Short story hooks with Paul Jennings

Have you ever started reading a book and just given up trying to get through the first chapter because it’s just not grabbing you? Those first few pages, the first paragraph, and even the first sentence are so important to grabbing the reader’s attention and getting them hungry for more. 

Narrative hooks are used in story openings in order to immediately “hook” the reader in for more. Punchy hooks are especially useful for short stories, because you don’t have a lot of time to get readers invested.

In this lesson you’ll learn five different types of hooks that Paul Jennings uses to kick off his zany short stories.

We’ll be using this image for inspiration throughout the lesson. Use it to kick off your imagination for each response you write. Think about what might be happening in the scene, or what may have taken place in the story before or afterwards.

You can also find your own image, or use your imagination!



Come up with a new context for it each time, or stick to one concept and try different things with it—it’s entirely up to you!