# Prompt: twenty hooks from a single idea

> The same idea said twenty ways. It is for choosing the first line, not for publishing twenty times.

- Type: prompt
- Category: creation
- Labels: andie, copywriting, hooks, prompts
- Author: Redação Swonkie, Equipa editorial
- Published: 2026-09-26
- Canonical: https://swonkie.com/en/hub/twenty-hooks-from-one-idea/

## Prompt

```
I will give you an idea. Write 20 different first lines for the same idea, spread across these five
types, four of each:

- a direct, concrete statement
- a question the audience has already asked itself
- a specific number or data point
- a contradiction of what people usually say
- a half-second scene (someone doing something)

Rules: 12 words maximum each. None may start with "Did you know". None may promise what the content
does not deliver. No superlatives ("the best", "the biggest", "the definitive").

At the end, pick the three that would work best in a feed and say why in one line each.
```

---
The first line decides almost everything, and the first line that occurs to a person is almost always
the most obvious one. The value here is not the twenty lines: it is having enough alternatives that
picking one is a decision.

The constraints matter. **"Did you know" is banned** because it is the most worn-out hook on the
internet. **Superlatives are banned** because they say nothing and devalue the rest. And **promising
only what you deliver** is what separates a hook from bait, which costs more than poor reach.

## How to use it

With the idea already written, not before. A hook for a piece that does not exist leads to writing
the piece to serve the hook, and that is how you end up with headlines better than the content.

## A note on the "scene" type

It is the least used and usually the one that works best in video. "She looked at the report and shut
the laptop" holds attention better than any statistic.