Customer Reviews

Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book, like others have written, features great instruction on the art of writing modern fiction, particularly that imperative hook.

For me, however, the author's often insightful suggestions are completely obscured by his own partiality. He cites 4 to 5 of his own openers (because they're just that great), and truthfully, they don't warrant the inflated, self-confessed praise that Edgerton gives to himself. Other examples are largely extracted from short stories, not novels. These two genres are separated in necessity and style by miles; therefore, Edgerton's haphazard melding of the two detracts from his overall goal.

If you're willing to overlook the author's self-indulgence and swallow the superficial, hollow and often displeasing examples of other "amazing hooks" provided in this manual (as I reluctantly did), then by all means, go for it. But I found that, by the last page, my suspension of disbelief had long disintegrated. There are too many examples of poor, elementary and sometimes laughable writing in this book to believe that all of the publishing industry looks solely for 7th grade style, bony, misdirected language and various forms of mind-numbing instant gratification when it comes to the search for worthy literature.

Please note that my above comments do not negate that this book has some formidable insights and admirable suggestions regarding structure and the ten components of an opening. But I think that many excellent writers out there deserve better advice from a better source. So, whether you decide on this nifty blue book or not, remember this sentence:

"He was so mean that wherever he was standing became the bad part of town."

"He was so mean that wherever he was standing became the bad part of town."

"He was so mean that wherever he was standing became the bad part of town."

And... well, you get the idea.

By the last page, you will know this sentence as you do your own name. It's Les Edgerton's own "whopper" of a hook, and he claims that most people couldn't resist reading on from a genius opener like that, although he willingly admits that "it's my own story and one should at least appear to be somewhat humble". Personally, after the fifth citing of this same (and very bad, film-noir-esque) sentence, it made me put the book down. It took a while to pick it up again, and longer still to trudge through the spontaneous flashes of very blatant boasting. I couldn't get past it, but maybe you can.

Make your own judgments. These are only mine.

Let me start by saying I am a writer.

I completed my first novel early last year and eagerly sent out queries to publishers and agents. Many requested partials, so I mailed the required 50-100 pages, and then waited. All turned me down. After two more rounds of queries, partials, and rejection letters, I decided I needed a little help. So I headed to the local bookstore where I found the wonderful book, Hooked.

I devoured it. Underling, highlighting, folding corners, and re-reading until I could apply everything I learned within it's pages to my manuscript. And it paid off.

My novel, This Time You Lose, was just named a finalist in the Strongest Start Novel Competition. It has also climbed the ranks to number 5 (out of over 500) in the Readers Choice Top Ten Novel Competition. In addition, I have now secured an agent in New York, and am putting the finishing touches on my manuscript before re-submitting it to publishers.

All of this within 3 months of purchasing and reading this book.

I've recommended this book to other writers, both online and in person. And I continue to refer back to the pages of Hooked with each new story I write.

Chris

This is probably going to be one of the most treasured books on craft on my library shelf. The author claims it's a book about beginnings, but it's about a whole lot more than that!

It analyzes what makes a brilliant beginning to a novel, and talks about the components of an opening scene--and what makes a potentitally good beginning go bad. All well and good. And here is the true beauty, I think. It then goes into discussing the Inciting Incident as a trigger for the Surface Problem and the difference between the Surface Problem and the Story-Problem. You see, the surface problem (or problems, which is the usual case) are the obvious things your character and your readers are aware of, but the story problem, the deep down issue which nags at the character and drives the plot forward, and which may not be evident until the plot's resolution at the very end, is the key to the success of the entire novel. The reader does not necessarily have to know and/or understand the story-worthy problem before the end and in many cases shouldn't. BUT THE WRITER MUST.

And I didn't. Not until I started reading his book and started really thinking about my book. And then all the issues that I'd been confused about, all the questions about lack of focus, everything that had been one great big question mark in my mind, suddenly vanished. I know where I'm going now. I know what I'm about. And I don't have to do a great big rewrite. A small tweak here and there, perhaps, but no big rewrite. And the writer's block that has had me blog-hopping, playing with prompts and looking for other excuses not to sit down and work, has vanished as well.

I wish it had come out years ago.

