Question hook: the opener the viewer answers in their head before you do
Template and rules for the question hook, with the test that separates a question that holds (the viewer has an answer and wants it checked) from one that is skipped (nobody cares either way).
Write 5 question hooks for a short video about {topic} aimed at {audience}. A question hook works only when the viewer already has a guess and wants to see if they are right, so each question must pass three tests: (1) the viewer can answer it in their head in one second, (2) the answer is not obvious, (3) the video will answer it within 15 seconds. Templates to fill: - 'Why does {thing the audience does} {unexpected result}?' - 'What happens if you {action} for {time period}?' - 'Do you {habit}? {Consequence in 3 words}.' - 'Which of these {N} {things} is {adjective}?' - 'Have you ever {specific moment}? Here is why.' Rules: max 12 words, no 'ever wondered', no 'what if I told you'. Spoken and on screen as the same words. For each hook add the one-line answer the video gives at 15 s; if you cannot write the answer, the hook is a tease and gets cut. Return: 5 hooks, each with its 15-second answer, ranked by how strongly the audience will have a guess.
In Claude Code, paste the prompt as a message.
Example
Topic: photographing handmade products with a phone. Audience: people selling on marketplaces.
- ‘Why do your product photos look yellow indoors?’ Answer at 15 s: the kitchen bulb is warm; shoot by a window, lamp off.
- ‘Which of these two mugs was shot on a phone?’ Answer: both; the difference is the light, not the camera.
- ‘What happens if you zoom instead of stepping closer?’ Answer: the edge goes soft because the phone throws away pixels.
- ‘Do you shoot on the kitchen counter? That is why nobody clicks.’ Answer: the clutter is read before the product; cut it out.
- ‘Have you ever re-shot a whole shop in one weekend?’ Answer: back up the originals somewhere that is not the phone.
Tips
- Say the question and put it on screen in the same words; a viewer with sound off reads it, a viewer with sound on hears it, and both answer it.
- Rank by how sure the viewer is of their own answer. The hook with the most confident wrong guesses holds longest.
| works with | Claude: Paste into claude.ai or the Claude app. · ChatGPT: Paste into ChatGPT; works with any GPT model. · Claude Code: Runs as a skill or a prompt in the terminal; can read your files and write the result. · Any LLM: Model-agnostic: Gemini, Mistral, a local model. |
| cost | Free. No API, no key. |
| status | Unverified: written from the technique, not yet run end to end by us. |
| license | CC BY 4.0 for the text here; skills are MIT. |
| updated | 2026-11-01 |
| for agents | hook-archetype-question.md |
Related
Generate 20 hooks for a topic and rank them by a stated rubric
One prompt that produces 20 openers across the 8 archetypes, scores each on four named criteria, and returns the top 5 with the score shown, so the ranking can be argued with instead of trusted.
Hook rewrite: a boring opener in, 5 stronger versions out, each with the reason
A prompt that diagnoses why an opener is weak (generic, unprovable, needs sound, buried number) and rewrites it five ways, each labelled with the archetype and the fault it fixed.
Curiosity-gap hook: withhold one fact, promise it by a stated second
Template for the hook that opens a gap and names when it closes, with the rule that keeps it from being clickbait: the withheld fact is real, single, and delivered where you said it would be.
Bold claim hook: say the thing you can prove in the next 20 seconds
Template and rules for the claim hook: one declarative sentence that the viewer expects you to fail to back up, plus the rule that the proof must be in the video, not in the caption.
Number hook: a count the viewer can track, and the one item that justifies it
Template for the hook built on a number (3 mistakes, 5 tools, 7 days), with the rule that the number must be small enough to finish and the last item must be named as the reason to stay.
Pain-point hook: name the exact moment, not the general problem
Template for the hook that opens on the viewer's own bad moment, with the specificity test (a place, a time, an object) that turns 'struggling with X' into a line the right viewer cannot scroll past.