McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

hook, hold, and payoff

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slrogers:
In trying to understand what makes a good story, I've come to realize how personal and at the same time how universal this can be. From the universal stand point a good story needs a good hook, the better the hook the more compelling it is to dive into and forget everything else that might try and pull you away from the story. The story then needs to hold the "listeners" attention. Very much like the hooks, the hold needs to persuade the "listener" over and over again how important it is to follow the story all the way through to the end. And then there has to be a payoff at the end. The "storyteller" has to deliver on his/her promises that the "ride" was well worth the "price of admission".

Yet for each of those, (hook, hold, and payoff) what makes them compelling is individual. Each person can have very different goals for their life, how and where they find entertainment, and how each element of their life provide fulfillment and enrich their lives to make them more than they would have otherwise been. Some of these individual characteristics can be categorized, like if they are just drifting though life without any real or solid goals or if they are strongly compelled to some very specific goals. Other characteristics can be much more individualized like a strong affinity for purple and pink dragons with social personality disorders which compel them to try and please those less likely to be accepting.

In the processes of trying to figure out what creates a good hook, hold, and payoff I've come to a bit of an epiphany about myself ( http://wordmindjourney.blogspot.com/2013/10/understanding-me.html ). But, here, I realize it is better to get you're views and opinions on the best ways to hook, hold, and deliver. Because there are so many contradictory "suggestions" out there for writers on how best to do this. And for authors that want to try their hooks and such out, I've noticed that some are tried here, I've also heard that the Baen slush pile is a good place to get feed back. What are your views on how to make the absolute best hooks, holds, and payoffs?

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
They depend a lot on the story.

Some stories want a hook from the first line (such as "It was the day my grandmother exploded.") and others want a slow-building woven net of an opening (see The Lord of the Rings).  Some want very definite resolutions, and some want carefully delineated ambiguities where getting an answer either way would weaken the ending. A lot depends on the exact kind of story; fairy-tale retellings and hardboiled mysteries tend to want to work differently, for example.

slrogers:

--- Quote from: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on October 25, 2013, 07:06:34 PM ---They depend a lot on the story.

Some stories want a hook from the first line (such as "It was the day my grandmother exploded.") and others want a slow-building woven net of an opening (see The Lord of the Rings).  Some want very definite resolutions, and some want carefully delineated ambiguities where getting an answer either way would weaken the ending. A lot depends on the exact kind of story; fairy-tale retellings and hardboiled mysteries tend to want to work differently, for example.

--- End quote ---

That's an interesting point. While I had thought of it as different readers want a different hook, it's amazingly true how different stories want a different hook. While both are true, I hadn't thought as much about the hook from the story's perspective. This is true of the hold and payoff as well. Perhaps the payoff is more obviously true from this standpoint, I just should have realized it about the hook as well. So a deep, personal understanding of the story I'm telling will help me to better understand the hook that I need to create.
Now I guess if I expand this idea, for example, and say that I want a rather complex story that crosses genre and/or age group, then I would have to weave together the hooks in a way that captivates each type of story and each group of readers. Thus my hook should be very unique to my story and readers. (I wonder how many hooks are unintentional, or that the author didn't realize was what would catch a reader?)

slrogers:
I guess along those lines as well, in order to figure out what hooks (and everything) work for any given type of story, one should read a lot of that type of story.

slrogers:
As I talk, as I spin this thread of mine, I weave it around you. What was a curiosity at first, with each new line, new thread, it holds you more tightly, binds you more closely. Soon you cannot break free at all, mesmerized and astounded, you've lost any desire to be free of me. You are under my power, my spell that holds you tight, and you are loving it. -- Oh, how I love a good story.

And what I am now starting to realize about the hook and hold (and how intertwined they are) is that each hook from each thread of the story (not just the beginning of the book) is needed to help pull the reader in further, and each payoff as each of the threads play through is a new hold on the reader especially when lined with hooks from other threads all woven together. Each payoff is a shot of the reader's own dopamine, convincing him or her that she can trust you. With each shot of dopamine the reader becomes more and more addicted.

Unfortunately it means that for each of us as authors, we can't get sloppy with any of our threads. We need to make sure that each thread has a purpose well aligned with the story and characters. The more cohesive it all is the better it all comes together for the reader.

But how do you do it? How do you find the hooks that your story needs? How do you recognize the difference between those hooks you think will bring readers in but end up really being distractions, and those elements that you thought weren't all that necessary but really grab the reader's attention?

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