So is anyone reading the “hook” Crapometer postings on Miss Snark’s blog? I’ve skimmed a few (she says, eyeing her mountain of copyediting) and though I’m not quite sure what she means by a hook (something like a back cover blurb, I’m thinking), it’s fascinating to get a glimpse of what agents have to go through in their query slush every day. I wonder how they do it without losing all sight of what’s really good?
She’s passed on things that I personally, have found interesting, and requested stuff that left me cold. I guess that’s why you query a lot of agents, huh? There’s no accounting for taste. I am mystified by how many have sent her hooks for genres she knows nothing about. (Often, the science fiction and fantasy hooks have responses like, “Um, sounds good, but I really know nothing about this genre.”) I don’t know how helpful her response is to them. It also gives you insight into how many people have truly wacky story ideas. (And how many people have hoary ones.)
And of course, it makes you look at your own work in a whole new light. I honestly have no idea what Miss Snark would say about the hook in my query letter. Probably that it sounds too much like a synopsis. And yet, plenty of people found it hooking indeed. If I cut it back to the first two paragraphs, you basically have my 176-word back cover blurb:
Elite Eli University junior Amy Haskel never expected to be tapped into Rose & Grave, the country’s most powerful–and notorious–secret society. She isn’t rich, politically connected, or…well, male.So when Amy receives the distinctive black-lined invitation with the Rose & Grave seal, she’s blown away. Could they really mean her?
Whisked off into an initiation rite that’s a blend of Harry Potter and Alfred Hitchcock, Amy awakens the next day to a new reality and a whole new set of “friends”–from the gorgeous son of a conservative governor to an Afrocentric lesbian activist whose society name is Thorndike. And that’s when Amy starts to discover the truth about getting what you wish for. Because Rose & Grave is quickly taking her away from her familiar world of classes and keggers, fueling a feud, and undermining a very promising friendship with benefits. And that’s before Amy finds out that her first duty as a member of Rose & Grave is to take on a conspiracy of money and power that could, quite possibly, ruin her whole life.
The blurb of my second book clocks in at 164 words:
Amy Haskel made it into elite Eli University. then she made it into the ultraselective Order of Rose & Grave. Now a senior, Amy is looking her future squarely in the eye — until someone starts selling society secrets. When a series of bizarre messages suggest conspiracy within the ranks and a female Knight mysteriously disappears, no member of Rose & Grave is safe… or above suspicion.
On her side, Amy has a few loyal Diggirls — her fellow female Rose & Grave Knights. Against her? Certainly it’s a group of Rose & Grave’s uberpowerful patriarchs who want their old boys’ club back. As new developments in her love life threaten to implode and the case of the vanished Diggirl gets weirder by the moment, Amy will need to use every society trick she’s ever learned in order to set things right. Even if it means turning to old adversaries for help — or discovering that the real foes are closer than she’d thought…
If I were not, as mentioned, up to my eyebrows in copyedits, perhaps I’d be interested in having a discussion about the challenges inherent in writing a hook to a sequel for a cold audience. You’re trying to capture the attention of people who haven’t read the first one as well as those who have.
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**Sidenote** I just went to the Harry Potter books pages at Amazon to check out the blurb for Chamber of Secrets. Has anyone read the low-star reviews there? OMG. The ones about “witchcraft is evil, these books are satanism” are to be expected, but I was shocked by how many said things like, “I can’t understand why anyone (or, sometimes, the writer’s little brother) wants to waste their lives READING. Seriously, just watch the movie. Who has time to WASTE READING some STUPID BOOK?” That crack you heard was my bookworm’s heart breaking into little bits (SB would like to point out how weird it is that the kids actually came on Amazon to express their ire at anyone who chooses to read.) Also, there are a lot of people who seem to be very angered by what they call the blatant “snake prejudice” in this book. I’m so not kidding. PSA of the day.
