Natch, this got me wondering how the scene hooks (both beginning and ending) in my books stacked up. I've never thought much about starting hooks. I think a lot about ending ones, though.
So, without further ado, here are fourteen scene-ending hooks from A Scandalous Liaison. In a couple of cases, there's more than one sentence for reasons that should be obvious.
- “I have a proposition for you, my lady.”
- “Mayhap their destiny is about to change.”
- Except that she might sneak a peek to determine the color of his eyes.
- All he had to do was convince one very pretty and very suspicious lady that he had her best interests and not his own at heart.
Child’s play. - “I assure you, Mrs. Ellis,” Rosalind continued, undaunted, “that Mr. O’Brien is quite harmless.”
Or will be, provided I don’t actually look at him. Provided I forget he is by far the handsomest man I have ever laid eyes upon. - A week suddenly seemed a very long time.
- He’d know in seven days what his punishment would be.
It seemed a long time to wait. - Whether her heart was safe from itself, she chose not to ponder.
- His virtue might not be in any danger, but hers very probably was. Perversely, the knowledge thrilled her.
- The only thing more dangerous than desiring the wrong woman was feeling sympathy for her.
- But maybe it was time he concocted a plan of his own.
- If he got through the next eighteen months without succumbing to temptation, he might prove himself more a gentleman than he had ever hoped to be.
- The closed box was all the more seductive, all the more entrancing, for needing to remain closed.
- Comprehension dawned. She was waiting for him.
Looking at my scene openings, I think I need to work on those. Maybe next week, I'll post scene opening hooks from Lady Libertine. I think the openings of the scene in that book are stronger than in A Scandalous Liaison. Maybe that means I'm getting better at this whole thing!
So, what about you? Do you think about scene opening hooks, scene closing hooks, or both? Do you try to make chapter hooks stronger than scene hooks, or do you try to make all of them equally strong?
5 comments:
Great examples. I KNOW I'll be going back and taking a look at my openers/closers. Some are good and some are downright horrible.
I particularly like your #10 and #13! Still!
And I should add that yes, I would agree LL has more of a curiosity/hook factor, but then it's more of a suspense romance than ASL is, for sure. And it rocks!
I know I'm much better than endings than beginnings. Must do something about that!
I would like them all to be very strong but sometimes it just doesn't end up that way. That would mean for me 48 beginning and ending hooks and some scenes just end (not happily) but with someone exiting the room.
Beverley, I noticed that, too. I only put chapter ends on my page. But I have a hook for each scene, too! (I don't usually think much of openers, I admit, but I do try and put hooks on everything.) That's going to be one long worksheet when I get around to it!
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