by Joshua Raven

Lesson 1Narrative Hooks

What makes a good story?

List five things you consider to be important in the creation of a good story?

• 1)• 2)• 3)• 4)• 5)

Narrative Hooks A narrative hook is a technique writers use to engage their readers.

It’s the way the writer has made decisions about the structure and organisation of their story within the opening chapters.

Some hooks include:

• A startling or outrageous hook – something to make you think about where the story might go next.

• Setting the atmosphere or place. This gives you details about where the action is going to take place.

• Can you think of any more?

Narrative Hooks Worksheet 1First Person Narrative“I am an amazing dancer. My family and all my friends have always told me so. My dance teacher says that I am a natural, but I have doubts.”

An outrageous or startling ‘hook’ – did I really read that?“As Mrs Malone went over the correct answers with the class, Jordan took out his pair of scissors and very carefully started to cut the hair of the girl sitting in front of him.”

Set an atmosphere – create a setting“The sky was dark and ominous, predicting a storm at any moment. Clouds were moving in slow, wispy shapes dancing and circling across the sky at the lakeside.

Funny or shocking“Hamsters are never usually given any credit for being the brightest of creatures; however when Jonathan woke up on Monday morning and found that he had turned into a hamster, he started to think differently.”

Ask a question to leave the reader guessing“Caroline couldn’t believe her luck, one million pounds! She had won the competition fair and square and was now the richest fourteen year old in the country. What would she spend the money on?”

Extract: ‘5fingers: initiation’ by Joshua Raven. Chapter 1 (p10)

In the early hours, Rachel Race felt a stabbing pain in her left hand. Instinctively, she grabbed her left hand with her right. Doubling over with pain, she rolled out of bed and onto the floor. Her hand felt like it was burning. A searing pain tore at her fingers.

As she looked down, under the glow of the distant street light, she saw the blood. There was so much blood. It covered everything. It pulsed from the stump of her little finger, soaking her duvet.

Where on earth was her little finger?Helpless with pain, she clamped her right palm over the wound

and screamed. There was a flutter of wings at the open window.

Chapter 2 (page 11)At first the pain was unbearable. It was like fire and ice and

acid all in one, setting her hand alight. It was like no other injury she had experienced before. Her brain was saturated with raw nerve activity.

But soon, something else kicked in that seemed to pull Rachel through the pain. It was hard-nosed calmness. Where it came from was a mystery to her.

With eyes wide open and mouth tightly shut, she hunted for her finger. She searched the folds of the bed clothes and rummaged around the floor, one-handed. She made sure the search was systematic, going from one end of the bed to the other and then on to the floor. “This is what they always tell you,” she told herself. “Find the finger and put it on ice.”

What makes this successful?

• What narrative hooks are used in this opening section of the novel?

• What has Joshua Raven done well?

• How has he structured the opening chapter?

• What other techniques has he used to engage the reader?

Why do writers use narrative hooks?

With a partner, discuss this question, and decide what you think are the five main purposes of narrative hooks.

What would happen to a story with no hooks?