Book Review
HOOKED: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One and Never Lets Them Go
By Les Edgerton
Writer's Digest Books, 2007

THE BOOK ABOUT BEGINNINGS

Books about fiction-writing tend to fall into one of three categories:
· A-Z books, which address a wide spectrum of fiction-writing issues
· Quasi-biographical books, which are as much about the author as they are about writing
· Narrow-focus books, which take an in-depth look at a specific aspect of fiction-writing

Hooked, by Les Edgerton, focuses on one aspect of fiction-writing: beginnings. In general, readers should expect a narrow-focus book to:
· Adequately address its topic of focus, compiling and reorganizing the body of existing information
· Debunk misinformation and out-of-date practices about the topic
· Offer new ideas and insight about the topic
Les Edgerton has accomplished all of these in Hooked.

Why a whole book about beginnings? As explained by Edgerton, "The simple truth is, if your beginning doesn't do the job it needs to, the rest of the story most likely won't be read by the agent or editor or publisher you submit it to."

Edgerton addresses misinformation and out-of-date practices from a historical perspective and as they relate to literary fiction. Whenever an author sheds new light on a subject, there is a risk that someone will be offended: no exception here. Writers, of any genre, in the habit of beginning stories with hefty servings of backstory or description get an earful.

Those who believe that studying the classics is the key to understanding fiction may be turned off by Edgerton's take on beginnings: ". . . many of the great books from the past aren't practical structure models for today's market, particularly in the way some of those books begin." And, "Beginnings have changed more than any other part of story structure."

Likewise, fans of literary fiction may take exception to some of Edgerton's observations. "Bookscan has revealed the decline of what is usually referred to as literary fiction. This category of fiction may be dying because it has stuck with the story structure model of yesteryear much more so than any other category."

To Edgerton's credit, Hooked goes beyond a mere regurgitation and reorganization of the subject of beginnings. A cornerstone of Edgerton's lesson is the distinction between what he refers to as the initial surface problem and the story-worthy problem. Edgerton also breaks new ground by introducing the concepts of:
· Passive vs. active description
· Passive vs. active backstory
As with any new concept, time will tell whether these will be accepted by the writing community and incorporated into the body of knowledge surrounding the craft of fiction-writing.

One of the challenges of any narrow-focus book is to take a subject (which is typically addressed in a magazine article or as a single chapter of a book) and fill a book-sized manuscript without resorting to repetition, filler, and padding. Although though some points are belabored and some of the examples are a bit tedious, there is plenty of valuable information and insight in Hooked.

Critics of the book may note that some of the examples are overly literary and fall flat for writers of other genres, but Edgerton more than makes up for this shortfall with examples from popular movies. Although Edgerton pays homage to the use of scene and sequel, he doesn't adequately explain either, or how they may be used to construct beginnings. More information about fiction-writing modes would have been helpful. Maybe future editions of Hooked will address these issues.

Hooked is organized into eleven chapters:
· Story structure and scene
· Opening scenes
· Inciting incident, initial surface problem, story-worthy problem
· Setup and backstory
· Combining inciting incident, story-worthy problem, initial surface problem, setup, and backstory
· Introducing characters
· Foreshadowing, language, and setting
· Opening lines
· Red flags
· Opening scene length and transitions
· View from the agent's and editor's chair
Although the book doesn't provide a recap or exercises at end of chapters, it does offer an index at the end for easy reference.

Hooked is a must for the bookshelf of serious students of fiction. It's the book about beginnings.

The last chapter is structured as questions and answers from agents and publishers. For example, from agent Jodie Rhodes: " . . . the more modest the writer, the better the writing. That's because good writers know how much they still have to learn."

HOOKED is superb! Concrete and practical, this book lays out the keys to making that crucial first scene work in a clear and succinct manner. One of the best things about it is it is UP TO DATE with what editors and agents are looking for NOW. This has changed a lot in recent years, so many otherwise-excellent books fall short because they are now dated. HOOKED helped me fix the first scene in my own book which is now under serious consideration by a major publisher. Several folks in my writing group have purchased it and I intend to recommend it to others.

Thanks to Les Edgerton for a terrific addition to my craft library. This book will get plenty of use!

Elizabeth McIntyre, RI

I cannot agree with the accolades that Amazon reviewers are heaping upon this book. This is one of the most cynical and dispiriting books on writing I have read.

