Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go

Let me start by saying I am a writer. I completed my first novel early last year and eagerly sent out queries to publishers and agents. Many requested partials, so I mailed the required 50-100 pages, and then waited. All turned me down. After two more rounds of queries, partials, and rejection letters, I decided I needed a little help. So I headed to the local bookstore where I found the wonderful book, Hooked. I devoured it. Underling, highlighting, folding corners, and re-reading until I could apply everything I learned within it's pages to my manuscript. And it paid off. My novel, This Time You Lose, was just named a finalist in the Strongest Start Novel Competition. It has also climbed the ranks to number 5 (out of over 500) in the Readers Choice Top Ten Novel Competition. In addition, I have now secured an agent in New York, and am putting the finishing touches on my manuscript before re-submitting it to publishers. All of this within 3 months of purchasing and reading this book. I've recommended this book to other writers, both online and in person. And I continue to refer back to the pages of Hooked with each new story I write. Chris

HOOKED is superb! Concrete and practical, this book lays out the keys to making that crucial first scene work in a clear and succinct manner. One of the best things about it is it is UP TO DATE with what editors and agents are looking for NOW. This has changed a lot in recent years, so many otherwise-excellent books fall short because they are now dated. HOOKED helped me fix the first scene in my own book which is now under serious consideration by a major publisher. Several folks in my writing group have purchased it and I intend to recommend it to others. Thanks to Les Edgerton for a terrific addition to my craft library. This book will get plenty of use! Elizabeth McIntyre, RI

... this one is certainly one of the best. It absolutely hones in on the elements that make up the all-important beginning and shows how they interrelate and combine to give you your best beginning. Never have a seen such a subject boiled down to its interlocking parts. Has definitely got me thinking on how a few words can say / do so much. Bravo, Les!

This is probably going to be one of the most treasured books on craft on my library shelf. The author claims it's a book about beginnings, but it's about a whole lot more than that! It analyzes what makes a brilliant beginning to a novel, and talks about the components of an opening scene--and what makes a potentitally good beginning go bad. All well and good. And here is the true beauty, I think. It then goes into discussing the Inciting Incident as a trigger for the Surface Problem and the difference between the Surface Problem and the Story-Problem. You see, the surface problem (or problems, which is the usual case) are the obvious things your character and your readers are aware of, but the story problem, the deep down issue which nags at the character and drives the plot forward, and which may not be evident until the plot's resolution at the very end, is the key to the success of the entire novel. The reader does not necessarily have to know and/or understand the story-worthy problem before the end and in many cases shouldn't. BUT THE WRITER MUST. And I didn't. Not until I started reading his book and started really thinking about my book. And then all the issues that I'd been confused about, all the questions about lack of focus, everything that had been one great big question mark in my mind, suddenly vanished. I know where I'm going now. I know what I'm about. And I don't have to do a great big rewrite. A small tweak here and there, perhaps, but no big rewrite. And the writer's block that has had me blog-hopping, playing with prompts and looking for other excuses not to sit down and work, has vanished as well. I wish it had come out years ago.