Leads

1
Leads

• So What??

2
Leads

• Also known as the hook
• Usually occurs within the first 2-4 sentences
• Grabs the reader, informs the reader, and teaches
  the reader how to read the rest of the story

3
Leads

• According to Dr. Joyce Armstrong Carroll (Ed.
  D.), a writer only has twenty seconds to hook a
  reader
• the most common and most successful hooks, or
  lead-ins come from the following categories

4
Leads

• Setting
• Character Description
• Dialogue
• Action
• Reaction (Flashback)

5
Setting

• Time, place, or state of mind of a character
• Ex. To the red country and part of the gray
  country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently,
  and they did not cut the scarred earth. -The
  Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
• Whenever my mother talks to me, she begins the
  conversation as if we were already in the middle
  of the argument. -The Kitchen Gods Wife, Amy
  Tan

6
Character Description

• Glimpse of the physical description of a
  character
• Ex. With my long baloney curls bouncing and my
  skinny legs racing, I couldnt wait to jump in
  the warm water of Duckzies.

7
Dialogue

• Someone is speaking
• Ex. Three weeks after Granny Blakeslee died,
  Grandpa came to our house for his early morning
  snort of whiskey, as usual, and said to me, Will
  Tweedy? Go find your mama, then run up to yore
  Aunt Lomas and tell her I said to get down here.
  I got something to say. And I aint a-gon say
  it but oncet. -Cold Sassy Tree, Olive Ann
  Burns

8
Action

• Something is happening when the book, chapter, or
  story opens
• Ex. Eva unwrapped a cinnamon danish, opened her
  notebook, and stared helplessly at the wide,
  white pages. Write about what you know, her
  teacher, Mrs. DeMarco, had told her. Nothing
  Ever Happens on 90th Street, Roni Schotter

9
Reaction

• Something has already happened, and the writer is
  reflecting, also called flashback
• Ex.
• And they lived happily ever after. Diceys
  Song, Cynthia Voigt
• Jean Miss Julies mad again to-night
  absolutely mad! Miss Julie, August Stringberg