Writes opening hooks and post titles for long-form articles in EN or FR — blog posts, Substack/Medium/dev.to, LinkedIn long-form, newsletters, essays. Trigger whenever the user asks for a hook, opening, lede, intro, first sentence/paragraph, opener, accroche, attaque, phrase d'accroche, or première

Copywriting Hooks The method A hook's only job is to make the reader want sentence 2. Voice, structure, formatting, all of it, follow from that one job. What makes a reader want sentence 2 is one of five levers : 1. Open a gap. Pose something incomplete that the reader needs to close. Curiosity gap, question, open loop. 2. Break a prediction. State something that violates the reader's prior. Contrarian, definition reversal, surprising statistic. 3. Drop into a scene. Load sensory or specific detail that builds a vivid frame. In medias res, concrete detail, time anchor. 4. Promise a payoff. Name an outcome the reader wants. Benefit, "if you... then this", direct problem. 5. Borrow weight. Lean on a name, number, or quote that carries embedded authority. Authority hook, statistic, quote with disagreement. A strong hook usually pulls two levers at once. "Frank Sinatra, holding a glass of bourbon..." is scene plus open loop. "Most people think X. They're wrong." is prediction break plus gap. Single lever hooks can still work but are easier to ignore. Three further principles: Specific beats abstract every time. Replace "many companies" with "Stripe, Shopify, Vercel". Replace "recently" with a date. Replace "studies show" with the actual finding or cut the claim. The first sentence must force the second. Read each candidate cold. If you would not click sentence 2 after sentence 1, rewrite. Match technique to article type. Personal essay does not open like a tutorial. See the type fit table below. Behavior When this skill triggers: 1. Confirm the brief. Topic, audience, target language (EN, FR, or both), approximate length, where it will be published. If any of these is unclear and material, ask before generating. 2. Pick 3 to 4 hooks from the catalog below that are genuinely different. Different levers, not three flavors of contrarian. 3. Write 2 candidates per hook , specific to the user's article. The two candidates within one hook should explore different angles (different anecdote, different statistic, different scene), not be rewordings of each other. 4. Present using the Output format below. 5. Ask through the question tool. The choice is a small fixed set, which is what that tool is for. 6. Wait for the user's pick. Do not pick for them. 7. After they pick , name what the choice commits the rest of the article to. A contrarian hook commits paragraphs 2 to 3 to defending the non consensus claim. A scene opener commits the next section to either resolving the scene or productively delaying it. Diversification rule. Across your 3 to 4 options include at minimum: One intellectual hook (contrarian, definition reversal, historical analogy, curiosity gap) One sensory hook (in medias res, concrete detail) One reader direct hook (conditional, direct problem, promise) This guarantees real choice. Three flavors of contrarian is not a choice. Type fit reference: Article type Strong hooks Avoid Technical deep dive concrete detail, statistic, contrarian, direct problem personal confession, scene opener Personal essay in medias res, personal confession, time anchor, definition reversal bold claim, direct problem Opinion / contrarian bold claim, definition reversal, contrarian, quote + disagreement gentle setup, dictionary opener Tutorial / how to direct problem (PAS), promise, conditional scene opener, historical analogy Reported / investigative concrete detail, time anchor, in medias res, statistic bold claim, definition reversal Listicle curiosity gap, counted stakes, conditional personal confession, in medias res Longform analysis historical analogy, statistic, contrarian direct problem Newsletter issue personal confession + open loop, conditional, curiosity gap dictionary opener Output format Always present options exactly like this: If the user says "more" or "none", produce 3 different hooks (not new candidates for the same hooks). If the user says "blend 1A and 2B", write a combined hook and check in again. The hook catalog (18) Each hook: what it does, examples (mix EN and FR, real and illustrative), when to use, when to avoid. 1. Curiosity Gap Open an information gap the reader wants closed. EN: "How does Shen Yun make any money? Short answer: they don't." (Packy McCormick) EN: "Many years ago, one mustard dominated the supermarket shelves: French's." (Gladwell, "The Ketchup Conundrum") FR: "Trois startups françaises ont franchi le milliard cette année. Aucune n'est dans la tech." EN: "I've been a surgeon for eight years. For the past couple of them, my performance in the operating room has reached a plateau." (Gawande) Use when : you can honestly close the gap in 2 or 3 sentences. The gap must be one the reader cares about. Avoid : vague gaps ("You won't believe what happened next") that the reader cannot even guess at. 2. Contrarian Knock down a consensus belief the reader holds. EN: "Prevailing wisdom claims that the best way to achieve what we want in life is to set specific, actionable goals." (Clear, "Forget About Setting Goals", proceeds to argue the opposite) EN: "To do something well you have to like it. That idea is not exactly novel." (Graham, "Do What You Love", proceeds to complicate it) EN: "If you're not saying 'HELL YEAH!' about something, say no." (Sivers) FR: "Le Marketing est TOUT ce que l'IA ne peut pas faire !" (Truphème) Use when : you have a defensible non consensus view and 200 to 400 words to defend it. Avoid : strawmen, gratuitous edginess, contrarianism for its own sake. 3. Bold Claim / Promise State the outcome upfront, before the proof. EN: "At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls Royce comes from the electric clock." (Ogilvy) EN: "They laughed when I sat down at the piano. But when I started to play!