What is a narrative hook? Here's a definition
"A narrative hook (or hook) is a literary technique in the opening of a story that "hooks" the reader's attention so that he or she will keep on reading. The "opening" may consist of several paragraphs for a short story or several pages for a novel, but ideally, it is the opening sentence."
So now you know what it is. When you pick out a book and start reading it, You immediately know after a few sentences or pages if you want to continue or not. It either catches your interest or not. If it does, you'll buy it and read it to see what happens to the characters, if not you'll put it back on the shelf and walk away. So you can see how important it is to catch your reader at the very beginning of your story. This can be done in many ways. An action scene as an opening that draws suspense, a sad sad story being told, or a flashback of some event that happened in the past. All these make the reader interested in what has happened, or what did happen, and they will want to read and find out. Readers are naturally curious and want answers. Giving them a great jaw-dropping opening to your story will only make them want more of that story. Think about the books that you love. Why did you love them? What drew you into the characters? Most likely you were caught from the very first line you read or paragraph. So, the "Narrative hook" is extremely vital. Check through some of your favorite novels and read them at the beginning. See if you can discover their "Hook" that made you want to read the book. I bet you can now!
