What is a High Concept Hook
and how to know if you have one
Nailing down a hook can make or break your novel. Especially, if the goal is querying and traditional publication. Agents spend time helping an author get the book into the best possible shape because they believe it is a product worth selling. You can make their job easier by creating a hooky, one-sentence pitch before even writing the first chapter.
Oftentimes, we let the story come first, then try to fit it into a sentence. On your next project, try to start with the pitch.
Have you ever read a publication announcement or a blurb for a book and immediately knew you had to read it? That’s the effect you want from your one-sentence pitch.
Coming up with a high-concept hook can seem daunting. However, inspiration can come from everyday life. Take any mundane conflict you’ve witnessed, and ask “what if” to elevate it into thriller category. Does your friend do event photography? Well, what if during one of her corporate gigs, she captured something sinister and now a killer is after her?
I’d recommend coming up with about a dozen, then utilizing your writing community to help you narrow it down—a focus group of sorts.
Your one-sentence pitch should have a brief description of the character, what they want, and what stands in their way. Basically, a condensed query letter.
Here are the hooks of some popular stories:
Jaws: When a massive killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Long Island, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down
Gone Girl: When a woman goes missing, her husband quickly becomes the prime suspect, but he leads his own investigation, following the clues the perpetrator left especially for him.
Yellowface: When a failed writer witnesses her rival die in a freak accident, she decides to steal her unpublished manuscript, but as she gets all the accolades she always wanted, someone who knows her secret blackmails her to tell the truth.
Now, let’s make some of our own.
Think of using jobs or hobbies as descriptors of your characters. It’s a simple way to give personality without a bloated word count. Add the inciting incident. Showcase the consequences and their stakes.
A burnt-out stay-at-home mom leaves for a week to take care of her parent’s estate, but just as she’s about to list their house for sale, an anonymous caller tells her to find a box hidden somewhere on the property, or risk never seeing her family again.
A woman uses a car accident settlement for extensive plastic surgery; her new beauty is a perfect cover to infiltrate and destroy the clique of mean girls whom she blames for making her drop out of college, but as she becomes enmeshed with the charismatic leader, she risks destroying herself instead.