point it becomes one of those cliff-hanger hooks for the end of a chapter. Let me see… I believe the exact wording is: It wasn’t until the following Tuesday that the opportunity revealed itself."

"Page eleven and you haven’t told what it is, yet? What’s to keep us interested? Why should we care?"

"Well, because by that time I’ve presented several possibilities of what it could be. Sort of a who-done-it approach. I’ve always been of the opinion readers like to use their own wits in a book to figure things out, no matter what kind it is."

"That being the case, then, it seems you would have to compensate by some excellent building of Stella’s character in order for us to care enough about her to continue on. Wouldn’t you agree, Professor?"

"Undoubtedly. But it’s a difficult challenge in so short a space. How exactly did you go about it, my dear?"

"I made Stella, herself, a hook. You see, you know right off she is not who she says she is."

"Why, Lilly – what a brilliant idea!"

"Which is about as perfect a definition of a hook that you can get, ladies. Now look here. One doesn’t have to understand hooks in order for them to get your attention. They snag. They irritate. Or they interfere. A really good one will bother you until you are forced to deal with it, no matter what you were doing before it came along. Ann, you don’t by any chance have more of those chocolate things, do you?"

"There’s some more in the kitchen. If you’d like, I’ll just – what? Oh, dear!"

"Wait a minute, Ann – your sweater – it’s snagged on the back of – ooops – oh, good Lord! My best wool slacks stuck through with a fishhook! Is this your idea of a joke, Professor?"

"I believe I was asked to do a demonstration on hooks."

"Well, for heaven sake! Ann can slip out of her sweater easy enough, but this is hardly the place to slip out of my pants!"

"I’ll leave you ladies to work out your hook problems, then, and I’ll head on back to the lab."

"Turn off this blog!"


What’s happening on the farm today: A storm brewing. Wind gusting up to fifty and sixty miles an hour at times, and things flying around all over. The metal roof seems about to lift off but I can’t think what to do about it. At sea, you would put out a sea anchor and shorten sail, but one can hardly batten down the trees…


Habit status: Day 3 of round two (interrupted)