—" (Caples 1925) EN: "Give me 15 minutes and I'll give you a super power memory." (Schwartz) FR: "En 5 minutes : la structure qui fait passer le taux de complétion d'un article de 18% à 64%." Use when : you can deliver on the promise concretely in the article. Avoid : promises larger than the payoff. Destroys trust permanently. 4. Scene Opener / In Medias Res Drop the reader inside a specific moment, no setup. EN: "Frank Sinatra, holding a glass of bourbon in one hand and a cigarette in the other, stood in a dark corner of the bar between two attractive but fading blondes who sat waiting for him to say something." (Talese) EN: "We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold." (Thompson) EN: "The center was not holding." (Didion) FR: "Le 14 mai 2024, à 6h12, trois hommes en civil sonnent à la porte d'un appartement du XVe arrondissement." Use when : longform, profile, reported piece, essay. Avoid : short technical pieces where the reader has not earned the scene yet. 5. Surprising Statistic Lead with a number that violates the prior. EN: "You have five seconds to get people's attention." (Housel, self demonstrating) EN: "Thirty seven thousand Americans died in car accidents in 1955, six times today's rate adjusted for miles driven." (Housel) EN: "Approximately 40 percent of the actions you perform each day are habits, not actual decisions." (Clear) FR: "Tu as moins de 3 secondes pour convaincre tes audiences que ton contenu est intéressant." (Truphème) Use when : the number is genuinely surprising and you can cite it accurately. Avoid : vague stats ("studies show 90%..."), stats that confirm the reader's prior (no surprise equals no hook). 6. Question Pose a question the reader actually wants answered. EN: "If you collected lists of techniques for doing great work in a lot of different fields, what would the intersection look like?" (Graham) EN: "Why do we make kids go to school?" (Caplan) FR: "Pourquoi 80% des articles LinkedIn ne dépassent jamais 100 vues ? Spoiler : ce n'est pas l'algorithme." FR: "Avez vous le courage de gagner la moitié d'un million de dollars cette année ?" (Schwartz) Use when : the reader was implicitly carrying the question. Avoid : "Have you ever wondered...?", "Did you know...?", "What if I told you...?". These presuppose curiosity not yet formed. 7. Quote + Disagreement Borrow weight, then twist. EN: "Vernor Vinge: 'We are on the edge of change comparable to the rise of human life on Earth.'" (Urban setup) EN: "Steve Jobs said people don't know what they want until you show it to them. For SaaS, this is exactly backwards." EN: "Henry Ford supposedly said his customers would have asked for faster horses. For most products, that excuse is wrong." FR: "Henry Ford disait qu'on lui aurait demandé des chevaux plus rapides. Pour 90% des produits, c'est faux." Use when : you have a real quote that supports or genuinely contrasts your point. Avoid : misattributed Einstein, Seneca, Confucius, Bouddha platitudes. Cliché. 8. Personal Confession Admit something vulnerable, then universalize. EN: "I cheated on my husband." (Strayed) EN: "I've been thinking about my parents, who are in their mid 60s. During my first 18 years, I spent some time with my parents during at least 90% of my days." (Urban, "The Tail End") EN: "It's been a minute. This is as long as I've gone without writing an essay since starting Not Boring." (McCormick) FR: "À 34 ans, j'ai démissionné sans plan B. Voici ce que personne ne dit sur la suite." Use when : personal byline, essay, newsletter. Avoid : corporate byline, technical articles where the author voice is not personal, performative vulnerability ("I almost didn't write this..."). 9. Concrete Specific Detail Replace abstraction with a single vivid detail. EN: "John Laroche is a tall guy, skinny as a stick, pale eyed, slouch shouldered, and sharply handsome, despite the fact that he is missing all his front teeth." (Orlean) EN: "Charles Bukowski was an alcoholic, a womanizer, a chronic gambler, a lout, a cheapskate, a deadbeat, and on his worst days, a poet." (Manson) FR: "Quand on la voit arriver dans les locaux du Bondy Blog, ce samedi 24 février, difficile de se dire qu'elle est fichée illégalement par les services de renseignement français." FR: "Un Post it collé sur mon écran : 'Supprime ton premier paragraphe.'" Use when : profile, reported piece, contrarian biographical setup. Avoid : specificity that does not advance the thesis (clutter). 10. Pattern Interrupt Break expected rhythm with a fragment. EN: "Wait." (Godin style) EN: "Stop." EN: "This is not an article about productivity. It's an article about identity." FR: "Non. Ce que vous avez lu cette semaine sur l'IA est faux. Voici pourquoi." Use when : rhythm driven content, opinion piece, when the reader expects flow and you want to interrupt it. Avoid : every article. It becomes its own pattern fast. 11. Direct Problem (PAS) Name the pain, sharpen it, hint at solution. EN: "Your articles aren't read. The data says you lose 80% of readers by paragraph two. There's a fix, and it's not what you've been doing." EN: "If you're like most marketing managers, you don't have enough time to write your white papers, and the ones you outsource come back generic." (Bly) FR: "Vos emails ne sont pas ouverts. Trois mois, taux plafonné à 12%. Le problème n'est pas l'objet, c'est l'expéditeur." FR: "Vos articles ne sont pas lus. 80% des lecteurs décrochent dès le deuxième paragraphe. Et la solution n'est pas celle que vous croyez." Use when : tutorial, how to, sales adjacent content. Avoid : manufactured problems. Reads as fear mongering. The pain must be real and recognizable. 12. Promise / Benefit State a specific, bounded outcome. EN: "Read this in 5 minutes and you'll never write a weak opening again." EN: "By the end of this article, you'll know ex

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