Get Feedback – Does The First Sentence Hook Your Reader?

In this post, Christopher Rice offers to help you hook your readers. Be sure to read the entire post to learn how you can get free feedback.

If you’re like most writers, you’re probably trying to get attention for your work – either by submitting to literary magazines, entering your work in competitions, or using the Writer’s Market to reach out to agents or editors.

No matter how you’re going about it, your long-term goal is probably to get published … to see your book on the shelf in an actual bookstore.

In order to reach that goal your work needs to survive the submission process (depending on where you’re submitting), which involves a lot of analytical people. These people act as a filter, letting in only the most promising and exceptional work. Surviving this process isn’t as easy as making sure your work is polished before submitting – as important as it is to polish, the most important thing your work needs to do is compel your reader to find out what happens next … you need to hook your reader.

The earlier you achieve this the better.

To drive the point home, I’d like to focus in on the first sentence of your work. Though it’s certainly not necessary for all material to hook the reader as soon as possible, it definitely increases the chance of getting past the filter.

Does the first sentence hook your reader?

For those interested in hooking the reader in as soon as possible, I’d like to invite you to share your first sentence in the comments section below. I’ll be reading each and posting constructive feedback where applicable – all of which is completely subjective, so you can either take it or leave it.

If you’re not sure about sharing your unpublished work here online, feel free to change any character names or specifics that you’d like hidden – I assure you sharing your first sentence won’t impact the chances of your work being published … in fact, getting feedback may help you increase the chances.

Still, if you’d like to see an example of this type of feedback, you can click over to Are You Giving Visitors A Reason to Revisit Your Blog? and What Do Visitors Learn In Just 10 Seconds On Your Blog?

Constructive Feedback

If you’d like to find out whether or not your first sentence hooks a first-time reader, submit the first sentence  of your project in the comments section. I’ll be reading each and providing a bit of feedback as well.

Here’s what I might cover in the feedback.

• What hooked my attention
• First impressions
• Does it set a tone?
• Is it clear?
• Any confusion

Submit Only The First Sentence Of Your Work Below

I look forward to reading your first sentences, and promise to be constructive and helpful. I’m not here to hurt feelings; I’m here to help you improve your first sentence.

That said, I will be honest and constructive if I feel there might be room for improvement, so if you’re not comfortable with criticism, consider submitting under a pseudonym.

Looking forward to getting a little taste of your work!

photo credit: Blyzz