Little Fires Everywhere

'Shock the system' as a tactic for great hooks

Welcome to 65,601 storytellers! A new, clean, efficient format for you today. Let me know what you think:

  • 1 storytelling tactic

  • 2 examples

  • 3 ideas

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1 Storytelling Tip

In the opening lines of the NYTimes Bestseller Little Fires Everywhere, author Celeste Ng suggests burning people:

Sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground and start over. After the burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow. People are like that, too.

She could’ve played it safe. Told us people would be better off if they got rid of their bad habits. But that’d be boring. So instead, she goes for shock. And her hook shines because of it.

Let’s run through the three ideas Ng uses to ‘shock the system’. You can use them, too. Here they are:

1. Non-obvious metaphor

The best metaphors work by revealing hidden similarities.

It takes a second, but once the scorched soil metaphor hits home, you nod your head in agreement.

2. Open loops

Who does the speaker think needs to be scorched? And what’d they do to deserve it? It’s a promise of conflict to come.

3. Theme introduction

These lines introduce a central theme of the novel: rebirth from destruction.

In your next hook — Shock The System.

2 Examples

I.

“Fifty-four years ago to the day, a young Jewish boy from a small town in the Carpathian Mountains woke up, not far from Goethe's beloved Weimar, in a place of eternal infamy called Buchenwald. He was finally free, but there was no joy in his heart. He thought there never would be again. Liberated a day earlier by American soldiers, he remembers their rage at what they saw. And even if he lives to be a very old man, he will always be grateful to them for that rage, and also for their compassion.”

— Elie Wiesel, The Perils of Indifference

II.

The contrast in the first two scenes of Slumdog Millionaire shocks the system. From the high-stakes gameshow to Jamal’s brutal interrogation. A brilliant intro.

3 Ideas

I.

Pixar’s Andrew Stanton: The film director and screenwriter says storytelling is joke telling. It's knowing your punchline, your ending, knowing that everything you're saying, from the first sentence to the last, is leading to a singular goal.

II.

Shaan Puri: “You want to figure out your signature stories first. Don't try to get to the endpoint of 'I'm known for X.' Go look at the signature stories that made you you. What were the moments that defined who you are? The times you made a key decision. The rock bottom story. Or going from shy to outgoing and confident. The signature stories reveal what you're going to be known for, and is the mental shortcut people will need to make when they're trying to think about: 'Who's that guy or girl?’”

III.

A question I’ve been pondering, from Tim Ferriss:

“What would this look like if it were easy?”

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Talk next week,

Nathan