Les Edgerton continues in the tradition of Dwight V. Swain and Jack Bickham: when writing fiction, the bottom line counts for everything, while artistry and craft count for nothing. The writer's job is to hook the reader fast and never let him go, not because that will make for a good read, but because agents and editors need to be hooked fast or they won't read beyond the first few pages. Forget the leisurely buildup, just get the horses out of the gate fast!

Edgerton admittedly focuses on genre fiction and has little use for what might be called "literary fiction." My own interests, as reader and writer, also lie with genre fiction, but I think Edgerton (and Swain and Bickham) might show a bit less contempt for the road they chose not to follow.

What all three authors provide (despite their protests to the contrary) are formulae. The problem is, many successful genre books don't follow these formulae. Let's take Dan Brown as an example. I certainly do not regard Brown as a good writer (his prose is barely serviceable), but he has achieved the sort of success that Edgerton holds up as a goal.

1. Edgerton: Never ever open with a dream.
Brown's "Angels and Demons" does exactly that.

2. Edgerton: Never ever open with an alarm clock ringing.
"Angels and Demons" opens with a ringing phone that serves the same purpose.

3. Edgerton: In general, avoid writing a Prologue.
Both "Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" open with brief prologues.

4. Edgerton (quoting a literary agent): Never open with a villain.
Each of the above prologues depicts the villain doing his dastardly deed.

Now, Edgerton realizes that many bestsellers violate his rules. So how does he answer this? By saying that those novels are flawed, and that they succeed in spite of their flaws! (Perhaps because of the authors' popularity).

There are many other problems with this book. It deals indiscriminately with writing novels, short-stories, and movie screenplays. These are 3 different genres, and what works for one will not work for the other. Yet Edgerton lumps them all together.

Finally, Edgerton provides a plethora of what he considers to be great opening lines (among them his own wretched line cited by another reviewer). None of these lines made me want to read further. In fact, half of them didn't even seem well-written.

A book that covers the same ground as "Hooked" but does it much better is "The First Five Pages" by Noah Lukeman. I would also recommend "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers" by Browne and King. True, their prose is a bit more formal than the down-home, aw-shucks style practiced by Edgerton. But they leave his book in the shade.

Here's what is wrong with this book:

1) It gets repetitive.

2) Some of the examples are not great, though they suffice.

3) The author toots his own horn a lot.

Now here is why it warrents a 5:

It is about hooks and openings that promise to get authors off to the right start and in a way that is SUSTAINABLE throughout the story. In that way it is excellent.

The author has found a way to model all of those concepts such as backstory, mood and storywide conflict. He is dead on and is showing writers why 95% of the crap submitted to publishers is DOA. If one reads this and only comes away with what isn't great about the book, then we are actually looking at a poor reader who lacks focus. I will go as far as to say that the 3 things wrong with the book constitute 1% of the content, and have no reservations at giving the book a rare 5 stars.

As the title implies, this book is about "hooking" your readers from the opening page and never letting them go. Les Edgerton's laid back teaching style and world-wise approach to writing has made HOOKED one of my favorite writing tools.

This book easily appeals to whatever stage of the writing game you happen to be in. From ways to avoid overusing backstory to creating a story problem that sustains an entire manuscript, HOOKED has it covered with tips and examples that you can begin using in your own manuscripts right now. If you're truly interested in improving your craft and hooking agents, editors and most importantly, READERS:) get HOOKED.

Even though I've only read the first 60 or so pages I really feel that this is one of the best books on writing in the market today. I'm well...hooked!

There are a lot of books out there on the writing craft, but none that explain the crucial difference between surface problems and story worthy problems in as much intricate detail as this one does.

I agree with the author that the writing classes of today are stuck way in the past, putting too much emphasis on description and characterization. Those are good things to learn, of course, but don't help you craft a novel that will occupy modern readers for a few hours of their time-- and compete with the kids crying, the dishes that need to be done, or the meeting you have to be at tomorrow.

This book has a witty style that makes it a joy to read.

... this one is certainly one of the best. It absolutely hones in on the elements that make up the all-important beginning and shows how they interrelate and combine to give you your best beginning. Never have a seen such a subject boiled down to its interlocking parts. Has definitely got me thinking on how a few words can say / do so much. Bravo, Les!