Quick Tips to Craft Irresistible Book Openings

Ever wonder why some books grab you from the first line, while others fail to spark your interest?

This week's quick tips are all about the opening hook.

Tip #1: Some people never read past the first paragraph, let alone the first page. Make it count!

Tip #2: Know the difference between in medias res and place en scene. Choose your start carefully.

We will be taking a break for the summer, so we're turning off paid sponsorships. Make sure you subscribe on your favorite podcast player so you don't miss out when we come back on the air!

Plus, there might be a few summer surprises headed your way as well!

In the meantime, if you’re enjoying this podcast, please consider supporting the show by leaving  a five star review and sharing it with a writer friend. We don't advertise, so our growth is entirely dependent on word of mouth.

We appreciate your generous help!

Follow Us!

The Author Wheel:
Website: www.AuthorWheel.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorWheel

Greta Boris:
Website: www.GretaBoris.com
Facebook: @GretaBorisAuthor
Instagram: @GretaBoris

Megan Haskell:
Website: www.MeganHaskell.com
Facebook & Instagram: @MeganHaskellAuthor
TikTok: @AuthorMeganHaskell

Support the show

FREE Mini Email Course

Have you ever struggled to explain to others exactly what you write? Or wondered which of the many fiction ideas running through your brain you should tackle? If so, The Author Wheel’s new mini-course might be your solution.

7 Days to Clarity: Uncover Your Author Purpose will help you uncover your core writing motivations, avoid shiny-thing syndrome, and create clear marketing language.

Each daily email will lead you step by step in defining your author brand, crafting a mission statement, and distilling that statement into a pithy tagline. And, best of all, it’s free.

Click here to learn more!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Author Wheel podcast.
I'm Megan Haskell,award-winning fantasy author of
the Signoria Chronicles and theRise of Lilith series.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
And I'm Greta Boris, USA Today bestselling author of
the Mortician Murders and thesoon-to-be-released Almost True
Crime series.
Together, we are the AuthorWheel.
Our goal is to help youovercome your writing roadblocks
so you can keep your storiesrolling.
Today, we're gonna talk aboutthe topic of one of our most
successful workshops what shouldbe on the first page of your

(00:32):
book?

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Yeah, so this is this one's a fan favorite this one
is always fun because it's veryinteractive.
But yes, unfortunately we can'tdo the interaction today, so
we're just gonna give you thequick tips.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Exactly, but maybe someday we'll do a Zoom workshop
and y'all can sign up for it.
So tip number one is write agreat opening hook.
You know, some people willnever read past the first page.
They're going to go to Amazon,they're going to go to the look
inside.
Or if you're pitching agents orpublishers, they're going to
read your opening page and if itdoesn't grab them, that's the

(01:08):
end.
So that is a great tip write agreat opening hook.
But how?
So here's a few things you canthink about.
Your first sentence, or at leastthe first paragraphs, should
foreshadow plot, tropes and orgenre.
So in our course we give tonsof examples.

(01:29):
We read the first lines ofStephen King, of some of our
friends' books, of LeanneMoriarty, of our own books, but
we don't tell people where thoselines come from.
We just ask the group to tellus, after we read that first
line, what genre is the book andif it's a great hook.

(01:51):
Nine times out of 10, they'recorrect.
They get the genre right on thenose.
If it's not a great hook, theydon't know.
So here's an idea of a way totest your first line or two Find
some people who don't know whatyou're working on.
They don't know.
So here's an idea of a way totest your first line or two Find
some people who don't know whatyou're working on.
They don't know the genre ofthe book you're working on.
Put it out there and do a poll.

