How to Write a Great Hook

Brainstorming and Writing the Hook

Outline what you want your paper to say before writing your hook. Think about what you’re really trying to say in your paper. What is the main goal of your paper? What are you trying to prove? Brainstorm ideas for how you want your paper to go if you haven’t already. The outline of your paper, or your paper itself if you have already written it, will help you determine what kind of hook you should use. Write the second part of your introduction—the information that will go after the hook—so you know what it will say. Put in details for each paragraph, including your conclusion.

Highlight your thesis. The thesis is the specific thing that you are conveying to your reader; all other aspects of your paper will work to prove your thesis. What’s the main idea of your paper? Maybe you’re looking at how cat behavior affects other cats. Or maybe you’re writing on a scientific topic, such as how certain bacteria react in alcohol. Whatever your topic is, you will have to have a thesis.

Use your main ideas and thesis to write your hook. Make sure the hook leads into your introduction and your paper. That is, make sure your hook is relevant to your thesis, and to your paper as a whole. In particular, keep the tone of your paper in mind; a serious paper should not begin with a joke. You’ll confuse your readers by leading with something that doesn’t relate to your paper. For example, if you start with a joke about married penguins but your paper is about the Civil War, the joke is not likely relevant and will just confuse or annoy the reader.

Keep your audience in mind. You also want to make sure your hook is tailored to your audience, as well as your paper. Think about who will be reading your paper. What would draw them into the paper and make them interested in your topic? If your audience is a professor, maybe the hook could be an interesting fact. If your audience is your classmates, maybe the hook could be funny joke that relates to your paper.

Transition smoothly from your hook to your introduction. You don’t want to just place a hook at the beginning without any connection to your paper. The hook should smoothly transition into the rest of your introduction. For instance, if you were writing about the American Civil War, and specifically the actions of President Lincoln, you may consider making your hook be an interesting fact about something that relates to the topic. For example: “Many people do not know this fact about Lincoln, as many people do not know what Lincoln’s personal beliefs were about the war he helped win.” The anecdote provides a way into a discussion of Lincoln’s beliefs.

Tailoring the Hook to Your Work

Use an interesting fact or anecdote for an essay or paper. In essays or papers, the meaning may need to be clear from the get-go, even if you’re telling an anecdote. For instance, if you are writing about the Civil War, or more specifically, how Lincoln’s personal beliefs affected the Civil War, you could begin with an anecdote about Lincoln. You could write something like “In 1849, Abraham Lincoln received a patent for a device to keep ships from running onto shore in shallow water.” This anecdote does two things: it shows Lincoln’s ingenuity, and it provides a fact that not many people know about Lincoln. It also draws interest from the reader.

Tell a joke to begin a humorous essay or speech. In a humorous essay or speech, you can be a little looser with your hook. You can crack a joke, as long as it’s relevant to the writing. For instance, for something a little silly, if you are talking about relationships and letting people into your life, you could start with a knock-knock joke.

Stick with a more serious hook for newspaper and journal articles. In newspaper and journalistic writing, a great hook is one that piques the readers’ interests but that leaves them wanting more (so that they read the rest of your story). You see this technique used in headlines fairly often, such as “Horrific Tragedy Leaves Four Dead”. This headline piques the reader’s interest, as they are most likely to wonder what the “horrific tragedy” was, and who the people were.

Write a creative, intriguing hook for a novel. A novel is going to have a different type of hook than an essay. Novels will have more creative lines, and their meaning may not be apparent in the first reading. Your hook should raise questions in the readers’ minds, drawing the reader into what’s coming up next. Some famous first lines from novels that are great hooks include: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities), “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” (Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina), and “They shoot the white girl first.” (Toni Morrison, Paradise). These lines draw the reader in by creating anticipation about what is going to happen next. How can it be both the best and worst of times? Is this a story about a happy family or an unhappy one? How are happy families all alike? Why did they shoot the “white girl” first? Who shot her?