Monday, May 19, 2008

Story "hooks"


What is the "hook" in a story?
please share your ideas to help your classmates understand what is meant by the term
:-)

17 comments:

Olly said...

A "hook" is what makes a person reading a story want to keep reading, kind of what draws your attention to the book/story.

**KERLI** said...

That is a really nice Taonga. I don't know how to spell it properly.
But yeah a hook is what draws people in to the story and keeps them wanting to read it.
Kind of like a fish to the bait, it's what draws you in.

rosiegal said...

A hook is like a plot, it keeps the reader wanting to read more, and might be a prombl;em or something that makes the reader interested to read more

mech boy said...

A hook is like the high point of a story. If a story doesn't have a hook it isn't worth reading.

flower kitty said...

I agree with all of you guys!

:)

HamilTRON said...

The hook is the thing that makes people read on.
If a story does not have a hook then it would be boring.
Thank god for the hook!

HamilTRON

IM A ROOM5IAN said...

it dosnt just have to be in a book though, we use "hooks" (maybe a different kind though) while avertising, and thy are also shown in movies and t.v. programs.

Snowy said...

Nice guys.
A hook is a part of something(book, movie, drama, mime, tv,
advertisement) that will get the audiences attention, and will make them want to read or watch more.
The hook could leave the person reading or watching surprised,
or unsure of what to expect.
I think that the hook could also be a dramatic twist in the story
thanks snowy!!!!

MrWoody said...

those people saying its the thing that draws you in are correct. its not the plot or a climax.

Kitty Milo said...

you have all covered most things, a hook wants you to keep reading or watching, something that draws your attention in and it"s like suspence or something and most tv programmes have hooks to make people interested and to watch them!
cya

Aquagirl said...

I agree with kitty milo you all have coverd most of the things to do with the hook in a story, play mime etc.A hook is inded (sorry bad speller) the part of the story that makes you what to read on I myself have been so hooked up in a book I couldn't stop thing about it

Snowy said...

I found this on wiki>>>

A narrative hook (or hook) is a literary technique in the opening of a story that "hooks" the reader's attention so that he or she will keep reading on. The "opening" may consist of several paragraphs for a short story, or several pages for a novel, but ideally is the opening sentence.

One of the most common forms is dramatic action, which engages the reader into wondering what the consequences of the action will be. This particular form has been recommended from the earliest days, stemming from Aristotle, and the widely used term in medias res stems from the Roman Empire. But action is not, in itself, a hook, without the reader's wondering what will happen next, or what caused the actions to occur. Overly dramatic openings may leave the reader indifferent because the characters acting or being acted on are non-entities; even murder of a faceless character may not engage interest.

The use of action as the hook, and the advice to so use it, is so wide-spread as to sometimes lead to the use of the term to mean an action opening, but other things can be used for narrative hooks, such mysterious settings, or engaging characters, or even a thematic statement, as with Jane Austen's opening line, "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

When a story does not lend itself to a good hook when it is laid out linearly, the writer may tell the story out of order to engage the reader's interest. The story may begin with a dramatic moment and, once the reader is curious, flashback to the history necessary to understand it. Or it may be told as a story-within-a-story, with the narrator in the frame story telling the story to answer the curiosity of his listeners, or by warning them that the story began in an ordinary seeming way, but they must follow it to understand latter actions.

Website found: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative_hook

Bye

Nei-Nei Neina-Marie said...

Here is Leina's perfect book:

Basic idea: Has small hook, makes you sort of interested.

Mounting Climax: Hook is further in water. Fish surrounding it.

Tipping point: Fish are caught - lips are nibbled and bages are torn with eagerness.

Landing: The fish has been set free. Story gets better, better than before.


Ha. He. Hmmmmm.
Neina

Anonymous said...

I think that the hook in the story is the really exciting part that really brings the reader close and(if its a really good book) makes them not want to put the book down.

Marshall said...

the easy part of the hook is to attract people to come and look at your writing or other stuff. the hard part is to keep the reader hooked in so they don't put it down and start doing something else. it is like the proverb:
to open a shop is easy, to keep it open is an art. it is just like the hook.

mudpies02 said...

I agree with most of these!! (A hook isn't the climax or the plot - but if a friend told you that the main character died in the end or something, that would probably hook you in & make you want to read MORE!)

Seb Vanneste said...

it could be good but then what would the blog be like? it could be deserted if everyones at the other world or vise verser