How Hunger Games hooks readers: Bringing a premise to life (video essay)

How author Suzanne Collins creates a compelling high-concept premise in the opening chapter of The Hunger Games, how she brings that premise to life through character, world-building, and language, and how that premise conquered the literary world.

TRANSCRIPT on Medium: https://medium.com/@hownovelstarts/how-the-hunger-games-hooks-readers-db6465fb932f
SHARE on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hownovelstarts/status/1108882314988154880
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ADDITIONAL READING & VIEWING

* Read Chapter 1 of The Hunger Games https://www.scholastic.com/content/dam/teachers/migrated-assets-not-associated-with-content/migrated-pdfs-and-other-files/hungergames-chapter1.pdf
* The Hunger Games novel synopsis http://bit.ly/2Fnn8of
* Suzanne Collins biography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanne_Collins
* Conversation with Suzanne Collins about the book https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/qa-hunger-games-author-suzanne-collins/
* 2014 list of most-highlighted passages on Kindle https://web.archive.org/web/20140704033430/https://kindle.amazon.com/most_popular
* Analysis of Kindle's list of highlights https://www.vox.com/2014/6/8/5786196/7-things-the-most-highlighted-kindle-passages-tell-us-about-american
* How J. K. Rowling starts Harry Potter: Voice vs. Exposition https://youtu.be/EGVJ9y5oD7c
* Writer's Digest article on high-concept books: https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/writing-fiction-online-editor/what-is-and-isnt-high-concept-fiction-and-how-do-you-pitch-it
* What is a high concept? Opposing thoughts on big movie ideas. https://youtu.be/c3vE5jpfBI0
* Why the YA dystopian craze finally burned out https://www.polygon.com/22449675/ya-dystopia-fad-ended

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ABOUT THIS CHANNEL

What’s the best way to start a story? What makes readers, agents, and publishers take a chance on our book? What holds their attention? There’s plenty of advice out there on how to write a first chapter, but so much of it is generic. So, instead, I went looking for concrete examples in great books. On HOW THE NOVEL STARTS, I explore the opening chapters of popular novels, and figure out what writers can learn from them for their own work.

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IMAGE AND VIDEO ATTRIBUTIONS

"Theseus and the Minotaur" by Edward Burne-Jones
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Burne-Jones_-_Tile_Design_-_Theseus_and_the_Minotaur_in_the_Labyrinth_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Ernest Hemingway photo
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ErnestHemingway.jpg

Arctic Iceberg, reflected - Annie Spratt
https://unsplash.com/photos/N46IkbWUvMU

Glitch footage
http://www.mediafire.com/file/xgqd6i7qcxvdl7r/Screen+Glitch+-+Free+Stock+Footage.mp4

Paper texture
https://www.pexels.com/photo/blank-clean-color-empty-889087/

Paper texture - rawpixel
https://unsplash.com/photos/V_zNGJKVIgo

Like icon
https://www.freeiconspng.com/img/39121

Comment icon
https://www.iconfinder.com/icons/298753/comment_icon

Mouse cursor/pointer icons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mouse-cursor-hand-pointer.svg

Subscribe button - AlfredoCreates
https://www.alfredocreates.com/youtube-subscribe-button-free-download-1/

Blueprint background - Ian Barnard
http://www.ianbarnard.co.uk/free-blueprint-style-background-vector/

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MUSIC AND SOUND ATTRIBUTIONS

"Low Horizon" by Kai Engel
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/The_Scope/Kai_Engel_-_The_Scope_-_08_Low_Horizon

"Run" by Kai Engel
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/The_Run/Kai_Engel_-_The_Run_-_02_Run

"Scenery" by Kai Engel
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/The_Run/Kai_Engel_-_The_Run_-_06_Scenery

"Delirium" by Kai Engel
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/ICD-10/Kai_Engel_-_ICD-10_-_03_Delirium

"Tumult" by Kai Engel
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/The_Run/Kai_Engel_-_The_Run_-_07_Tumult

Mouse click sound effect
http://www.orangefreesounds.com/mouse-click-sound/

Bell ring sound effect
http://www.orangefreesounds.com/bell-sound-effect-ding/

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#hungergames
#writing
#novel
#NaNoWriMo

Видео How Hunger Games hooks readers: Bringing a premise to life (video essay) канала How The Novel Starts