The Hook: blankiest blank in blank
Technician: Single Female Lawyer. It's the season finale. Wanna watch?
Fry: Ah, I dunno. That's a chick show. I prefer programmes of the genre "world's blankiest blank".
Technician: She is wearing the world's shortiest skirt.
- Futurama, When Aliens Attack, âSeason 1, Episode 12 Â Â
A while ago I took a comic book writing class with Ty Templeton. One of the first things he taught us, was "Nobody wants to hear your story, therefore you need a hook to convince them otherwise." I think you can generalize this statement to any field, â Nobody wants to use your appâ, âNobody wants to read your blogâ, Nobody wants to use your database.â Perhaps there is a lot of truth to this, in our world of overwhelming amount of information and choices, trying another _______ is usually not worth it, unless there is a hook? Whatâs a hook?!Â
As Wikipedia puts it, a narrative hook is âa literary technique in the opening of a story that "hooks" the reader's attention so that he or she will keep on reading.â Or as Ty put it in his class, itâs _______iest ______ in _______.Â
For example, Flash is the âFastest Man Aliveâ, or âJimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth.â While both of these examples may seem straightforward, and certainly the Flash example IS straightforward, the Jimmy Corrigan hook is a bit more subtle. If you are not familiar with this character from Chris Wareâs graphic novel, let me do a bit of of a spoiler for you, there is not much in the story that would really indicate if Jimmy Corrigan is the smartest kid on earth, but it is clear that Jimmy is lonely and meek, and has a complicated relationship with his parents.Â
Is Jimmy the smartest kid on earth? Maybe, maybe not, but it doesnât matter, because the hook did what it was supposed to do. The reason why a hook works is because it invites us to make preconceptions, it activates our imagination, so that we start to imagine what that story could be, what the character is, and want to find out if itâs true or not. In case of Jimmy Corrigan, my preconceptions about Jimmy being the smartest kid on earth created an image of a child genius, who has a certain level of inability to connect with his peers due to a superior intellect, or taken advantage by his parents to live out their unfulfilled dreams (e.g. Stanley character in Magnolia). So that one simple phrase connects a whole universe of concepts I already know about. Even if those preconceptions turn out to be false, it still got my attention, peeked my interest.Â
Letâs look at another example. Which is a more interesting? âA firefighterâ or âa ninja firefighterâ? There is just more interesting things to say about somebody who is both a ninja and a firefighter! With a hook like lets say âThe laziest ninja firefighter in Brooklynâ certainly my imagination can run wild. I do have to point out, when I say ninja, Iâm thinking of Naruto style ninja, not the black mask, boring kind of ninjas. Speaking of Naruto, whatâs his hook? âThe Show-Off, Number One Unpredictable, Noisy Ninjaâ His hook is not something that is communicated in the slogan of the manga, but certainly is demonstrated right away in the beginning of the story.Â
Itâs clear that the need for a hook exists in any domain. Whoever you are trying to sell a product to a customer, start an open source project on github, or youâre trying to get attention of a potential date on OkCupid, a hook can certainly help you get people using their imagination to build a connection with your story. Is there a dark side of a hook? Is there a dark side of advertising? OF COURSE!!! But thatâs a subject of itâs own. Just like anything, itâs not all black and white, good or bad, but a complicated, subtle state of affairs. Â
jacobvanloon
vaporwave
titsay
gummygunk