Hook Readers with Your Story’s First Five Pages

FREE EVENT sponsored by California Writers Club - SF Peninsula Chapter

Do you know if your story hooks readers in the first line, first pages, or first chapter? If it doesn’t, it risks being set aside. In this Writers Helping Writers presentation, Story Coach Eva Barrows reveals how to write openings that grab attention, spark curiosity, and keep readers turning pages.

Focusing on what needs to happen in a story’s first five pages, you’ll learn what a story hook is, why it matters, and its function across genres. You’ll learn how strong hooks launch the plot and introduce characters, conflict, and your protagonist’s core desire.
We’ll look at different ways to craft a compelling hook and how to avoid common opening missteps. Writers will leave with concrete strategies and revision tips to craft openings that successfully immerse readers into the rest of the story, and make them eager to reach the end.
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Eva Barrows is a story coach and developmental editor who helps writers strengthen their stories through clear, practical revision strategies. Authors she works with have written fiction, memoir, and nonfiction projects.

Her collaborative approach working with authors focuses on the elements that carry readers through a story: character goals and growth, scene development, and story structure. She helps authors identify what works, what holds a manuscript back, and create a practical path forward together.

Eva is currently writing a historical novel set during the dawn of silent film Westerns in Niles, California. Eva brings both craft expertise and an active writer’s perspective to her coaching.