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The other thing I’d do, if I had the time, would be to play around with hooks for my friend’s books. This is actually a favorite pastime of mine, though usually I practice verbal pitches, and upon occasion, fake Publisher’s Lunch announcements. (The latter are usually more like loglines, and yes, I’m a big believer in the power of positive visualization.) Last year, I ran a workshop on pitches for the Romance Divas. I think pitches/hooks/whatever are a lot of fun. (Plus, I’m on the Marley Gibson Pay it Forward Plan, which means that it’s my duty to pitch buddys’ books from here to eternity.) I can see where agents find excitement in taking a great story and figuring out just how to sell it to the audience of editors.
I read a proposal recently that blew me away. I’m already constructing pitches for it in my head, copyedits be damned. Of course, it would help if it was done, so I could talk about the plot. (Hint, hint.)
Right, where was I? Oh, yes, being embarrassed about how quickly my copyediting knowledge has degraded since April. This was easier last year because I was spending five days a week studying this stuff. I wonder what knowledge took its place in my brain. I’m hoping its writing stuff, but I’m a little scared it might be various technical jargon about wedding dress shapes, necklines, and train styles… or perhaps favorite Veronica Mars quotes.
12 Comments
December 19, 2006 at 11:19 am
I’ve been following the hooks, and I’ve learned heaps from them. not just from Miss Snark’s comments, but also from the ones from fellow blog readers.
A lot of the hooks were hit and miss, liked by some, loathed by others, ho-hum to most. But there were one or two that just stood out and everybody said ‘Wow. This is it.”
And, of course, there were the truly downright awful. Those are the best examples.
For what it’s worth, I like hooks that are back cover blurbs rather than just gimmicky, and yours convey the voice of the book and the overall tone really well.
I reckon hooks work differently depending on the type of book you are offering.
Good hooks reflect their genre.
December 19, 2006 at 12:51 pm
I’m following the crapometer myself and frankly, I think the vast majority are awful. Barely literate, even. Makes you realize how much dreck agents and editors have to slog through before they get to the gold. Actually, I haven’t liked any that I can think of, so maybe it’s better that I’m an author and not an editor/agent! I haven’t read them all, though. Probably about 50 out of the 160 she’s posted so far. I’d love to be pointed toward the good ones!
December 19, 2006 at 12:53 pm
I take it back! I just read one I loved. #38. Brilliant.
December 19, 2006 at 2:11 pm
I’m slowly making my way through Miss Snark’s “Happy Hooker” crapometer (isn’t that what she’s calling it?) I’ve realized from when she’s done this in the past that I have much different tastes than she does but I’ve also found it to be such a learning experience. Not just how she analyzes things, but also how people write them – what works (for me) and what doesn’t.
Diana – I love that you compose faux PL announcements! How much fun! Me – I’m under strict orders from The Boy not to think of such things until I’ve finished writing my current WIP. He thinks I get ahead of myself. Which I do
December 19, 2006 at 2:30 pm
(Plus, I’m on the Marley Gibson Pay it Forward Plan, which means that it’s my duty to pitch buddys’ books from here to eternity.)
Well…I’m humbled. But I almost find it more exhilarating to pitch someone else’s book because I’m not nearly as nervous and I’m able to just do the pitch and not have to do the work. LOL!! I recently pitched a friend’s book and she said, “Is THAT what my book’s about?”
= )
December 19, 2006 at 2:36 pm
PS: I was a participant in Diana’s Romance Divas workshop and it was awesome! Anyone working on pitches should go check out those archives.
December 19, 2006 at 2:39 pm
Was that the one about the evil supervillain family (I love how his first name is Doctor, like in the Mike Meyers movies — which actually may be a problem, now that I think about it) and how he’s not evil? Yeah, that was funny.