(02:15):
What do they think?
Do they think it's a mystery?
Do they think it's sci-fi?
Do they think it's fantasy?
What do they think it is?
If they consistently get itwrong or have just no idea,
they're like I don't know, itcould be anything.
That means it's back to thedrawing board.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
All right.
So tip number two is to decideupfront whether you want to
start your book in medias res,which means in the action or
without preamble, or flacenscene, which means in the action
or without preamble, or plusand seen, which means setting up
the scene right.
So the difference between thosetwo is going to set the reader
expectations for the book and itkind of goes back to the hook

(02:55):
as well, because, depending onyour, your reader, your target
audience, who you're trying toattract to your book, that's
going to really help make thisdecision.
So why?
What am I talking about?
Okay, so in medias res lendsitself to action-oriented,
faster-paced books, things likethrillers, urban fantasy,

(03:16):
adventure stories, that kind ofa thing, because those readers
are looking to get right intothe action.
They want to be thrown into thebattle on page one or see the
dead body, but they don't needthe whole setting around it,
they want to get into it first,up front, right away.
The blossom scene, on the otherhand, lends itself to

(03:40):
prose-heavy epics or cozies,where the world's setup and
atmosphere are as important, orpossibly even more important,
than the immediate plot.
Now, going back to our quicktips the other day about no info
dumps, you do still have tomake sure that you're not

(04:00):
slowing down the story too much.
Right, you want to set thescene, you want to open and
introduce your reader to theworld, but it's still not an
info dump.
You're not telling them all thepolitics, all the history, all
the lineage of all thecharacters.
You're creating an atmosphere.
You're literally setting thestage, setting up the.
The.
You know the scene backdrops ifyou were doing a play, right,

(04:23):
that's what plus end sceneactually means.
So that kind of reader is goingto be someone who wants to just
slowly enjoy the setting.
They want to experience theworld, um, and be in it as much
as see the action or feel thatintensity of the adrenaline rush

(04:45):
of the story.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, I want to give a great example of this.
For years and years In fact,we're going to do it again, I'm
sure, with our grandson whenhe's old enough we would take
our kids to the South CoastRepertory Theater and we would
go to see a Christmas carol atChristmastime.
And when that play opened, whenthe curtains opened, there

(05:10):
would always be a number ofcharacters back and forth across
the scene, the stage, carryingthings, having conversations.
There was Christmas, there weresome groups were standing in
the corner singing Christmascarols and you were seeing this
very, you know, victorianlooking set.
That was obviously Christmastime and it just made me happy.

(05:34):
Every time it's like I'm beinginvited into this world.
But it was not long beforeScrooge was on that stage having
a big argument with somebodywho's trying to take money from
him, so it was just super welldone.
So I think exactly what yousaid, if you do, if you are

(05:57):
going to do Plus Unseen, make itthat invitation into your world
, but not a very long invitationbefore you introduce.
You know the characters and Ialso think even with place
unseen, you can have that reallygreat first line.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
Absolutely A dark and stormy night.
Yeah Right, like I mean, okay,that's stereotypical, now that's
cliche, but that is Ploss andScene.
It's a dark and stormy night.
It is not in media's rest.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
Right.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
So, like it's about the atmosphere that you're
trying to create for the reader,trying to create for the reader
and the Dark and Stormy Night.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
By the way, the reason it became a cliche is if
you actually go and read thatwhole first intro paragraph.
It was a couple of paragraphs,it was riveting, it was so well
done.
I mean, it was reallyatmospheric and really fabulous,
and that's the reason everybodykept trying to mimic it.
So so just thought I'd bringthat up.

(07:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
Alrighty, well, that is it for our quick tips as a
reminder.
We have decided to take a breakfor the summer, so this will be
our last episode of season five.
We, the summer, we've decided.
We both have, you know, familyand writing responsibilities and
, quite honestly, we just kindof need a break.

(07:26):
um, I think we deserve avacation, all in that so we will
be back in the fall, but, um,for now we are going to take the
summer off and we'll see you.
See you later.
I hope you enjoy your summer.
But for those of you who havegraciously supported the show,
we will be turning offsubscriber payments until we

(07:46):
start up again.
We obviously we're notproducing new episodes, new
content.
We didn't want to continue tocharge you for your support.
So thank you again forcontributing to the show.
It truly means the world to usand we hope to see you back for
season six.
But until we meet again, keepyour stories rolling.