Hooked

Does your beginning grab a reader and never let them go? Based on the popular book Hooked, this workshop will teach you to create an opening sentence, an opening paragraph and an opening scene that will immediately hook an agent or editor as well as your eventual readers.

You will work with a published fiction author to write and revise a complete short story or the first chapter of your novel (up to 2500 words).

Course Level:  Beginner / Intermediate

Required Books: 

Workshop length:  6 Weeks

Tuition:  $399.00 ($359.10 for VIP)

Start Date: View Hooked Course Schedule

Course Structure
This workshop will consist of six one-week sessions. Each session will include online lectures (text based) and associated textbook reading assignments, along with writing assignments incorporating the techniques learned in the session, which you’ll submit to the instructor for private review/comment at the end of the first week of the session. In each session, work will be posted for group review and feedback. It will truly be a “workshop” environment. Throughout the workshop, you will be able to participate in asynchronous lecture discussions and encouraged to take advantage of ongoing informal discussions and posted self-directed and creativity exercises.

In this course you will learn:

  • Techniques to create effective fiction beginnings that can be applied to either novels or short stories
  • To create an opening sentence that will immediately hook an agent or editor
  • How contemporary story structure differs from the structure of even a few years ago
  • The basics of contemporary story beginnings that will help get your work read and sold

Who should take this course:

  • Fiction writers of any genre who want to know how to create a fantastic opening that will hook readers, editors, and agents
  • Individuals who want to learn the vital techniques of successful story beginnings that will help get their work published
  • Writers who want to gain key insights on novel hooks from best selling Writer’s Digest Author Les Edgerton

Register for Hooked Writing Workshop

Course Outline

Session One: Getting Started

  • How story structure has changed and why, especially in regard to story beginnings.
  • The primary elements of an effective beginning.
  • The secondary elements of an effective beginning.
  • Understanding surface problems and story-worthy problems.

Writing Assignment: A 250- to 500-word story beginning

Session Two: Inciting incidents

  • What stories are always about—trouble.
  • The importance of creating scenes versus exposition.
  • Understanding what inciting incidents are and how to write them.
  • Understanding the definitions and roles of protagonists and antagonists.

Writing Assignment: Create a dramatic inciting incident. No more than 500 words.

Session Three: Understanding overall story structure

  • The “new” story structure and why we no longer use the Freitag scheme.
  • A new kind of story outline.
  • The history of story structure and why it’s changed.

Writing Assignment: Create an outline for your story using only 17 words.

Session Four: “Watercooler moments.”

  • Defining watercooler moments and how important they are to the success of your novel.
  • How to make your opening a watercooler moment.
  • When you should make your opening a watercooler moment and when not to.

Writing Assignment: Describe a watercooler moment from a novel or movie (50 words or less); write your inciting incident as a watercooler moment (up to 750 words).

Session Five: Looking at Movies for Inspiration for Beginnings

  • A look at Thelma & Louise for a dramatic inciting incident.
  • Comparing/contrasting drama and melodrama in movies and fiction.

Writing Assignment: Write an opening (inciting incident) as melodrama and then the same scene as drama (500-750 words),

Session Six: Putting It All Together

  • Final version of your story opening. A complete scene, leading to the first action by the protagonist to resolve his/her story problem.
  • Looking at what agents and editors expect in a marketable novel.

Writing Assignment: A complete short story or first chapter of your novel (maximum 2,500 words total).