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LIVE Q&A: Perfecting Your Opening Hook

LIVE Q&A: Perfecting Your Opening Hook

February 9, 2019 Conference 2019, Live 2019 35 Comments

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Jacqueline
Jacqueline
2 years ago

What are some of the primary differences between your pitch and the section of your query letter devoted to summarizing your book?

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Dave Wright
Dave Wright
2 years ago

Many stories start with the MC already in a negative situation (it’s part of impetus), but when you want to start the MC in sunshine and picket fences before you drop the anvil on their head, are there tricks to doing it successfully?

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Hannah
Hannah
2 years ago

Do you have any tips specifically regarding the first line?

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aneeqah
aneeqah
2 years ago

What are some ways to clearly and succinctly establish a character in your opening hook? Thanks so much for your time!

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Martha
Martha
2 years ago

Should your opening hook involve comp titles? What are the advantages and disadvantages of comp titles?

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Kathie
Kathie
2 years ago

Sound is garbled for me. Anybody else?

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Tamara
Tamara
Reply to  Kathie
2 years ago

Yes.

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Sally
Sally
Reply to  Kathie
2 years ago

Very garbled! But I got in late and I’m in Munich, Germany.

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Natasja
Natasja
2 years ago

Is there a preference for opening the query with a good hook involving the compts or hook involving the summary of the novel?

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Hillora
Hillora
2 years ago

I’ve heard that opening with a line of dialogue is a bad idea. Your opinions, please?

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janewrites
janewrites
2 years ago

Do you prefer queries that start with the stats of a book (genre, word count, comps, etc.) or a hook into the story?
Thanks!

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Katie
Katie
2 years ago

Extremely garbled. I emailed the tech contact and asked that the presenters be asked to get closer to the mic. No response yet.

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Ana
Ana
2 years ago

The sound is not so clear to me. Is that happening to anybody else?

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Katie
Katie
2 years ago

Response: they are working on it 🙂

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Kathy
Kathy
2 years ago

Can each of you speak closer to the computer mike? Your words are garbled sometimes. thanks.

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Ge'Vonna
Ge'Vonna
2 years ago

How recent should comp titles be?

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Kathy
Kathy
2 years ago

Can you both speak slower. It is hard to hear sometimes. Thanks.

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Erica
Erica
2 years ago

Any recs for strong hooks you’ve seen recently? Thank you!

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Kathy
Kathy
2 years ago

harder to hear Amber.

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Ana
Ana
2 years ago

Should we start with the character already in his problematic situation or should we introduce the character first?

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Tamara
Tamara
2 years ago

Would a UK agency be interested in Historical fiction that takes place half in the US an half in the Soviet Union? Or is it better to stick with US agencies?

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Amy
Amy
2 years ago

How can you craft a gripping opening line without seeming like you’re trying too hard?

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Amy
Amy
2 years ago

Do you have any tips for making sure the start of every new chapter is just as gripping and engaging as the first?

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Alyssa
Alyssa
Author
2 years ago

HI AMBER!!!! If there are multiple places a story *could* start (several points of action), can you speak to how writers might find the correct beat to begin on?

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Hannah
Hannah
2 years ago

What does the first paragraph of a book need to get across?

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Cynthia
Cynthia
2 years ago

If you have a Prologue, with it’s opening hook, do you also have to have an opening hook in Chapter One?

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Sally
Sally
Reply to  Cynthia
2 years ago

Hi, Cynthia! Did you get your question answered? It was really garbled on my end and I had the same question. Sally

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Alyssa
Alyssa
Author
Reply to  Sally
2 years ago

Cynthia can probably come in and add more — but the gist of their response to this was that if you have a prologue, you have to do all of the things they talk about twice (hook for both etc) because you are basically starting twice.

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Alyssa
Alyssa
Author
Reply to  Sally
2 years ago

(They answer this at minute 45:05 if you want to watch it!)

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Ana
Ana
2 years ago

Does it make a difference if you write in 1st or 3rd person? PB

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Sally
Sally
2 years ago

This is really to bad, I can hardly understand a word. I think I’m missing out on a lot of info! 🙁

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Alyssa
Alyssa
Author
Reply to  Sally
2 years ago

We do our best to ensure that events are accessible and audible, but sometimes technology just works against us! We’re sorry this one is so hard to hear.

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Sally
Sally
2 years ago

Too bad, not to bad.

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Diane Landy
Diane Landy
2 years ago

Hello,
Great interview. Your suggestion to keep the focus so tight you can describe you book in one sentence will be a huge help to me going forward. Thank you, THANK YOU, for contributing time and energy to WriteOnCon.
Best wishes,
Diane

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Amber Caraveo
Amber Caraveo
2 years ago

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for your comments and questions during the Q&A. I’m sorry to see here that the sound was so bad. That’s a real shame and we’ll be sure to try to find a way to make the tech work better for the future. In the meantime, I hope you were able to get the gist of the answers to your questions and do please keep us in mind when you’re ready to submit your own novels. We always love to see new work! Also, you can reach out to us on Twitter. We are… @AmberCaraveo @JoannaMoult and @SkylarkLit. There is also more info on our website – http://www.skylark-literary.com

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