Narrative hook
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The first line, or lines, of a story are its opening. An opening that makes the reader feel a desire to continue reading, usually because the opening has created a situation that activates the reader's curiosity, is a "narrative hook." A typical characteristic of a narrative hook is that it is in medias res, that is, it is "into the middle of things," meaning that it gives the reader the impression that the story is already under way as of the time of the narrative hook's setting (note that this time may be indeterminate, but the facts established by the hook will typically imply that some greater context, yet to be fully revealed to the reader, already exists, regardless of the particular moment to which the narrative hook relates).
Ben Bova says, of the narrative hook, "It’s like fishing. You want to hook that reader so thoroughly that she can’t let go of your story until it’s ended. The best way to do this is by starting your story in the midst of brisk, exciting action. Start in the middle! Don’t waste time telling the reader how your protagonist got into the pickle he’s in. Show the protagonist struggling to get free. You can always fill in the background details later."
Lucy English has categorized hooks, indicating that they need not all operate the same way to create the curiosity that drives a reader onward. She allows for, among others, puzzles, promises, jokes, bits of dialog, and others. (Writers may benefit from considering not only the nature of the hook, but whether the sentence(s) is(are) declarative, imperative, or interrogatory.)
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[edit] Examples
He was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead. (What's killing him? Why is it so slow? Will he ever die?)
Call me Ishmael. (Is that his real name?)
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? (Indeed, who?)
[edit] Hook v. Theme
The narrative hook is the device that draws the reader into the story from the moment reading begins. This need not actually establish the theme of the story (that is, the hook need not set forth what it is the story is actually about). Critics are not always clear as to this distinction. For example, referring to "Krono," by Charles L. Harness, Gerald Jonas wrote (in The New York Times):
The narrative hook is intriguing. To find room for its surplus population, a radiation-poisoned Earth establishes colonies in the prehistoric past, using a technology invented by a Harvard professor named Ratell. Fears of disturbing the time-flow in a way that might alter history are muted by Ratell's paradoxical discovery that the "limitless Archeozoic Sea" was in fact utterly lifeless until Ratell himself seeded it with molecules designed to get evolution - "our" evolution - going.
Here, Jonas has summarized the plot device that forms the basis for a story, but regards it as the narrative hook. While it is possible to present the central conceit, "maguffin," or (as Darko Suvin has named it for science fiction) novum in the hook, they are not necessarily one-in-the-same.
[edit] Hook v. Plot
Note also that the hook, even a long one, need not relate to the principle plot a story presents. For example, in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, the opening is pages long, describing an exciting (albeit somewhat silly) problem confronting the protagonist. The problem is interesting and, over the course of the pages devoted to how it is resolved, forms a long narrative hook for Stephenson's engaging novel. It does not, however, relate directly to the central challenge that will drive events for most of the book. In that way, it somewhat resembles the traditional pre-credits opening "teaser" in the James Bond series of movies, wherein the main character confronts a dangerous situation, always overcoming it in some inventive and entertaining way. The subsequent story usually has no connection to these initial scenes, but those scenes draw the audience forward, making it wonder: what will happen to this remarkable character next?
