Hook, Link & Sinker
As part of my review of the three Act structure of a mystery, I will start with Act one, part one, the Hook. It is suggested that the formula was devised back in Aristotle's time but more recently it is credited as the structure for screenwriting. I will address this in relation to mysteries, specifically the cozy mystery.
The first section of Act One is the opportunity for the author to tell the reader about the protagonist, the antagonist (not required to be introduced here but may be), and any secondary characters. It's the one chance for the author to grab the reader's attention and make sure she keeps turning the pages. If the hook isn't strong enough the reader may not continue.
Hooks may be inserted into the very first sentence to draw the reader in, the first paragraph, the first page and the end of every chapter. Consider these first sentences and how the hook might pull you in:
They shoot the white girl first. —Toni Morrison, Paradise (1998)
It was the day my grandmother exploded. —Iain M. Banks, The Crow Road (1992)
I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974. —Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (2002
When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon. —James Crumley, The Last Good Kiss (1978)
Would you want to read more to find out what happens next? I know I do!
Happy Trails,
Leslie
The first section of Act One is the opportunity for the author to tell the reader about the protagonist, the antagonist (not required to be introduced here but may be), and any secondary characters. It's the one chance for the author to grab the reader's attention and make sure she keeps turning the pages. If the hook isn't strong enough the reader may not continue.
Hooks may be inserted into the very first sentence to draw the reader in, the first paragraph, the first page and the end of every chapter. Consider these first sentences and how the hook might pull you in:
They shoot the white girl first. —Toni Morrison, Paradise (1998)
It was the day my grandmother exploded. —Iain M. Banks, The Crow Road (1992)
I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974. —Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (2002
When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon. —James Crumley, The Last Good Kiss (1978)
Would you want to read more to find out what happens next? I know I do!
Happy Trails,
Leslie
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