What hooks you in?

[Steak-Ums]

I myself, don't need a lot of action and drama. Some everyday characters with a everyday situation can keep me interested.

Share?

[Carraka]

Blooooood.

Barring that (or any other type of violence,) strong negative emotions. (Fear, hatred, rage.)

Or humor. Good humor hooks me too.

-blink-

I don't think I can do every day situations. Every day situations with special characters, yeah. Special situations with every day characters -- not as much.

And Willis, the html for your blog link ought to be: www.crinc.blogspot.com. xD

And you spelled my blog title wrong, but thanks for linking to it! -adds you to blogroll-

[Nyx]

If there's no big drama/something flashy to grab my attention in the beginning then I usually don't keep reading. But I do keep reading if the beginning is about something : new/something I can relate to/ like nothing I've read before.

[Zuzy]

Carraka, I think you would enjoy my NaNoWriMo novel, haha.

I'm not sure what I get hooked by. I usually decide to read something based on the summary and the reviews of it. I like to be given some interesting problem in the beginning, something that makes me want to know more, or interesting characters. If it's very well written, too, then I'll continue. Unless it gets boring.

That's my problem with Everything is Illuminated. Chapter One is great, but Chapter Two really irritated me, so I never read past that. XD

[Carraka]

Naw, really?

-dashes off to read Zuzy's novel-

Adding to that, after the first hook, there needs to be some sort of problem/conflict to keep me hooked. But I think we were discussing the first hook. Like--GRRM hooked me when Viserys um, abused his sister. xD But that was three or four chapters in.

[Andy]

I need action with a purpose, or discussion with a purpose, which I guess are common to most fantasy books. Long pages of description which are common to most classics turn me off. Reading stuff that doesn't seem important at all has the same effect.

[GeorgeMichael]

Yeah I don't think Car would like my NaNo... There's no blood at all except for near the end. Then there will be blood, and screaming, and an ironic scene of life and death :)


What gets me hooked is something interesting basically. If you start it off with "It was a summer, and it was hot. Rachel was there, a lonely grey couch. "Oh look." Cried Ned. and then the kingdom was his forever the end." Then I probably wont end up reading it. However it does not take much to get me hooked, just something interesting.

[Carraka]

Georgie, you have humor. Sure, it starts off like a boring high school teenage romance blah blah blah, but then I start laughing.

Your story also has sex. Bwahahahaaaa--wait, am I too young for this? I forget. Nah, I'm all right.

[GeorgeMichael]

You've read it? And you're not too young... Nyx is reading it and she's 12. So I don't think there's an age limit just a maturity level...oh I guess you are too young then Car.:)

Thank you for saying it's funny.

[Carraka]

Come to think of it, I read George R. R. Martin, and he has graphic everything, so it should be all right.

Thank you for thanking me for saying it's funny.

[Steak-Ums]

Well in my NaNo my first short story [ my project is not a novel, but a collection of short stories] is all about the MC Lemon, having a 'good' day with his man [not homosexually, as in pal] K.B. . It introduces the reader to the city, and the way it goes, and locations in the city.

Because my collection is like the movie Crash, not racism, but the bit about everyone having a purpose- linking- together and such...

I'm not changing it, maybe now I should ask, if the first chapter doesn't hook you, do you give it a second chance? Because while my book is 'urban/real life' fiction, it has a part with a ghost/hallucination and then eventually action wise, two young MC's get trialed as adults, and get sent to an adult prison system.

[Note, if you read my blog tommorow, you'll know a lot more, and it'll make since.]

[Shaun]

How did I miss this post?

What hooks me...well I read a lot of science fiction and some fantasy (it used to be the opposite but fantasy really bored the crap out of me after reading the same story over and over and over and over and over and being a position where I didn't really understand the deeper meanings of literature as I learned in college). So what will grip me:

In science fiction, the opening absolutely must make me think. If it doesn't there is a high likelihood that I will not really care much about what happens. The hook basically has to be profoundly interesting to me and put into question aspects of real of future society, whether that be technology or a social aspect.
For fantasy, it just has to be interesting. That's a really subjective term though. Something about the beginning has to make me go "well, this isn't like the thirteen other novels I've read this year". The Steam Magnate by Dana Copithorne did this by doing something rather awesome in fantasy--not making some glorious epic with swords and flashy magic. It was this highly literary, very subtle story where the magic existed and had a real purpose and wasn't simply flashy stuff. Granted, my fantasy novel has very flashy magic, but it's also designed for young adults, which has to be a little more interesting visually. The Steam Magnate is for adults and really only for adults. Most kids would probably hate it...

[Rafael Domination]

ACTION!

And not just blind gore, I want smart, fresh moves that scream blockbuster. Unique plots, twists, CRZAEEE machines, battle scenes, fight scenes, powers, anything that makes me go wow and would look good in a move hooks me in. There are a few more serene books that can keep me interested, but I don't tend to place those on my top list...

[Eve]

War, adventure etc. etc. Add doses of healthy humour and fun, that's my kind of story. Usually they would take place in the time before Christ. I'm more interested in Greek, Egypt, China and India pasts. Twists at the end are really good too.