Buy book  |  Amazon  |  BN.com

Hooked
Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go
by Les Edgerton
Writer's Digest Books, 2007
ISBN 978-1-58297-457-6
$14.99 paperback, 256 pages


Read an Excerpt
Not sure how to get your story started?  In Chapter 2, Opening Scenes: An Over view, learn the 10 things that every opening scene must have.  From creating a story-worthy problem to foreshadowing, get the tools it takes to hook your readers from page 1.  Plus, download a PDF of the Table of Contents and Chapter 2.


About the Book
The road to rejection is paved with bad beginnings. Agents and editors agree: Improper story beginnings are the single biggest barrier to publication. Why? If a novel or short story has a bad beginning, then no one will keep reading. It’s just that simple.

In Hooked, author Les Edgerton draws on his experience as a successful fiction writer and teacher to help you overcome the weak openings that lead to instant rejection by showing you how to successfully use the ten core components inherent to any great beginning. You’ll find:

• Detailed instruction on how to develop your inciting incident
• Keys for creating a cohesive story-worthy problem
• Tips on how to avoid common opening gaffes like overusing backstory
• A rundown on basics such as opening scene length and transitions
• A comprehensive analysis of more than twenty great opening lines from novels and short stories

Plus, you’ll discover exclusive insider advice from agents and acquiring editors on what they look for in a strong opening. With Hooked, you’ll have all the information you need to craft a compelling beginning that lays the foundation for an irresistible story!


About the Author
Les Edgerton is the author of Finding Your Voice (Writer’s Digest Books). He also writes short stories, articles, essays, novels, and screenplays. His fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, O. Henry Award, Edgar Allan Poe Award (short story category), Jesse Jones Award, PEN/Faulkner Award, and the Violet Crown Book Award. One of his screenplays was a semifinalist for the Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Program, a finalist in the Austin Film Festival Heart of Film Screenplay Competition, and a finalist in the Writers Guild’s “Best American Screenplays” Competition. His short fiction has appeared in such publications as Houghton Mifflin’s Best American Mysteries of 2001, Kansas Quarterly, Arkansas Review, North Atlantic Review, Chiron Review, and many others.


Table of Contents

FOREWORD
The All-Important Beginning 

INTRODUCTION
Why a Book on Beginnings
Beginnings Defined

CHAPTER ONE
Story Structure and the Scene 
The Evolution of Story Structure 
The Modern Story Structure
Scene Basics 101 
Opening Scenes vs. Non-Opening Scenes 
Prologues 

CHAPTER TWO
Opening Scenes: An Overview
The Components of an Opening Scene 
The Goals of Openings 
Why Potentially Good Beginnings Go Bad 

CHAPTER THREE
The Inciting Incident, the Initial Surface Problem, and the Story-Worthy Problem 
The Inciting Incident
The Inciting Incident as a Trigger
Story-Worthy Problems vs. Surface Problems
Creating Your Story’s Problems and Goals 
How Many Problems Should Your Novel Contain? 
Your Character’s Awareness of His Own Story-Worthy Problem 
Inner Demons: Mining for Story-Worthy Problems 

CHAPTER FOUR
The Setup and Backstory 
The Setup
Backstory
Balancing Setup and Backstory in Your Opening

CHAPTER FIVE
Combining the Inciting Incident, Story-Worthy Problem, Initial Surface Problem, Setup, and Backstory 
Fitting the Pieces Together 
Deconstructing a Brilliant Beginning 
Putting It All Together in Your Own Work

CHAPTER SIX
Introducing Your Characters 
Establishing Character From the Start 
Opening With Unusual Characters 
Opening With Your Character’s Thoughts 

CHAPTER SEVEN
Foreshadowing, Language, and Setting
Using Your Opening to Foreshadow Your Story
Economizing Language in Your Openings
Introducing Setting in Your Openings

CHAPTER EIGHT
Great Opening Lines

CHAPTER NINE
Red Flag Openers to Avoid
Red Flag 1: Opening With a Dream
Red Flag 2: Opening With an Alarm Clock Buzzing
Red Flag 3: Being Unintentionally Funny 
Red Flag 4: Too Little Dialogue 
Red Flag 5: Opening With Dialogue 

CHAPTER TEN
Opening Scene Length and the Use of Transitions
Determining the Right Length for a Story Opening
What Any Opening—Long or Short—Requires 
Using Transitions to Anchor Your Opening Scenes

CHAPTER ELEVEN
The View From the Agent’s and Editor’s Chair
The Power of Bookscan 
Publishing: An Evolving Industry 
Agents and Editors Speak Out on Beginnings 

EPILOGUE
Play the Game Forward

INDEX