The Why Hook (Part 1)

This is the most basic type of hook. 

Give the reader something they don't understand—but desperately want to understand.

When the opening creates a question the reader needs answered, you've given them a reason to keep reading. 

1. The unexpected visitor

At three in the morning, someone knocked on Sarah's door.
She knew it was her dead husband's brother.

Reader's question: Why is he there? How is he connected to her husband's death?

2. The character's strange behavior

When the judge walked into the courtroom, everyone stood—except the defendant.
The defendant was the judge's daughter.

Reader's question: Why won't she stand? What's going on between them?

3. Something doesn't belong

Jane opened the letter and found a photograph of herself as a child.
She had never seen the photograph before—and the photographer had been dead for thirty years.

Reader's question: How did this photograph exist? Who sent it?

4. A disturbing discovery

Mary knew there was no body in the empty coffin.
She had helped put it there herself.

Reader's question: Why was the coffin empty? What happened to the body?

5. A contradiction

Everyone in town believed Thomas had drowned.
At 8:15 that morning, his wife received a postcard from him.

Reader's question: If he's dead, who sent the postcard?

6. Historical fiction example —From my novel. The Great Hunger. Jane entered the workhouse believing it would save her family from starvation.
Within minutes, she began wondering whether she had made a terrible mistake.

Reader's question: What did Jane see? What makes the workhouse more frightening than she expected?