Hook Writer Skill

The hook is 80% of the result. A brilliant post with a flat first line dies; a mediocre post with a great hook travels. This skill writes hooks the way top creators do — multiple angles, each engineered to stop the scroll — so you can pick the one that fits.

Working from a brief

Given just a topic or a finished piece, generate the hooks anyway. Infer the audience and the payoff, and never return a single safe option — the value is in the range. Mark any invented number (assumed — use a real one) because specific numbers are part of what makes hooks land.

Required Inputs

Ask for (if not already provided):

• The topic / the content the hook is for
• Platform & format (X, LinkedIn, YouTube title, Reel cold-open, email subject)
• Audience and the payoff (what they get if they keep reading)

Output Format

Give 8–12 hooks grouped by angle, each with a one-line why it works and the format it suits:

• Curiosity gap — open a loop the reader needs closed
• Contrarian / pattern-break — challenge a common belief
• Specific result — a concrete, numeric outcome
• Story / in-media-res — drop them into a moment
• High stakes / cost of inaction — what they lose by ignoring it
• Listicle / promise — a clear, scannable payoff
• Question — a sharp, non-obvious question (used sparingly)

Then:

• 🏆 Top 3 picks — the strongest for the stated platform, ranked, with why.
• Hook teardown — one line on the mechanism the best hook uses, so the user can write their own next time.

Keep each hook in the platform's natural length (a YouTube title ≤60 chars; an email subject ≤50; a Reel cold-open speakable in 2–3s).

Quality Checks

• [ ] Multiple genuinely different angles, not variations of one line
• [ ] Each hook is specific (names, numbers, stakes), not vague
• [ ] Top picks match the platform's length and norms
• [ ] No clickbait that the content can't pay off — the hook must be honest
• [ ] The teardown gives a reusable mechanism

Anti-Patterns

• "Here's everything you need to know about X" (zero tension)
• Ten rewrites of the same hook
• Clickbait the body betrays (kills trust + reach long-term)
• Hooks too long for the platform (a 90-char YouTube title, a 3-line "first line")

Example Trigger Phrases

• "Write a hook."
• "Write the first line of this post."
• "Write a cold open for this video."
• "Make this thread starter more clickable."