3 Tips for Hooking Readers by Missy Tippens

Missy Tippens, here. This was an article that I posted at the Savvy Authors site earlier in the month. I thought I'd share it with you today--plus I tried to correct the errors I made in the original! (Note to self: don't ever proof something late at night.)

How to Hook Your Reader:

3 Tips for Using POV and Emotion to Your Advantage

by Missy Tippens

We have many choices to make in writing our stories. First person or third? One character’s point of view (POV) or more? And if we choose more than one, whose story is it—who’s the protagonist? Should we switch POV back and forth or be a POV purist and only switch between scenes? And if that’s not enough to worry about, then we have to figure out how on earth to start the story. Show a little of the protagonist’s ordinary world or dump him right into action at the point of change?

What’s a writer to do? For some, the many options can be paralyzing.

First, let me say there isn’t a right or wrong way. You must decide what works best for your voice and for your story. And if you’re targeting a particular publisher, I’d suggest researching to find out whether they have a preference.

That said, and with apologies to anglers everywhere, I thought I’d offer some tips on what has worked for me and for how to use POV and reader emotion to your advantage. [Side note: there are several types of POV. In this post, I'm just talking about what I use and what appeals to me personally.]

1. Hook the Reader—by making the reader care.

Make your protagonist sympathetic. When a reader opens the first page, she needs to immediately feel something. Michael Hauge has a great video series with Chris Vogler, The Hero’s Two Journeys, where Hauge talks about ways to create reader empathy. He gives several methods and says you should employ at least two. I like to try to do this in the first pages. Often, once I complete the first draft, I go back and enhance this on revisions.

Sure, we love a character who shows growth in a story. But before you can show the faults, it’s good to show something—even if it’s only a peek or a hint—that lets the reader know this is a good and worthy protagonist.

So, how can we make our reader feel the emotion of the story and care about this character? How can we make that reader put him/herself in the protagonist’s place? We have to make our character someone the reader can relate to.

--Put your character in a bad situation or a situation that’s unfair. We all root for someone who is a victim or underdog. We’ve all been the victim or the underdog at one time, so we’ll understand this character. You can even go one step further and put the protagonist in some kind of jeopardy—actual danger or maybe just at risk of losing something like a job or failing a challenge.

--Make your character a good person and likable. Show her being kind or generous or dutiful. Show her helping others, or at least trying to. Then the reader will want to see her succeed.

--Make your character strong or special in some way. Think about a character you’ve loved from a book on your keeper shelf. Was she especially brave, smart, funny, strong, snarky? Did she have special powers or abilities? Even if we can’t totally relate to someone with magical powers, we at least wish we could experience it and want to go along for the ride. Even if we’re not particularly funny or clever, we usually wish we could be witty and quick with comebacks. So we, as readers, are hooked. We want to know what else this protagonist might do.

2. Reel Her In—by making the reader get attached.

When asked by a new writer to explain what point of view is, I say it’s like strapping a camera on the forehead and planting a “bug” in the brain of your POV character. The reader only sees or hears what the POV character sees or hears. And the reader can only experience thoughts that come from that POV character. As a reader, I find a closer (or deeper) POV tends to help me form a bond with a character. This allows me to “become” the character. And we as authors want this for our stories.

Revealing a character’s thoughts and emotions lets the reader know what the character wants and why. The reader becomes attached if they know the character’s goal and discover what is motivating him.

I also feel that staying in one POV for a full scene gives the reader more chance to get to know and become attached to the character. I usually only switch POV between scenes unless I have an especially important moment in the plot where I want the reader to have immediate feedback from both main characters. In that case, where I do switch, I think it’s important to use a good transition so that there’s a smooth change. Nothing yanks a reader out of a story quicker than confusing him. You don’t want to lose your reader, because you still need to…

3. Catch Her in the Net—by giving her something to root for.

If a reader is hooked into the story and bonded with the character, what is it going to take to keep the reader reading?

We need the reader to be rooting for the protagonist. Which means we must provide something to root for. We have to introduce the story question.

Will he win the girl? Will she save the world? Will they solve the case before someone else gets killed?

In order to put this question in the reader’s mind as soon as possible, we have to get right to the meat of the story.

--Avoid backstory dumps.
--Avoid too much description.
--Don’t stay too long in the ordinary world.
--Move the character right into a challenge, showing the situation she will have to deal with.
--And show why this goal is so important to the character (motivation). The reader has to know that this character is committed, but also worry that she will never be able to succeed (conflict).

If you show the story question, then your reader will be dying to know what happens to this character he likes and relates to, this character that he now cares so much about. You’ll have your reader reeled in and securely locked in the story until The End.

Let's talk HOOKS today. How do you catch your reader? As a reader, what catches you and reels you in?

If you'd like to be entered to win a copy of my RITA® finalist book, A House Full of Hope, please leave a comment letting me know you want to be entered. You can also read excerpts at my website, www.missytippens.com.

Also! Don't forget the April Love Inspired books are on the shelf now! Look who's all there together!

Pepper Basham shared this on her FB page

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