I kind of liked #30, too, which was the one about the trailer park residents saving the flooded horses. Miss Snark’s crit was correct, but the writing piqued my interest. It sounded like the writer had a way with words and quirky characters. I also liked the one with the chick dating Satan — as long as it was funny. I also liked #78, but that’s because I”m totally obsessed with Houdini (see, if you hit an agent’s tastes right…) #92 (the letter from the boy about the dead kid with teh chess set) confused me, and I don’t know what I’d make of it if I saw it in a query letter, but if it were on the back cover of a small format hardcover, I’d definitely be flipping to the first page to see if I could find out anything else.
There were a lot that I thought had very interesting ideas/worlds/premises, bu the story /writing left me with some questions. Like the werewoman one or the one where the wind makes you crazy but protects you from demons.
Miss Snark seems to go for crime novels a lot, and serious examinations of children dealing with sick parents. Both of these are not my cuppas. Nor did I care for all of the “accidental children of God/devil/angel/demon plots” (and there were a LOT of those). It’s offical — demons are the new vampires in women’s fiction. There was one that sounded just like Kitty and the Midnight Hour and one that sounded just like Tera Lynn Child’s upcoming Growing Up Godly. One that sounded just like Coralynn, one that sounded just like EVERY OTHER PARANORMAL ROMANCE about a demon/vampire/”protector”/whatever finally let out of his cage blah blah blah — basically, NAL/Berkley’s new summer list.
The other thing I’m discovering is that the shorter, the better, as far as I’m concerned. If you do it in 76 words, I’m likely to read the whole thing. If you do it in 250, I’m likely to skim.
But very educational
December 19, 2006 at 11:48 pm
The theory I have on the HP hate is that the movies are very close to the books. Readers who find the books via the moveis don’t get a lot of new stuff. There’s not too much that’s difference.
Perhaps this is the darkside of an author having absolute control over a movie’s content.
For me, the movies are excruciating. I swear, I can see the pages turning on the first one. It was just like the book.
And I could’ve read the book faster.
But, for example, the movie Practical Magic, I thought was excellent and it led me to the book. The book it was based on was equally excellent yet different. I enjoyed both immensely partly because they were differentm but with the same spirt.
M
December 19, 2006 at 11:49 pm
Please don’t stare at the typos.
I’ve eaten too much sugar today and my eyes are all whirly in my head.
M
December 20, 2006 at 3:11 am
Demented, that’s a very interesting theory…however, Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was also nearly word for word from the book and everyone loved the film…and the book. At least, everyone I talked to.
I think the HP hate is nothing more than rebelliousness (I will not like what everyone else likes!), expectations (they forget these books/films are aimed primarily at children and teens) and just taste. But I read the reviews Diana spoke of and frankly, I don’t pay much attention to people who are illiterate in a book review. I mean, come on.
December 20, 2006 at 2:40 pm
Julie, do you think so? I thought they deviated a LOT from the book, especially in the beginning, with all of those war scenes with Edmund (who some of you know has been a long time childhood crush of mine) and that whole waterfall scene. The scenes they stuck to were indeed very loyal (it’s kind of like LOTR — where they were very loyal when it worked for film, and weren’t afraid to deviate when it made for a better movie).,
But it wasn’t like HP1. I totally agree with Demented M — I could see the pages turning. There were places that they could have changed it for hte sake of the film,a nd didn’t. They didn’t really break away and treat the films AS films until the third one (the only think I think I would have changed about the Azkaban movie was actually EXPLAINING who Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, were, becuase not defining PRONGS took all the OOMPH out of the Expecto Patronum scenes, which — say whatyou will about some parts of HP, is one of my favorite scenes in all of literature.)
December 20, 2006 at 7:00 pm
My fave Miss Snark comment so far (from #200):
I like the idea of a heroine who doesn’t like having superpowers. And excuse me but where are the winged horses??? I want winged horses!!!!!!!!! (I’d need a special saddle so Killer Yapp can come along for the ride)
I want winged horses, too! I love me some pegasi. Pegasuseses? (Now, now, I know it’s a proper name and thus is not pluralized. It’s just fun.)