Hook, Line and Clincher

Writing a Hook and a Clincher

The next logical step in building a house is to assemble the materials: the wood, sheet rock, windows, and doors. In this step, you are going shopping for the front porch (the hook) and the back patio (the clincher).

The first impression your reader will have of your presentation is the hook. You have several choices for creating effective hooks. Look at each example hook below, then try to write your own hook using the same strategy.

The word "dead" is repeated over 800 times in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

This is a shocking statistic.

To be obsessed with mortality or not to be, is not in question at all in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

This is a humorous statement because it plays on Shakespeare's words in an ironic way.

What is the one element of life that we humans least understand and most fear?

This is a rhetorical question.

Hamlet is like a rejected lover who carries photographs and letters of the woman who scorns him; he is obsessed with a mistress who will leave him in the dust, the lady Death.

This is an analogy.

Suppose your dead father's ghost keeps appearing to you? What would be on your mind all the time?

This is a "suppose..." statement.

In the cool darkness, an added chill sweeps over a lonely, grieving young man who lifts his eyes to see the flimsy shifting figure of his recently dead father.

This is graphic image description.

Once upon a time, there was a man who lived thinking only of life. He didn't take notice when others passed on, and he laughed at the mere idea of death. In the end, he died anyway.

This is an anecdote.

"To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of?"

This is a quotation (Quotes can come from literature or an expert).

Hamlet is not a play about revenge; rather it is about resignation to mortality.

This is a direct, controversial statement (playing devil's advocate on a topic).

Now, it is your turn to choose the hook that wows the audience the most. You will add it to the drafting table on the next page.

The clincher is the last line in your presentation; it is the last thing the audience sees, so it is the first thing they will remember about your presentation. It should be short and meaningful like a slogan. Look at the clincher example and write your own clincher. One of your discarded hooks may be just the ticket. You can create a clincher using the same techniques.

Memento mori paralyzed and inspired Hamlet's tragedy.

Pithy, memorable, slogan-like statement.