A good story starts strong. You don't want to start yours on a weak note. From the opening, you need to get your readers hooked; that is one of its main jobs, and if not executed properly, your readers may not likely go on reading. Give them a good reason to care about your story from the first sentence, the first paragraph and the first chapter. To achieve this, I have compiled five tricks that hardly ever disappoint.

1. Open with the Unusual

One way to captivate your readers right from the opening is to create it with a character in motion. Mention someone right from the first paragraph of your story with an unusual event already occurring in their lives that shows them moving and deviating from the status quo. 

For example, look at the opening of Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz:

Tuesday was a fine California day, full of sunshine and promise until Harry Lyon had to shoot someone at lunch. 

This opening immediately grabs the attention because it introduces a character, Harry Lyon, and shows an interesting interruption to his normal life. These two elements are often present in an attention-grabbing opening. 

2. Open with an Immediate Action

Another way to get your readers hooked from the first page or the first paragraph is to begin in the middle of the action — the medius res. For example, The Car Thief opens with: 

It’s a long way down. Like maybe die or at least break a leg or two if I fall. For just a moment I consider ditching my plan, but then one look at the door locking me in and I decide, yeah, I’ve got to do this. 

This opening is captivating because it starts with immediate action, a character is in the middle of something, and we want to know what that is and why he is doing it and if he will succeed and what would be the ripple effect. A good medius res makes your reader curious with a lot of questions about an unfolding action. 

3. Open with Raw Emotion

Someone once said that words are powerful because, though we might forget a statement, we will always remember how it made us feel. And an opening with raw emotions will always capture readers' attention because it makes them feel something. 

A good example is The Quiet Game; it opens with a father and his four-year-old daughter holding hands in a line at Disney World, and then: 

Annie jerks taut in my arms and points into the crowd. 

“Daddy! I saw Mama! Hurry!” 

I do not look. I don’t ask where. I don’t because Annie’s mother died seven months ago. I stand motionless in the line, looking just like everyone else except for the hot tears that have begun to sting my eyes.

4. Open with Compelling Reminiscence

An opening is captivating when it promises to tell an extraordinary story; a perfect way to make this promise convincingly is to open with a compelling recollection. This hook shows a past reflection that is so fascinating it makes readers curious to know what must have happened and how it affects the present. A good example is the opening of The Dead Zone:

The two things Sarah remembered about that night later were his run of luck at the Wheel of Fortune and the mask. But as time passed, years of it, it was the mask she thought about—when she could bring herself to think about that horrible night at all.

5. Begin with an Unusual Viewpoint

If your story has a main character with a uniquely fascinating viewpoint, you can use it to get your readers hooked right from the opening. This kind of hook is perfect for first-person narration, and a good example is the opening of The Bell Jar:

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York. I'm stupid about executions. The idea of being electrocuted makes me sick, and that's all there was to read about in the papers—goggle-eyed headlines staring up at me on every street corner and at the fusty, peanut-smelling mouth of every subway. It had nothing to do with me, but I couldn't help wondering what it would be like, being burned alive all along your nerves.