The Most Important Sentence!

Sentences—the most essential element of a story— but which sentence is THE most important?

The query hook?

The first sentence of your story?

Or the elevator pitch?

Let’s start with the Hook.

I’ll use my books as examples:

TWICE BETRAYED by Gayle C. Krause

The thread of friendship is stretched to the breaking point, when Betsy Ross’ thirteen –year-old apprentice, Perdy Rogers, is accused of treason and with one friend dead and deserted by another, she risks more than her freedom as a new nation struggles to be born.

RATGIRL: SONG OF THE VIPER by Gayle C. Krause

A retelling of The Pied Piper set in a dystopian future with global warming where sixteen-year-old streetwise orphan, Jax Stone, discovers her singing has a hypnotic effect on rats and children, she uses her gift to outwit the tyrannical mayor of Metro City and save the children of a dying city.

SCHEHERAZADE'S SECRET by Gayle C. Krause

Herazade, a seventeen-year-old beggar girl, discovers the Prince is returning and she wishes to be his wife, but her wish gets twisted, and she must save her sister and herself from a deadly fate, with the help of a special genie.

Your hook takes your complex plotlines and high-concept ideas and shrinks them into a simple, easily understood sentence.

Your hook line is your first pitch in getting someone interested in your book.

When an agent or editor at a conference asks you what your book is about, you answer with your one-sentence pitch.

They’re short.

They convey the major conflict of the story.

Writing a one-sentence pitch.

1.   mention your main character and what’s unique about them.

2.   tell what he/she wants

3.   mention the villain/obstacle

4.   discuss what makes your story unique (identify the twist)

5.   setting, time period

6.   must show excitement, action, or danger.