Writing hooks

Goal

Write strong opening lines on demand, using a set of patterns, and learn to test hooks quickly.

What a hook does

The hook is the first line you say and the first thing viewers see. Its job is not to explain. Its job is to make the right person stay. The platforms confirm indirectly why it matters: they reward whether people finish the video and react (lesson 1.1), and nobody finishes a video they left after two seconds.

A good hook does three things:

1. Targets. The right viewer feels “that’s me.”
2. Opens a gap. A question, a tension or a surprise the viewer wants closed.
3. Is true. It must be delivered on by the rest of the video. A hook that over-promises earns a fast exit and a loss of trust.

Twelve hook patterns

Use these as templates. Fill in your own material.

1. Bold claim: “Most advice about [topic] makes things worse.”
2. Result first: “I [achieved result] in [time], and it started with one mistake.”
3. Number list: “Three things I wish I knew before [situation].”
4. Mistake confession: “I wasted [time or money] on [thing] before I understood this.”
5. Direct question: “Why does [relatable annoyance] keep happening?”
6. Contrarian: “Everyone says [common advice]. Here’s where it breaks.”
7. Mid-story: “The email arrived at 11 p.m. and I knew my week was gone.”
8. Secret / behind the scenes: “Here’s what [a job or process] actually looks like.”
9. Specific person: “If you’re [situation], watch this before you [action].”
10. Challenge: “Try this for one week and tell me if I’m wrong.”
11. Sensory/odd detail: “There’s a spreadsheet on my desktop called ‘FINAL_final_REALLY’.”
12. Stakes: “This one setting cost me three hours every week.”

Make it sharper

After you draft a hook, apply the pass:

• Cut the warm-up. Delete “So,” “Hey guys,” “Today I want to talk about,” “Okay.”
• Use concrete words. “A client email” beats “a work situation.”
• Shorten. Can you say it in 7-12 words?
• Start with the strongest word. Often the number, the claim or the action.
• Say it in speech. Read it aloud. If it sounds written, rewrite it.
• Check honesty. Will the video deliver this?

Weak: “Today I want to talk about how I manage my time at work.” Better: “I stopped managing my time and my week got better.”

What repeats across creators

Analyses of reels from several unrelated creators and niches turned up the same few habits. Treat them as observations from small samples, and test them on your own reels.

• The promise sits in text or speech, never in the picture alone. A music-only reel has no audio hook, so a caption with the promise should be on screen within the first second.
• No greeting. The openings that held were a reversal, a verdict, a number or a negative command (“Don’t film videos like this”).
• A promise with a built-in contract: a time-boxed promise (“If you had one day to learn Git”), a universal question, a personal stake. The viewer knows exactly what they are owed.
• One line, new slot. Some creators open several videos with the same sentence and swap only the variable. A template you reuse is cheaper than a hook you invent every time.

For longer videos, especially on YouTube, the first seconds carry three jobs, in this order: promise (confirm exactly what the viewer clicked for), proof (a reason to trust you on this topic) and plan (where the video goes). In a 30-second reel each of the three is one short line at most.

The visual hook

The first frame is part of the hook. It should add information or interest, not just show you.

• Start already in motion: mid-gesture, mid-sentence.
• Show the thing: an object, a screen, a result.
• Put a short on-screen text with the claim, in large letters, so the idea lands even without sound.
• Avoid a long fade-in or title card.

Remember that the final export needs sound (lesson 1.1 notes that no sound can lower reach on Instagram), but your opening text helps viewers who watch muted.

Test hooks without publishing

Before you commit to a hook, try these checks:

1. The friend test: say the hook to someone in a text message. Would they reply “wait, what?”
2. The scroll test: put the hook on a note card and scroll your own feed. Does it feel like it belongs?
3. The twelve test: write 12 versions of one hook, one per pattern. The best is often not the first.
4. The grandma test: can a non-expert understand the first line?

After you start publishing, use your analytics to find out which hooks hold attention in the first seconds (lesson 7.2).

Example set: one idea, five hooks

Idea: I turned off all notifications for a month.

1. Result first: “I turned off every notification for a month. Here’s what broke.”
2. Mid-story: “My phone buzzed 142 times that day. Then I turned it off.”
3. Contrarian: “Notification settings aren’t the problem. Your phone’s default is.”
4. Number: “Three things that happened when I silenced my phone.”
5. Question: “What would you do with four extra hours a week?”

Pick one, film it, and keep the others in the inbox for another reel.

Common mistakes

• Greeting. “Hi everyone” costs a second you cannot spare.
• Vague hook. “This changed my life” says nothing.
• Clickbait you cannot pay off. It kills completion and trust.
• Overthinking. A good-enough hook filmed beats a perfect hook unfilmed.

Exercise

1. Choose two concepts from lesson 3.3.
2. Write 12 hooks for each, one per pattern, even if some are bad.
3. Pick the best two for each, run the friend test on the finalists.
4. Film each chosen hook five times in different tones: calm, urgent, amused. Do not edit. Note which feels most like you.

Daily practice

• Minimum (keeps the streak): a voice note of any length.
• Today’s take (about 30 seconds): Say your three best hooks one after another, each followed by a one-sentence promise.
• Weeks 1-2 everything stays private; from week 3 follow your publishing plan.
• Don’t watch the take right away (lesson 4.1). Tick the day in your tracker.

Reading (optional)

This week’s book, about 15-20 minutes: Chip and Dan Heath, Made to Stick. A loose suggestion; it does not have to match the lesson. More in resources and the schedule.

Checklist

• I know the twelve patterns.
• I wrote at least 24 hooks.
• I cut warm-ups and tightened to 12 words or fewer.
• I know my opening frame.
• I recorded today’s voice note and take.

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